The Lazy Man’s Guide To Weight Loss 

 

Preface 

First and foremost, I would like to make it perfectly clear that I am not a weight loss guru, and I am not a doctor. This is a book from a guy who sits on his duff 10 to 14 hours per day making a living on the internet…which means that my time is spent in front of a computer screen all day. I found this method quite by accident, but it has changed my life in a spectacular way!

That being said, I would encourage you to check out anything and everything I say here with your doctor, (I think I have to say that, but it’s true.) You may have conditions that cannot support what I am telling you here, so please make sure before you start this, (or any other diet program,) that it is safe for your particular body. There is nothing in here to my knowledge that would harm anyone, but by all means, let’s be safe. I think I also need to include that results may not be typical. Our bodies are all different, so my results may not be your results. Okay…I think I’ve appeased my attorney.

My own doctor was concerned about my drastic weight loss, but when I told her what I was doing, she supported it 100%. My blood pressure and pulse rate were both very high, and I had no energy to speak of before I started this “diet.” I put that word in quotes, because it is NOT like a diet at all. In fact, my lifestyle hasn’t changed much at all. I still sit on my fanny all of those hours, and yet, I am losing pounds…and not in small quantities. As a matter of fact, I have lost over 40 pounds in less than 3 months time, and I feel GREAT! That is why I am sharing this with you.

You have heard the phrase, “Stupid Simple,” I am sure. That is what this is. Stupid simple, and painless. That is MY kind of diet!

So…Let’s Go!

 

In The Beginning
(Mindset is Everything) 

To start off, you must understand that I am no spring chicken any more. At 58, my metabolism has slowed, as it does in folks who have matured. It is a natural thing, but it doesn’t have to be that way….or at least to the extent that we have taught our bodies to react as we grow older. For many of us, it is an excuse. Laziness and inactivity creeps into our lives, so we must do something to combat that very thing.

Please keep in mind, that ANY weight loss regimen begins with you…and ONLY you. If you don’t decide right now to change your habits…then you are doomed to fail. While this, once again, is stupid simple…ACTION is the key word here. Nobody can do this for you. You must decide that you are going to change your eating habits. You must decide if you want to be able to start breathing normally again, and start regaining the energy that you have lost. Just figuring that it is your age that is holding you back is only an excuse.

If you tell yourself that you will not be able to do this, then guess what…you won’t. You have to start with a positive mindset, and knowing that your are doing something that is life changing. I have to tell you…being free from my blood pressure medication was a HUGE thing for me. Being able to once again play basketball with my four newly adopted children was not only life changing for me…but for them as well. It has also been nice to be able to reach down and do something as small as tie my own shoelaces without getting winded. My pants fit again, and my belly doesn’t hang over my belt the way it use to. All of this has given me a new outlook on life, and yes, a new beginning.

Do not sell yourself short. You CAN do this! Believe in yourself, and have faith! You are choosing to do the right thing for your body. I am not going to go any further into it, because you have probably already heard it all before. You have probably already beat yourself up enough about it as well. I don’t have to tell you about the benefits of losing weight…right? And I don’t have to tell you what diseases are prevalent with people who are obese. These are all common knowledge, unless you’ve been living under a rock.

Your choice is clear…and your minds are in a new place. Thinking thin is not going to be enough, but it is half the battle. Knowing you are taking the steps to improve your life is priceless.

Dieting and Exercise
(Two Words I Hate)

 

Many, if not all of the weight loss guru’s will tell you that exercise and diet must go together. There are many reasons for this, but the main reason is that muscle burns fat faster than fat burns fat. Does that make sense? Many people, like myself, really do not have the time, nor the energy (until you lose the pounds,) nor even the inclination to exercise, but because it helps by leaps and bounds to keep your muscles toned, and burn fat, I started doing isometric exercises that I can do at my desk without ever leaving my chair.

An isometric exercise, in a nutshell, is to tighten your muscles and hold the position for about 10 to 15 seconds, and then let off. It is what is called a “static” exercise, which was all the rage in the 60’s when I was growing up. It was popular because it took no special equipment, and you didn’t have to join a gym, which were not as popular as they are these days. You choose a group of muscles, let’s take for example your stomach muscles, or abs. You can sit at your desk, and tighten those muscles for 15 to 20 seconds, and then relax them for 30 seconds. Do this 3 or 4 times…what we call a “set.” You want to make sure you are sitting up in your chair, but the biggest thing to remember is to breathe. A lot of people tend to hold their breath as they are doing the exercises, which can do you more harm than good. Your muscles need the oxygen especially through the exercising stage, so please remember to breathe.

Your arms can be exercised in the same way. Because each arm has several muscle groups, it is important to rotate your hands for each exercise. Let’s do one right now as an example. Start by flexing your bicep and forearm, and then gently rotate your hand and wrist back and forth. Can you feel the different muscle groups? Now do the exercise one arm at a time, and with your hand in 3 different positions for 3 separate exercises. Hold them for 15 seconds, remembering to breathe, and then relax them for 30 seconds.

The legs work the same way. Clinching your thigh muscles for 15 seconds, and relax for 30 seconds. Again, 3 sets. Your calf muscles work much in the same way, only you will want to kind of stand on your toes while sitting…for 3 sets. You can, and should to this for your buttocks as well. You will not be “bulking up” during this process, but it will start helping you to tone those muscles, which inevitably will begin your weight loss regimen.

Isometric exercises are not the ideal situation, but will do for our purpose for the time being. As you begin to lose weight, you are going to WANT to do more. You are going to feel that old energy come back…and it is a GREAT feeling. The more you do this, the more weight you will lose, and the more energy you are going to have to possibly venture into doing some walking, or stair stepping, or some other cardio exercises. Believe me, I do NOT like to exercise…but even having the energy to go out and shoot some hoops with the kids, or throwing the baseball or football around, has, like I said before, done worlds for me and my children!

If you would like to see some isometric exercises in action, please click here to see some videos by Dave Hubbard, who is known as America’s Fitness Coach. This will explain it much better than I can in words. By the way, the videos are free to watch, and will open in a new window.

While Dave uses barbells in his videos, while they are great, not all of us have access to them. I have found that ANY weight works well, including cans of soup. It gives just a bit more resistance to your workout, which is plenty for our purposes right now.

I am going to repeat this because it bears repeating. We do these exercises to help us burn fat. It will speed your process by leaps and bounds. Honestly, I didn’t start using these exercises until I had already lost my initial 20 pounds, which we will be going into in the next phase of the plan.

The thing that triggered my interest in weight loss, was when I quit smoking. I had gained an incredible amount of weight, for me anyway…and I wanted to do something about it. It was getting difficult for me to breathe, I had absolutely no energy, plus the fact that I was getting tired of laying on the bed to fasten my pants. Does any of this sound familiar to you? It was time for a change of some sort, and so I recollected an article that I had read about the benefits of green tea.

This was the catalyst for my success. I replaced my morning coffee with green tea. It was no easy task, as I love my coffee, but I immediately started feeling better. I didn’t get my usual morning jitters from too much caffeine, and I seemed to have a bit more energy. I thought that it just might have been in my mind, but it was, in fact, doing something positive to my body.

The following pages will describe exactly what I did to lose this weight, and have been able to keep it off, which has been a huge struggle for many…including myself.

Aside from drinking green tea, my eating habits changed as well, but only for the first 2 weeks. This may be the time that you may have problems also. I usually didn’t eat breakfast because I felt I didn’t have time. I started to make time to fix myself a little breakfast, which normally consisted of oatmeal and a slice of toast, which filled me up perfectly until lunch. If it wasn’t oatmeal, it was a bowl of raisin bran or shredded wheat. I enjoy all 3, and was happy to have a change of scene once in awhile. Eating the same thing day in and day out gets monotonous, and I really wanted to get those pounds off, so the variety was welcomed. The key here is to not let yourself get bored with what you eat. Eggs once or twice a week isn’t a bad thing either, at least it wasn’t in my case. The importance of breakfast should not be overlooked. You need to EAT to lose weight, believe it or not. If I got hungry between lunch and dinner, I would grab an apple or a banana. I was not willing to clog myself up with any other kinds of things for a snack.

The trick here is to NOT let yourself get hungry. You MUST eat to keep up your metabolism. The diets where you starve yourself can do real damage to your body. Your body will actually cannibalize itself, by stealing essential  nutrients from your organs and muscles, to satisfy its requirements in less important areas. You may lose weight, but most times you will gain it back in a very short period…AND it is bad for the rest of your body, especially your organs like the heart and brain.

Snacks between meals are important, as long as it’s the right things to eat. Like I said, fresh fruit, (not canned,) and fresh vegetables are the best. I don’t think I have to say this, but cookies, candy, and the like will only slow your progress.

Please remember all the way through this guide, that this is exactly what I did to lose 40+ pounds and 4 inches off my waist. I am not pushing any one specific brand of anything here. I buy the cheap stuff…whatever it is. Brand name’s are fine, if you can afford them and it makes you feel better thinking you are buying a better product, but I have found that the store brands work just as well as the brand names. The only exception to this is that I use the One-A-Day vitamins, and the reasoning behind this is that they have come out with an age specific supplement that is blended to meet the requirements of us older folks. The other supplements I take are, Vitamin C, B Complex, Calcium, Vitamin D, and Vitamin E.

The other “rascal” we have is fast food. NO diet has any chance at all if you continue to stop by McDonalds or Burger King for a “snack”.  If you are serious about losing weight, fast food joints should go away from your life. When you have completed your goal, give thanks and go treat yourself to a big-mac. You’ve earned that right, but don’t make it a habit.

 

 Coffee vs. Tea 

I used to be a hard core coffee drinker. Nobody could have possibly loved their coffee more than I. (I also loved alcohol, but that’s another story.) I always thought that if I were to give up anything in my life, it would be anything but my coffee. Therefore, it was the law of the land…or in my house anyway. I wanted to put it in the Bill of Rights, or maybe even the 11th commandment…thou shalt not let me run out of coffee.

I had no idea that coffee was actually hindering my weight loss goals. Again, I didn’t find this out until I was curious one day last week and looked it up. This was long after I started losing the pounds.

I want to include this article by James Bowden, which helps explain the affects of coffee on your body.

I myself have had my battles with Starbucks. It’s a difficult habit to break (though after writing this column, I’m going to give it a try). I can tell you this, though, both from my experience and from that of others: When you break the coffee habit, you will feel your own power and energy and be in touch with your own natural energetic rhythms. You may even find that a caffeine-free existence is a great boost to your weight-loss efforts.

Although I am not be ready to say that something as basic to American life as coffee is a “drug,” we can certainly say that it has drug-like properties:

• It’s addictive.
• It’s a stimulant.
• It alters mood.

And — it’s not good for weight loss.

There are two basic reasons coffee is a problem for the person trying to lose weight. (It’s no bargain for the person who isn’t either, by the way). The first reason is psychological, the second physiological.

Psychological 

Coffee fits neatly into the receptors for a brain chemical known as adenosine, which is partly responsible for calming you down. By interrupting the activity of adenosine, coffee makes you feel awake and wired. You may think that’s a good thing, but consider that virtually every study of PMS has implicated caffeine as a major culprit. The added stimulation and nervousness from the coffee makes you feel edgy at exactly the time that feeling calm would be a blessing. And the blood sugar fluctuations it produces contributes enormously to cravings.

 Coffee is socially connected to rituals that involve eating. Many of these eating rituals, in turn, are connected to snacks and breaks, fast-food breakfasts and desserts. (Notice that the first beverage you think of when asked what you want with your “Dunkin’ Donuts” is not green tea or water.)

Physiological

 Coffee stimulates the adrenals, the glands responsible for stress hormones. The constant assault on these poor glands, from coffee, sugar, stress and daily life, can ultimately lead to a condition known as adrenal exhaustion.

 Coffee plays havoc with your blood sugar. The body treats a coffee jolt as a “stress response” much like the adrenals shooting a jolt of adrenaline into the system. This adrenaline response was a survival mechanism for our caveman ancestors; it signaled danger from a woolly mammoth and told the body to prepare for fight or flight. It signaled the body to release sugar into the blood, to be used as fuel for the muscles (which would be either clubbing that mammoth or climbing the nearest tree). But nowadays, it just signals the release of sugar. With no ensuing flight or flight, the sugar signals a release of insulin, and before you know it, after a couple of hours of jitteriness, your blood sugar is in the toilet, and you’re crashing and burning and reaching for … guess what? I’ll give you a hint: It’s not Brussels sprouts and steak.

 Coffee also increases urinary secretion of important minerals such as magnesium, potassium and sodium and uses up a fair amount of vitamin B1. Not only that, the coffee plant itself is a virtual repository for toxins such as pesticides and other harmful chemicals. (If you still insist on drinking it after reading this article, consider buying organic). And it can raise blood pressure and interfere with sleep.

 Although in the short run it may suppress appetite, over the course of a day most people find it stimulates cravings more than suppresses them.

 One of the best reasons to give up coffee comes from my colleague, Dr. Barry Sears, who points out that if you are “running on empty,” getting your “energy” from artificial stimulants like caffeine, you never really get to understand the effect your food is having on you. You never know whether your food is producing energy and alertness or tiredness and fatigue. You’re masking the effects of your eating style with an overpowering stimulant. And that’s keeping you from valuable knowledge about what foods work for you and what foods you ought to stay away from.

There is a myth that coffee and green tea have the same amount of calories. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The average cup of coffee can have anywhere from 80-175 mg of caffeine, depending on the method of preparation. By comparison, the average cup of green tea has about 25-30mg of caffeine.

Furthermore, green tea has a number of health benefits (preventing cancer, battling diabetes, fighting cholesterol, boosting the immune system…) and it is recommended to drink 4-5 cups each day to reap the full benefits. According to researchers, it’s safe to drink up 10 cups of green tea a day.

In extreme amounts, the high amounts of polyphenols can cause liver or kidney damage–green tea *supplements* can have dangerously high levels.

However, some people are very sensitive to caffeine; if you do find yourself feeling jittery or having heart palpitations, try cutting back on the tea. Also, tea is a diuretic, which increases urination. I’d say that, aside from frequent bathroom breaks, you should be fine.

(Incidentally, green tea is best brewed at 180 degrees F, which is just under a boil. If you brew your tea at too high a temperature, you lose a lot of the health benefits. It also tastes better at a lower temp.)

There is some controversy about women drinking green tea while pregnant, or wanting to become pregnant. PLEASE CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR before you go off and do this on your own.  Having a healthy baby is, by far, more important than any diet. There is time to lose the pounds after the baby is born!

Okay…here we go! I am now going to explain exactly what my daily routine consists of to lose 40+ pounds and 4 inches off of my waistline while sitting on my duff!

The Plan

For the first 1 or 2 weeks, this may be difficult for you. We are essentially shrinking our stomachs, and replacing bad habits with good habits. Do not skip breakfast! Remember, our body needs the fuel to carry on through the day.

I wake up every morning at 4 am. This is not necessary for you to do, it’s just what my body clock is used to. When I get up, my green tea is waiting for me. I use my coffee maker to brew my tea, and I make a full pot that will last me all day. 3 cups in the morning, and the rest for iced tea during the day. I might decide, instead, to have it hot, so I just stick it in the microwave. I use 6 teabags for a full, 12 cup pot. You may use more, or less, depending on your particular taste, but remember that while the tea sits, it will get darker and stronger. Since it is naturally sweet, I use no sugar, but if you have to sweeten it, use a sugar substitute. I really dislike the chemicals used for the sugar substitute, so I avoid them…again, personal preference.

I said earlier that I buy the cheap brands, and that includes my tea. I use my store brand of green tea. It is cheaper, and as far as I can tell, it doesn’t make a difference.

Remember, I sit at my computer for a large part of the day, so while I am sitting there, taking a small break, I do my isometric exercises. Sometimes while I am working I do it. It depends on what part of the body I am working on. It is pretty difficult to work on your arm muscles while typing, so I have to take a break to do those, but the legs and buttocks exercises are pretty easy to do.

After I get the kids off to school, I take a break from my work and have breakfast. As I explained before, a bowl of oatmeal, (heart healthy,) which I cook with cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla. YUM! I top it off with 2% milk, (same taste, less fat,) and 1 slice of toast. Any kind of whole grain is great! If you can’t handle the thought of oatmeal, you can substitute cold cereal…but nothing with sugar. Eggs with 1 slice of toast may also be used. The point here is to start off your day right, and have some kind of breakfast. If not, your body is in starvation mode, and therefore starts to store fat because it thinks you are trying to starve it. The body is wonderful that way. It is self-preservation at its best.

One thing I would like to add to this. I use real butter only. I did some research a few years back about the benefits of margarine for a healthier lifestyle. I was shocked to find out that margarine is actually only 1 molecule away from plastic. Your body gets confused with chemicals. The body knows how to break down butter…so I haven’t touched margarine since.

I know that you may think it crazy that I am supporting dairy and bread for our purposes, but this works. The trick is not to go overboard. One slice of bread per meal is not going to hurt a thing. 

2 to 3 hours after breakfast, grab yourself an apple, banana, a carrot, whatever you have that is fresh and wholesome. This is to satisfy any craving you may have at this point. It is not lunch…so don’t worry.

For lunch, I make myself a can of soup, normally water based, and half a sandwich. I either have ham, turkey, or chicken, and use mayo or miracle whip, (my preference,) on a slice of bread. Whatever bread you see fit is fine. Don’t get stuck giving yourself something that you can’t tolerate. If you prefer white bread, go for it. I prefer the whole grain breads, but I don’t know that it actually makes that much of a difference. I sometimes treat myself with a peanut butter sandwich, but not often. There’s a lot of sugar in peanut butter, but hey, again it is half a sandwich. Just don’t go overboard and put half an inch of peanut butter on your bread. It defeats the whole purpose.

If I get hungry again a couple of hours later, you guessed it, another piece of fruit. A glass of green tea, hot or cold, is also in order.

Dinner time for my family is at about 6pm. I have another cup of green tea about a half hour before mealtime. This helps raise my metabolic rate to where I am not as hungry as I had been in the past. (This is according to my research. I was curious to learn why I was dropping so much weight.) For the first 2 weeks I ate very little pasta, and no fried foods at all. Those are the only 2 things I gave up over the 2 week period. Instead, I would eat sensibly. I started off with a small salad with just a small amount of dressing, (just enough to flavor it slightly,) and a meat of some kind, like baked chicken or a steak. It was satisfying for my taste buds, and I felt full. I no longer heaped my plate with mashed potatoes and gravy, or whatever the starch was that night. I just held off, and realized that it didn’t need that much food to feel satisfied.

After 2 weeks of eating this way, I was feeling better than I had in years. I had lost about 10 pounds during this first 2 weeks, and I was hungry for more. I didn’t want to be fat any more, and knew that I had stumbled upon the solution to get me back into shape.

I was amazed at how simple it actually was. I was losing weight, and not suffering. I was eating pretty much what I had been before, only in smaller amounts, and I was happy. I decided to take my “experiment” to the next level. My stomach either shrunk, or my metabolism changed, or something…but I no longer needed, nor wanted, vast amounts of food. I like the feeling of comfortable instead of GORGED!

Since all of this was making sense to me now, I continued down that same path, only now I was eating anything the family had. I missed my pasta, and my pizza…so, I started eating those again as well. I continued with my green tea, and ate half as much as I used to. As an example, before all this started, I would eat a whole pizza in one sitting. I still think I could if I tried, but why? I am very comfortable eating half, and saving the other half for my lunch the next day. I am full…and that is what my body wants. My stomach doesn’t want any more food, so why would I continue to stuff it? It would only make me feel miserable.

Instead of a plate mounded with spaghetti, I chose to eat half that amount. Again, because of the combination of green tea before dinner, and my smaller stomach, I didn’t need any more than what I had dished up for myself. Many times I didn’t even finish what I had in front of me. THAT is another problem. We are taught from an early age to finish what is on our plates. If we follow that logic, we need to put less food on there in the first place. Don’t let your taste buds tell you that you have to have more, when your stomach is telling you otherwise. It is not healthy, and you will eventually get back into the trap of forcing your stomach to grow again. Little by little, we will keep expanding our stomach to its former size…and we don’t want that to happen…right?

That is the only thing I did in my weight loss strategy, and I am continuing to lose weight as we speak. Continuing with my green tea, eating healthier without becoming fanatical about it, and at this point, eating what I want…only in smaller portions.

You may have noticed that I have not said anything about calories so far, so let’s chat about that for a bit.

A calorie is a unit of energy. We will not go into the scientific mumbo-jumbo to explain everything it is and does. Human beings need energy to survive — to breathe, move, pump blood — and they acquire this energy from food. The number of calories in a food is a measure of how much potential energy that food possesses. A gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories, a gram of protein has 4 calories and a gram of fat has 9 calories. Foods are a compilation of these three building blocks. So if you know how many carbohydrates, fats and proteins are in any given food, you know how many calories, or how much energy, that food contains.

It seems that every food in the grocery store has the amount of calories on the label. It seems that the normal intake of calories they figure for a person is about 2,000 calories per day. This varies from person to person, however. A lot depends on how active your lifestyle is. A person like me, (relatively inactive because I spend most days planted in front of a computer) needs less calories than an active person who slings heavy boxes all day long.

The chart below will give you a rough idea of how many calories you use in a day, according to your lifestyle.

Resting calories is exactly what it sounds like. Calories needed to sustain your normal bodily functions, such as breathing, heart beating, eyes blinking, etc. If you happen to be ill, the caloric intake would be more, to help stave off infection.

You would be “Low Activity” if you have a desk job, and don’t move around much or exercise. “Medium Activity” would be a person who, even with a desk job, goes out and exercises a few times a week. The “High Activity” would be someone who has a strenuous job, is a sports enthusiast and loves to exercise, (like we probably all should.)

The key here is, to take in less calories than we need in a given day, and use up the calories stored as fat on our bodies. With the green tea, this magnifies because our metabolism is higher, so we will burn it more quickly.

Now…let’s get down and dirty and see what we are supposed to weigh, according to the healthy heart people.

 

I could have made this guide much longer, but it was not necessary. My methods worked for me, and I believe they will work for you. I have made it short, and affordable so that everyone can buy it.

This is not brain surgery, although the weight loss guru’s may make you think it is. That is their way of doing it so they can hike the price up. I have given you all the information you need to lose weight…and to lose it quickly. I will make a confession, through the holidays I did gain 4 pounds…but I guess that is expected. I quickly shed those pounds in the next couple of days. I am now at 190 pounds, so that is 45 pounds in less than 3 months, and I feel healthier and more energetic than I have in years.

If an inactive guy like me can lose that much weight, sitting in front of a computer screen, just think how much you could lose by following the methods outlined, and are a bit more active than I am.

I’m rooting for you!

Paul McDonald

Introduction 

If you have heard about metabolism, chances are it is in relation to weight loss. Metabolism is bigger than weight loss, though, as you will learn later on. It is about a healthier, better you.

If you want to fire up your metabolism and do not have any idea how to do it, you have come to the right place. If you have tried to speed up your metabolism before but do not see visible results, you have also come to the right place.

This book will walk you through the basics of metabolism and all that you need to do to speed up your metabolism.

Enjoy the trip! And don’t forget to take the lessons home with you.

 

Chapter One

 YOUR METABOLISM – MASERTERING THE BASICS

 

Metabolism Defined

Metabolism, in its most basic sense, is the body’s conversion of the calories from the food you eat into energy. It is a series of chemical reactions that give your body the energy to do what it needs to do to keep functioning – and consequently, for you to keep living. Without metabolism, you would not be able to move or think. Metabolism provides energy for your body and your individual organs to work smoothly.

 

To better understand the importance of metabolism, consider this: if your heart stops beating, you die. Likewise, if your metabolism stops, you die – because without metabolism, you will not have the energy even to breathe, or for your heart to beat!

 

 

 

 

How Metabolism Works

 

First, let us start with the act of eating. As you chew and swallow your food, it goes down to your digestive tract.  Digestive enzymes then break down your food – carbohydrates to glucose, fats into fatty acids, and protein into amino acids. After the nutrients are effectively broken down, they are absorbed by the bloodstream and are carried over to the cells. Other enzymes plus hormones then work to either convert these nutrients into cells or building blocks for tissues or release them as an energy supply for the body’s immediate use.

 

Metabolism Types and Components

 

There are two basic metabolic processes – one is constructive, and is responsible for building and storing energy for the body. The other is destructive, though in a positive sense, as it breaks down nutrient molecules to release energy.

 

The constructive metabolic process is called anabolism, while the destructive process is called catabolism.

 

Anabolism promotes the growth of new cells, the maintenance and repair of tissues, and the storage of energy – usually through body fat – for future use. Small nutrient molecules are converted into larger molecules of protein, carbohydrates and fat.

 

Catabolism, meanwhile, is responsible for immediately providing the body energy to use.  Instead of building up, it breaks down the nutrient molecules to release energy.

 

These two processes do not occur simultaneously but are balanced by the body.

 

Catabolism, in particular – though some attribute this to overall metabolism – has three components:

 

1. Basal metabolism à Sometimes called resting metabolism, this is the metabolism component responsible for keeping you alive by ensuring normal body functions. Even if you were bedridden the whole day, basal metabolism is still at work.

 

Basal metabolism is metabolism’s main component, as 60 to 70 percent of the calories from the food you eat are used for this. People who want to lose weight usually aim for a higher basal metabolic rate (BMR).

 

2. Physical movement à This can range from a simple moving of your fingers to strenuous exercise. Usually 25 percent of the calories you consume go here.

 

3. Thermic effect of food à This indicates the digestion and processing of the food you take in. Normally, ten percent of the calories of the food you eat are burned through this.

 

Thus, taking all this into account, here is our metabolism formula:

 

Calories From Food = Calories Expended From Basal Metabolism (60-70%) + Calories Expended By Physical Movement (25%) + Calories Expended Digesting Food (10%)

 

 

 

 

 

What Affects Metabolism?

 

         Your metabolic rate, or how fast or slow your metabolism works, is influenced by a number of factors:

 

1. Genetics à Yes, metabolic rate is also inherited. Sometimes this makes an entire world of difference between a person who can eat almost everything and not gain an ounce and a person who easily balloons after indulging just once.

 

2. Age à The younger you are, the faster your metabolism is. Metabolism slows down as you age. Women’s metabolic rate starts falling at the age of 30; for men, decline starts later at the age of 40.

 

3. Gender à Men have a faster metabolic rate – usually 10-15 percent faster – than women because their bodies have a larger muscle mass. Muscle plays a key role in fast metabolism, as will be discussed in the chapter on exercise.

 

4. Amount of lean body mass à As already mentioned above, more muscle = faster metabolism.

 

5. Diet à Some foods will help you, some will only harm you. While timing is not everything, when you eat also greatly affects your metabolism. The difference is discussed in the chapter on eating right.

 

6. Stress level à Stress is inversely proportional to metabolism. The more stress you are subjected to, the lower your metabolism. You will better understand this when we move on to the chapter about stress.

 

7. Hormones à Specific hormones metabolize specific nutrients. How well the hormones work, then, directly affects metabolism. To a certain extent, diet and stress levels affect the hormones involved in metabolism, as you will find out later. Hormonal disorders or imbalances can affect metabolism as well.

 

Looking at all these factors that influence metabolism, you now probably have a general idea of what you need to do to increase your metabolism – accept the things you cannot change, and work on those that you can!

But before we get into the detailed program for firing up your metabolism, first, know what’s in it for you! And find out the kind of resolve you need to achieve the level of metabolism you want.

 

 

Chapter Two

WHY YOU SHOULD FIRE UP YOUR METABOLISM

 

It’s not all about weight loss, though discussions on metabolism seem to focus almost exclusively on this concept. In fact, even if you feel that your weight is perfectly fine, you have a lot to gain by increasing your metabolism. Following a list of the benefits you stand to gain by applying the advice in this book:

 

1. Lose weight. Let’s start with the most obvious benefit. By increasing your metabolism, particularly your BMR, you will burn more calories just by doing the activities you usually do. Even while you lie in bed and stare at the ceiling or even while you are sleeping, your body is working to burn the calories you consume. With an increase in metabolism, you can actually shed one or two pounds a week. Best of all, the results are long-term, unlike a quick-fix diet! Now, isn’t that more satisfying – and easier – than going on a fad diet?

 

2. Eat more without worrying about it. Since you burn calories faster now, you can eat more without feeling guilty. This does not mean overindulging or snacking on junk food, though. But in general, you can be less concerned about the quantity of food you eat.

 

3. Feel more energized. People with faster metabolism report having more energy. With a faster metabolism, your body is performing efficiently to release the energy you need to get going.

 

4. Look better. The skin of people with a fast metabolism is brighter and more radiant. Their faces are pinkish, more alive with color. With a faster metabolism, you will not only feel good but also look good!

 

5. Be healthier overall. Your body functions more efficiently with a faster metabolism. Digestion, absorption of nutrients and blood circulation are improved. And you won’t need as much sleep as you did before to feel refreshed the next day.

 

In sum, expect a faster metabolism to make you look and feel more wonderful.

 

Chapter Three

THE RIGHT MINDSET FOR INCREASING YOUR METABOLISM

 

You are probably wondering what all this has to do with mindset.  Why not go directly to the advice for increasing your metabolism?

 

The reason is that you need to be prepared for what lies ahead. Boosting your metabolism is a serious business. It is not like a quick-fix diet where you need only exert effort for a few weeks – and for some diets, even for a few days.

 

Boosting your metabolism is about changing your lifestyle and habits. Though you may choose to start with small changes, you will still be changing the way of life you have become used to – and it may feel uncomfortable at first. Boosting your metabolism requires discipline and consistency in your actions. And since you are expecting long-term results, you are likewise expected to make a long-term investment.

 

From here on, please look at the advice I will be presenting as an entire package or program. You cannot do only some of them and still get the same results. The tips here follow the gestalt principle – the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Trust that the components of the program all work harmoniously to deliver your desired result.

 

So now I want you to close your eyes and imagine yourself – really imagine! – what you will be like after this program has started to take effect on you. How will you look? How will you feel?

 

Then, do the same process for your expectations after three months, then six months – or even a year, if you can. Note the differences you see and feel.

 

It’s a good idea to write down your expected outcome. This will help you get through the program, especially when you are having a difficult time sticking to the changes you previously committed to.

 

Congratulations! You have just begun with the end in your mind. This will greatly help you along the way to your goal of firing up your metabolism.

 

 

Chapter Four

HOW TO FIRE UP YOUR METABOLISM

 

As I mentioned, please treat the advice you read here as an entire program in which you will need to apply all the components in order to boost your metabolism.

 

First, we will talk about exercise, as this is perhaps the most crucial element in the program. Exercise done right can greatly contribute to increasing your BMR. Here, you will learn how to exercise smart, and not always hard, as some fitness programs might advise. We will be talking about the importance of building muscle mass and applying the right intensity to exercise.

 

The second section is about eating right – not about eating less, as some weight loss programs would advise – but eating smart. You will learn that the results you get will not only come from the food you eat, but how and when you eat as well.

 

The last section is about coping with stress. Some might see little importance in this section. Know, however, that stress is a real and strong impediment to boosting your metabolism. Bear this in mind as you read through this section.

 

Take time to absorb each piece of advice. You can start applying the advice here little by little, but with the intention of putting it all together once your body has adjusted.

 

 

Fast Metabolism Fuel #1:

EXERCISE SMART

 

Notice that I mentioned smart, not hard. Though some exercises here may be high-intensity and may indeed be hard for you, you need not work as long and as hard as you may think. The goal here is to fire up your metabolism with an exercise program that takes the shortest time and the least effort possible without sacrificing results.

 

The two elements in this exercise program are strength and resistance training for building lean muscle mass and interval training for speeding up the metabolic process in general.

 

Strength and resistance training

 

The exercises under this training program are designed to literally build strength and resistance, as the name suggests. Tension is applied on the muscles to achieve this. The end result is increased muscle mass in your body.

 

Building muscle is important as more muscle in your body means more calories burned. Fitness trainer and consultant Robert Reames gives a perfect analogy by calling muscles fireplaces in the body that burn fuel – meaning calories. So the more fireplaces, the more fuel burned. For every pound of muscle added to your body, 40-50 calories more are burned per day.

 

Women need not worry about gaining large, unsightly muscles – your bodies are different from men. Your muscles will only add definition to your shape and in fact, make you look sexier.

 

While building muscles are usually associated with weight training, this is not always the case. There are in fact several exercises that do not require weights at all. If you are on a tight budget, you can in fact do exercises with no weights at all. For best results, though, do a combination of strength exercises with equipment and without equipment.

 

For clear differentiation, let us discuss weight lifting exercises first.

 

         Weight lifting is a convenient muscle-building exercise as it applies tension to your muscles through an external source, the weights. You can also easily measure your progress as the number of pounds or grams is indicated on each weight. As your body adjusts and strengthens, you can add more weights or replace your current weights with heavier ones.

 

To determine how many grams or pounds your weights should have, try them out first. The best weights for you are those that put tension in your muscles but do not make you feel fatigued.

 

The best exercises for achieving faster results for boosting metabolism are those that work several muscles in your body together. It’s not a problem if you want to focus on a particular muscle, though, for example, if you want to tone or sculpt a specific body part.

 

There are many weight-lifting exercises you can choose from to include in your routine, but here are some basic examples:

 

1. Bench press – This is a multi-joint exercise, working the major muscles of the shoulders, chest and triceps. To do this, lie on a bench and hold the weight over your chest with your elbows bent at 90 degrees. “Press” the weight up until your arms straighten, then lower it slowly back to your starting position.

 

2. Chest fly – This works the chest, with an emphasis on outer muscles. Lie on a bench with your weights held overhead, palms facing inward. Lower the weights to your sides up to shoulder level, with your elbows slightly bent. Slowly bring the weights up, back to starting position.

 

3. Bicep curl – This is one of the most basic weight lifting exercises. This puts effort on the biceps, as the name suggests. To do this, hold the weights with your palms facing out. Bend your elbows to bring the weights to your shoulders without touching them. Slowly lower the weights down, but do not straighten the arm out totally to keep a level of tension.

 

4. Concentration curl – This also works the biceps. Kneel on one leg using the leg opposite the hand you are working with. Hold one weight with your working hand and put the other hand on your waist. Place the back of the upper arm of your working hand on the inner thigh of the other leg. You can lean into that leg to raise your elbow a little. Raise the weight to the front of your shoulder and then slowly lower the arm until almost straight.

 

5. Overhead press – This works the shoulder muscles. Stand or sit straight and hold your weights with your elbows bent and your hands in front of your eyes. Bring the weights over your head while keeping your back straight. Slowly bring the weights down to starting position.

 

Strength exercises without weights can be combined with weight lifting exercises for your routine.

 

Here are some examples:

 

1. Squat – A squat is a multi-joint exercise working the hamstrings, quadriceps, gluteals, and the lower back. In fact, this is one of the most effective strength exercises without weights. From a standing position, slowly lower your body until your knees bend at a 90-degree angle. Keep your feet flat on the floor while doing this. Return to a standing position slowly as well.

 

2. Pushup – This is also a very typical but effective strength and resistance exercise. While the basic one works well, adding complexity can work more muscles.

For example, you can do pushups between two chairs. These work the chest and the triceps. Place both feet on a stable chair and then place both hands on separate chairs. The two chairs your hands are resting on can have a gap of 60 centimeters. The chair with your feet should align with the middle of the other two chairs. Your body should be stretched naturally from the chair at your feet to the chairs in front. Slowly bring your chest down – beyond the surface of the chairs if you can!

 

3. Crunch – Yes, the basic crunch is a strength exercise, although it works mostly for the abs only. But though the crunch is well-known, not everyone knows how to do it properly. To do this correctly, lie on the floor or a mat with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. You may put your hands behind your head. Raise your upper body – but lead with your chest – upwards until you feel your abs contract. To keep the tension, do not raise your body up to 90 degrees. Again, to keep tension, when you bring your body down, do not let it rest on the floor. Instead, keep yourself a bit elevated from the floor.

 

For variety in exercises and for working different sets of muscles, you can also try working out with different equipment like exercise balls.

In planning your routine for strength exercises, refer to the body’s muscle groups below and determine which you want to work on. Remember, though, that multi-joint exercises are still best to achieve faster metabolism.

 

1. Biceps – These are found at the front of your upper arm.

 

2. Triceps – These are at the back of your upper arm.

 

3. Deltoids – These are the caps of your shoulders.

 

4. The Pectoralis major – This is the large, fan-shaped muscle on the front of your upper chest.

 

5. Rhomboids – These are muscles in the middle of your upper back and located between the shoulder blades.

 

6. Trapezius – This is on your upper back, sometimes called ‘traps.’ The upper trapezius, in particular, runs from the back of your neck to your shoulder.

 

 

7. Latisimus dorsi – These are large muscles that go down the middle of your back. When exercised well, they give your back an attractive V shape, giving the illusion of a smaller waist.

 

8. Lower back – This comprises the erector spine muscles that enable back extension. This also helps in maintaining good posture.

 

9. Abdominals – Of course! This is where the belly fat usually goes, the flab you want to banish forever. The abdominals are composed of the external obliques, which trace paths down the sides and the front of the abdomen, and the rectus abdominus, a flat muscle running across the abdomen.

 

10. Gluteals – Also called “glutes,” the main muscle here is the gluteus maximus, the muscle on your buttocks.

 

11. Quadriceps – These muscles go up the front of your thigh.

 

12. Hamstrings – These are on the back of your thighs.

 

13. Hip abductors and adductors – These are located at your inner and outer thigh. Abductors are on the outside, moving the leg away from your body. On the other hand, adductors are on the inside, pulling the leg to the center of your body.

 

14. Calf – The calf muscles are on the back of the lower leg. The two calf muscles are the gastrocnemius and the soleus. The former gives the calf a stable, round shape while the soleus is a flat muscle below the gastrocnemius.

 

After choosing your exercises, you must think about the level of intensity and the duration of your exercises. The number of repetitions and sets actually depends on your level of tolerance –  fatigue is a sign that you have overtaxed yourself. Let yourself feel the “burn” in your muscles or the soreness but do not push yourself more than you can go. In general, though, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends three sets or more of strength exercises with six to eight repetitions for each set for building muscle. If you are a beginner, though, it may take time before you reach this level. Not more than a 45-second rest should be taken between sets for best results in increasing metabolism.

 

Your exercise routine can last for only 30 minutes or less and still achieve optimum results.

 

At this point, I want to emphasize that strength and resistance exercises are the best and healthiest way to build muscles. Do not ever look for shortcuts, like performance-enhancing drugs or steroids with growth hormones. While they may help increase your muscle mass, they can have side effects such as heart attacks, liver damage, and even premature death. It is best for you to stick to the healthy and proven methods in building muscles.

 

The benefits of strength exercises are also numerous and not merely confined to boosting metabolism. They lower blood pressure, improve balance and flexibility, increase your stamina for other activities, and reduce your risk of injury – as these are strength exercises, they in fact strengthen your muscles and bones!

 

Interval training

 

Yes, these exercises are about “intervals,” particularly the intervals of high-intensity exercise and rest. In this training, you do a cardiovascular exercise at the highest intensity you can manage, then shift to a moderate intensity, do high intensity again, then moderate, and so on. Reames calls this “metabolic burst” training, as the sudden burst you do in the high-intensity exercise also results in a burst of calorie-burning. Because of the sudden “burst” you give to your body, it also suddenly releases energy. The rest period, meanwhile, is essential for the body to get rid of the waste products in the muscles you are using in the exercise. It is important to keep a moderate intensity of exercise and not go into total rest. This is to ensure that the release of energy is continuous.

 

Interval training can be done for almost any type of cardiovascular exercise – running, biking, swimming, and more. For running, the rest period can be brisk walking; for biking and swimming, the activity can be done at a slower but moderate pace. The high-intensity and moderate-intensity exercise can also be slightly different. For example, the high-intensity exercise may be briskly walking up the stairs while the low-intensity exercise may be brisk walking on a flat surface.

 

Each interval should last between one to four minutes. The rest period can be shorter or longer than your high-intensity exercise, depending on your condition. Doing your interval training routine for a total of 30 minutes already achieves optimal results. Just ensure that your moderate-intensity exercise really still has intensity while allowing your body to rest for the next burst of high-intensity exercise. Perform your personal best for the high-intensity exercise – being almost out of breath is a good sign.

 

A more accurate way of determining the highest level of intensity you can manage is by calculating your maximum heart rate. To get your maximum heart rate, simply subtract your age from 220. During exercise, a heart rate monitor will come in handy although this is optional. To monitor your heart rate manually, find your pulse in your wrist then count the number of beats within six seconds. Put the number zero at the end of that. If you counted 16 beats, your pulse rate is 160 beats per minute. Your pulse rate after high-intensity exercise should be 75-85 percent of your maximum heart rate. Your pulse rate during moderate-intensity exercise should always be greater than your resting heart rate, or your normal heart rate when you are not doing any exercise. Again, to get your resting heart rate, get your pulse rate while you are not doing exercise.

 

For those who want to boost metabolism primarily to lose weight, here’s the good news: after a few weeks of interval training, expect even your normal exercise with moderate intensity to burn more fat than usual.

 

A study by exercise scientist Jason Talanian supports this claim. After seven interval workouts distributed over two weeks, subjects increased their fat burning by 36 percent through normal cycling exercises only.

 

Also, according to Reames, after interval training comes the “metabolic afterburn” – this means that your body continues burning calories for 46 hours after your workout.

 

Interval training sure beats normal cardiovascular training. Also, normal cardiovascular exercise usually takes longer as the objective is endurance. Contrast this with interval training which only requires 30 minutes or less and which delivers significant results in just a few weeks.

 

Putting it all together

 

While you will be choosing your specific exercises for the strength and resistance training and interval training, I will be recommending an exercise schedule and giving you tips for your best application of the exercises.

 

Below would be the best weekly schedule for your workout:

 

Day 1: Strength and resistance exercises

Day 2: Interval training exercises

 

Day 3: Strength and resistance exercises

 

Day 4: Interval training exercises

 

Day 5: Strength and resistance exercises

 

Day 6: Interval training exercises

 

Day 7: Rest

 

As you can see, strength exercises and interval training are done on alternate days. This is to facilitate recovery of the muscles you use. Do not ever, ever do your strength exercise workout right after your interval training workout – this will slow down the process of muscle building.

 

One day without exercise during the week is also crucial for your body to make a full recovery.

 

Again, I would like to emphasize that you should never push your body to fatigue. Doing so would trigger a stress response in your body, which may have serious effects on your metabolism. (The link between stress and metabolism will be discussed in a later section). Also, make sure that you breathe normally throughout the exercises so that your body is not stressed.

 

Always perform warm-up exercises before your routine and cool-down exercises after. For a warm-up, a cardio of moderate intensity and arm circling would be a good example. For a cool-down, a total body stretch will relax your muscles. Breathing exercises will also help in relaxing.

 

You can apply variety to your exercise routines to work different muscles and for your own enjoyment, especially if you get bored with the same exercise routines.

 

Metabolism Masterclass Checkpoint: Before we proceed…

 

Here are some more things to think about as you plan your exercise program to fire up your metabolism:

 

1. Age does not matter. Yes, whether you are 20 or 60, you can trust that the exercise program we discussed will work for you. For older people, your interval training may not be as intense at first, but after some time, you just might be surprised how far your body can go. Looking at strength and resistance training in particular: here’s something for older people to consider: a scientific study conducted at Tufts university shows that age is not an obstacle to building muscle. In their study, 87- to 96-year-old women who underwent an 8-week strength training program tripled their strength and increased their muscle by ten percent.

 

2. Other exercise is good, but… I recommend you apply the exercise program discussed here. While it is true that any physical activity burns calories, it only has a one-time effect. The exercises here, however, are guaranteed to have a long-term effect. Also, endurance training is good, but you will get more and faster results from interval training.

 

3. More exercise does not mean faster metabolism. Logically, more exercise means more calories burned. But as your goal here is a long-term increase in your metabolism, you should not be obsessed by how much you exercise but on the quality of your exercise. Again, this deserves repetition – do not push yourself beyond your limits as it will drive your body into a stress reaction. Stress has a serious effect on metabolism.

 

So now you know the best exercise program to fire up your metabolism. But don’t stop reading just yet – exercise is only one part of your journey to a faster metabolism.

 

 

 

 

 

Fast Metabolism Fuel #2:

EAT RIGHT

 

Food is your main fuel for energy – it gives your body the calories it processes to burn or to store energy. The right food, the right amount, and the right time in eating will give you the best results possible for your metabolism.

 

For all those who are trying to lose weight, you need to know that eating to boost metabolism is radically different from traditional weight loss diets. In traditional diets, calories are your enemy and you have to monitor your calorie intake, but the opposite is true for the fast metabolism diet. Calories are now your friends – the good calories, at least.

 

Remember when we talked about exercise? The more muscles you build, the more calories you burn. And after you’ve done interval training for a while, your body also burns more calories. So to keep up with the calorie burning, you actually have to eat more. You will understand this better later.

 

Nutrients to Befriend

 

Carbohydrates are one of the most essential nutrients for firing up your metabolism. They are the most basic fuel for the energy you consume for physical activities. If you exercise regularly, carbohydrates are necessary. But if you are building muscle, carbohydrates are crucial. As you progress in your muscle building and interval training, you need to increase your carbohydrate intake. As your body burns more energy, it will need more energy from carbohydrates. If the carbohydrates you consume are not enough, your body will turn to your muscle mass and get its energy there. Yes, your hard-worked muscles will be wasted if you do not consume enough carbohydrates.

 

More than 50 percent of your calorie requirements should come from carbohydrates.

 

There are two types of carbohydrates – simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are easier to digest and absorb compared with complex carbohydrates. If we are to consider the thermic effect of food which also contributes to faster metabolism, complex carbohydrates are the way to go. And usually, complex carbohydrates are the healthy types of food while the simple carbohydrates are usually the processed foods loaded with preservatives and artificial sweeteners.

 

But simple carbohydrates should not be neglected entirely. Healthy sources of simple carbohydrates are honey, milk and fresh fruit juice.

 

For complex carbohydrates you have a wider range of options. See the table below for some examples.

 

COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES
Grains and Cereal	Root Crops	Vegetables
Oatmeal	Potato	Broccoli
Whole Wheat Bread	Sweet Potato	Cauliflower
Whole Wheat Pasta	Taro/Yam	Cabbage
Brown Rice	Manioc	Eggplant
Bran		Cucumber
Corn		Green Peppers
		Tomatoes
		Bean Sprouts
		Squash
		Asparagus
		Garlic
		Onion

 

 

Yes, carbohydrates are not all grains and root crops. We have fibrous carbohydrates as well – the vegetables. The fiber, though not absorbed by the digestive system, helps in the thermic effect. Fiber also cleanses the body and thus ensures its smooth functioning, including the enzymes and hormones for metabolism.

 

Protein is another essential nutrient in the diet for faster metabolism. Protein is processed by the body into amino acids, the building block for cells – and consequently, muscles. And, like complex carbohydrates, protein also has a thermic effect as it takes a long time for the body to break it down.

 

Below are some healthy, excellent sources of protein:

 

1. Chicken – Go for the breast, as it has the highest amount of protein. Drumsticks are also good, though not so high in protein. Just remove the skin to get rid of saturated fat and cholesterol.

 

2. Fish – This is good protein without the bad, unlike red meat. Aside from having a high protein content, it is also good for the heart, particularly coldwater fish like salmon and tuna.

 

3. Eggs – Very rich in protein and affordable too. Eggs contain all the essential amino acids for growth. Contrary to what some may think, the high protein content comes mostly from the egg white and not the egg yolk.

 

4. Milk – This is a must for anyone who wants to build muscle. It is no wonder that babies and toddlers are given milk for growth. So learn from your childhood and drink milk.

 

5. Whey – Though not a natural whole food, whey is very high in protein and is also healthy. It is a staple among body builders. Whey is sold as protein powder.

 

 

Fats are also essential for fast metabolism. Now, this may raise a few eyebrows, especially among those who have tried conventional weight loss diets. This is where the fast metabolism diet, again, sets itself apart. While too much fat – especially unhealthy fat  – is bad, a small amount of healthy fats helps hormones responsible for metabolism to continue performing well. Diets low in fat lead to poor hormone production, and thus, slower metabolism.

 

When adding fats to your diet remember to keep them in their proper place: at the top of the food pyramid. Healthy sources of fat are olive oil, avocados, sunflower seeds, and nuts.

 

As with fats, calcium helps release hormones that boost metabolism. Milk, of course, is the best source of calcium. Yogurt is also high in calcium and has other health benefits as well.

 

“Nutrients” to Avoid

 

Avoid empty calories like the plague. These come from refined, highly processed foods – usually the simple carbohydrates that are not natural whole foods. Why empty calories? They fill you up but give little or no nutrients. What’s more, these foods usually contain a lot of sugar – and too much sugar seriously affects the metabolism.

 

Just to drive home the point, below are examples of foods with empty calories:

 

Candies

Gums

Chocolate bars

Pastries

Cakes

Biscuits

Soft drinks

Fast food

Flavored drinks

White bread, rice and pasta

 

 

Too much caffeine is also not good for your metabolism. It triggers a stress response. So go easy on the coffee.

 

Other Recommended Foods

 

1. Spices – Cayenne pepper and red hot pepper, in particular, contain capsaicin which is said to raise metabolism up to 25 percent for three hours.

 

2. Green Tea – It’s not all about antioxidants. Taken regularly, green tea can increase the thermic effect of food. Research from the University of Geneva shows that green tea speeds up fat oxidation in addition to boosting metabolism. Green tea also has less caffeine than coffee, whose caffeine level may greatly affect metabolism. For those who do not like the bitter taste, green tea extract is available in capsule form.

 

3. Soy – A study conducted by the University of Illinois shows that ingesting soy protein increases metabolism. The soy protein was injected, though, and not fed to the subjects. While the study is not 100 percent conclusive, taking soy, with its healthy protein and immunity-building properties, will not hurt.

 

Water is life – and fuel – for metabolism

 

The old advice holds true for overall health as well as metabolism – drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

 

Dehydration affects metabolism through a drop in body temperature. This drop triggers your body to store fat to help increase or maintain your body temperature.

 

Also, as you will be doing more exercises, you need water to keep your energy levels. If you sweat a lot, you should drink more water – even more than the eight glasses.

 

Water cleanses the body of toxins and thus enables body processes to proceed smoothly, including metabolism.

 

Timing is key in eating

 

Even though you are consuming the right foods, your results will be compromised if your timing is not perfect. Follow the advice below and you will get the best results.

 

1. Eat several meals a day, every two and a half hours to three hours. To really maximize the thermic effect of food, you need to eat more than the usual three meals. Eating every three hours will allow the thermic effect to last you throughout the day, as it takes between two and a half to three hours to digest food while protein broken down to amino acids stays for three hours in the bloodstream. For the exact number of meals, the magic number for men is six while it is five for women. Men require 600-900 more calories every day than women.

Do not go over your optimal number of meals, especially through late night snacking. When you are asleep, your body has a difficult time digesting. Also, the calories from your last meal are stored as fat. Keeping the last meal light and easier to digest compared with the earlier meals is recommended.

 

2. Always eat breakfast. Your body has been in starvation mode during your sleep time. To get your metabolism up and running again, start the day right with a healthy, hearty breakfast. The later you eat your first meal for the day, the later your metabolism starts.

 

3. Do not skip meals. Under no circumstances should you skip meals, especially the three basic meals. If you have a busy schedule and have a hard time snacking, keep “emergency” foods within your reach, like whole wheat crackers and bananas. During particularly hectic days, just a few crackers or one banana would suffice as a snack to keep your metabolism running. A fresh fruit shake or a protein shake would also be enough.

 

 

4. Take one snack or meal after your workout. A meal or snack with protein and carbohydrates taken within one hour after your workout for the day helps in the recovery of your muscles and the building of new ones.

 

5. Do not eat less than two and a half hours before bedtime. Though metabolism still happens while sleeping, digestion will be difficult and your calories will most likely be stored as fat in your body.

 

 

 

Sample meal plans

 

Below are two sample meal plans for a day. The key in each meal, particularly the main ones, is to combine protein and carbohydrates. Portions depend on your personal daily calorie requirements. Remember, though, that carbohydrates should have the biggest share in your diet – and these include hefty servings of vegetables! – followed by protein. Calcium is also essential. Fats are the least priority. You can include green tea with your meals – six cups throughout the day is best.

 

 

MEAL PLAN 1

6 AM – Meal 1

Oatmeal with banana slivers
Poached egg

9 AM – Meal 2

Protein Shake

1 PM – Meal 3

Skinless chicken breast drizzled with olive oil
Brown rice
Steamed broccoli
4 PM – Meal 4
Green beans

Potatoes

7 PM – Meal 5

Salmon fillet
Sweet potato
Cauliflower

 

 

MEAL PLAN 2

6 AM – Meal 1

Egg white pancakes (only one or two yolks can be added)

Choice of fruit/s – banana, blueberry and/or strawberries

9 AM – Meal 2

Yogurt

Choice of fruit

1 PM – Meal 3

Vegetable curry
Brown rice
4 PM – Meal 4
Fruit salad with greens and grilled chicken

(Note: dressing should ideally be vinaigrette, with olive oil)

7 PM – Meal 5

Chili (made of turkey, kidney beans and salsa)

Steamed vegetables

 

Milk can be taken as a last “meal.”

 

These meal plans are here just to give you an idea. Create your own, but remember the principles. You can also change the times here, but remember not to eat too late at night.

 

Metabolism Masterclass Checkpoint: Before we proceed…

 

Below are just some caveats and some things to watch out for in eating and nutrition for faster metabolism:

 

1. Some foods can only take you so far. Spicy foods and green tea do have some effect in boosting metabolism, but only as an addition to a diet already rich in protein and carbohydrates. Relying on these alone for your diet for faster metabolism is not enough.

 

2. Some foods won’t take you there at all. Grapefruit especially is popular among dieters as its high acidity is perceived to burn fats. However, there is no scientific proof for this.

 

3. No supplement will boost your metabolism. To those who are taking supplements to boost your metabolism, you may just be wasting your money. Again, there is no scientifically proven link between supplements and faster metabolism.

 

4. Diet pills are a no-no. For those who want to lose weight, some diet pills may burn some fat and control your appetite. However, they do NOT boost metabolism. Also, the downside of diet pills is that once you get used to a certain dose, you need to take more to get the same effect as before. A few of those diet pills out there may indeed boost metabolism, but can have serious side effects. Read the box or container carefully. Better yet, consult your doctor. Looking at the adverse effects diet pills can have, wouldn’t you prefer to boost your metabolism the natural way? You will look and feel better.

 

We are now on the last leg of the program to fire up your metabolism. Keep reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fast Metabolism Fuel #3:

DE-STRESS

 

You might be wondering what the purpose of this section is – isn’t stress supposed to be a daily, ordinary part of life? But that is just the point. We now live in a fast-paced culture driven by urgency and deadlines. The more things you get done in less time, the better. Work, family and recreation have become a balancing act. Tension, worry, anxiety and fear are all too common. Emotional problems like failure in marriages, deaths of loved ones, or simply troubled relationships are accompanied with pressures from work.

 

Stress, especially prolonged exposure to stress, can seriously affect your metabolism, as well as your overall health and well-being.

 

The stress and metabolism link

        

There is a hormone in our body called cortisol, which aids in certain body functions. It aids regulation of blood pressure, release of insulin for blood sugar stability, increase of immunity, and proper metabolism of glucose. Small increases of cortisol can be beneficial, resulting in a quick, healthy jolt of energy and immunity, heightened memory, and a higher pain threshold.   However, when too much cortisol is released or if it is released too often, it results in the following:

 

Blood sugar imbalances

Higher blood pressure

Decreased immunity

Lower cognitive performance

Decrease in bone density

Decrease in muscle tissue

 

 

Cortisol particularly stimulates amino acid release from your muscles to be converted to glucose that will serve as an energy source for your body to cope with stress. Yes, your hard-earned muscles are at the mercy of cortisol if you don’t control its levels in your body.

 

The release of cortisol is mainly triggered by stress, whether physical or emotional in nature. Remember what we talked about for your exercise routine?  Do not overtax yourself as it triggers the body’s stress response.

 

Stress is also harmful to the body as it leads to the production of more acid than the body needs. Our bodies usually have an 80 percent alkaline and 20 percent acid balance. More acid in the body will upset that balance. Too much acid decreases your immunity and makes you more vulnerable to illness. Too much acid also affects body functions, including metabolism.

You can effectively cope with stress and keep your cortisol levels healthy and stable, though. When your body goes into the stress response, it is important that you help it go into the relaxation response.

 

Ways to de-stress

 

There are many ways to de-stress, as there are many causes of stress. Pick the ones to your liking.

 

For “re-charging:”

 

1. Aromatherapy – This is particularly effective to let your stress during the day dissipate. Lavender and mint essential oils have excellent relaxing properties. A few drops mixed with water on your oil burner will suffice. You can also combine aromatherapy with meditation. As the aroma envelops you, feel it slowly sucking in your tiredness and worries. As the aroma leaves later on, imagine that your tiredness and worries are also going away with it. You can also briefly relax with aromatherapy during work. Put a few drops on a piece of tissue paper and inhale. Close your eyes while doing this.

 

2. Massage – This is also aptly called touch therapy. A massage is also beneficial as it loosens the muscles and joints that may have tensed up due to continuous stress. Back muscles are particularly susceptible to this. You can also combine massage with aromatherapy – you can ask the masseur or masseuse to use essential oils for your massage. Peppermint is particularly excellent. Aside from its aroma, it has a cooling effect on the body when used as massage oil.

 

3. Music therapy – Put some gentle, relaxing music on your player, sit or lie in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and let the music wash over you. Imagine it washing away your worries, fears, and anxieties. A good alternative to soothing music is the sounds of nature, like ocean waves. Recordings of nature sounds are available in music stores. If you find you enjoy relaxing on the beach, then bring the beach home with you through a recording of ocean waves.

 

4. Imagery – Imagine that you are a kite slowly rising and floating through the air. You float in the bright blue sky in perfect balance and harmony with the wind. After some time, feel yourself slowly gliding downwards and then softly touching the ground. The above imagery is particularly helpful not only for relaxing but for simulating a good response to stress – notice that the motion of the kite is in harmony with the wind, when the same wind can also make the kite spin out of control.

Another imagery technique is to imagine a beautiful scene from nature like a mountaintop, a secluded island, or a tropical rainforest. Imagine yourself, from a first-person perspective, walking through the place and taking in all the beauty.

You can vary the place you visit every time you use this technique, or you can pick one and make it your sanctuary – the place you flee to during moments of stress.

 

For the long-term:

 

1. Think positive! – Thoughts greatly influence your health and well-being. Your thoughts can actually manifest into reality, as maintained by philosophers, contemporary speakers and even scientists. So bad thoughts can manifest negatively, while positive thoughts manifest positively. So if you are going to think, you might as well think of pleasant things. If you have anxieties over something, like an upcoming presentation for work, imagine yourself – from the first-person perspective – giving an excellent, flawless presentation. Imagine the reactions of your audience. Feel the feelings as if you were there already. Images are more powerful than words, so apply the same principle to your thoughts.

 

2. Let go of negative feelings. Wallowing in negative feelings equals more acid in the body. No wonder tension and fear lead to heartburn or indigestion while chronic worry and/or resentment makes you more susceptible to high blood pressure.

However, do not suppress your feelings, even though some may appear irrational to you. Doing so also leads to higher acid levels in your body. Feel the feeling, express it through healthy catharsis in a safe environment if you feel the need to (e.g. screaming into a pillow) – and let it go. Yes, the key here is to let go. Do not dwell on negative feelings.

 

3. Meditate daily – Make meditation a habit. In the long term, meditation brings you peace of mind and makes you more able to cope with stress. It need not be a complex meditation – stillness and emptiness of mind is the key. Sit in a comfortable position and breathe slowly, deeply. Focus on each part of your body and feel it release its tension. After you feel sufficiently relaxed, you can silently repeat a simple word with no particular emotional attachment for you – for example, you can say “tree.” Or, you can actually say a letter, like a. Repeat this word or letter in your mind for about one minute. Then sit still and let thoughts come to your mind. Observe your thoughts as if you were apart from them, as though they were another person’s thoughts. This is so that you do not dwell on any thought. Just objectively, naturally, allow any thought to enter your mind then leave. If you reach a state of emptiness, where you feel you are thinking about nothing, congratulations! It may take some time for you to reach this point, though.

 

4. Take up yoga. Not only is this an excellent stress-buster, it also directly fires up your metabolism. The endocrine system and the thyroid help regulate metabolism. Yoga has many positions which give a healthy twist and compression to your endocrine organs, thereby strengthening them for metabolism.

For relaxation from stress, though, a good yoga position is the corpse pose. As its name instructs, you should lie like a corpse. Release all tension from your body. The corpse pose is actually a good ending to your yoga routine.

 

5. Plan ahead – If the cause of your stress is recurring, plan ahead. After you have identified the cause of your stress, ask yourself if there is any way you can avoid it. For example, one cause of your stress may be the morning rush-hour traffic. To be relaxed while you are on your way to work, you have to leave early. Then you remember you watch television every night, sometimes late into the night. To avoid stress in the morning, you conclude you can decrease your television time and go to sleep earlier the night before.

 

By the way, if your body is subjected to stress such as long working hours, you should modify your diet while still keeping the principles of the fast metabolism diet. You especially need Vitamin C, as this helps the body cope during stress. Load up on citrus fruits and strawberries. For vegetables, sweet red pepper is an excellent source of Vitamin C. Other than that, your diet remains the same – load up on complex carbohydrates, particularly fibrous ones and take in protein.

 

Why sleep is important

        

Sleep is the time your body fully recovers from your workouts. This is also the time that your muscles grow – yes, they do not grow during your workout but while you are in bed. With little sleep, your muscles grow very little even if you put in much effort in your workouts.

 

Lack of sleep will also prevent your body from being in top form and will thus also affect your energy for workouts. You might find yourself getting tired easily even after a few sets or reps.

 

Also, scientific studies show that lack of sleep affects carbohydrate metabolism. Glucose is not metabolized as much, resulting in increased hunger and decreased overall metabolism.

 

It is important for you to get at least eight hours of sleep every night for the body to fully re-charge for the next day. Although people’s circadian rhythms may differ, the normal circadian rhythm is 10 pm to 6 am. This is the best period for muscles to grow. So sleep early to increase your metabolism!

 

Metabolism Masterclass Checkpoint: Before we proceed…

 

For some, de-stressing may be the most difficult part of the program to boost metabolism. What if stress has become so much a part of your daily life that making serious changes in your lifestyle is difficult? You can take things slowly. The least you need to do, though, is to find some quiet time to yourself every day. It can be as little as ten minutes. Use those ten minutes to just relax and meditate.

 

Meditation goes a long way. Even ten minutes every day helps you cope better with stress.  Studies show that people who meditate regularly are less stressed and are more able to meet life’s demands. If there are times you cannot avoid staying up late, catch up on sleep on the weekend. Don’t let your sleep “debt” accumulate. Sleep “debt” leads to poor cognitive function and poor health overall. Your body processes don’t function as well as they should – and that includes metabolism.  Take time to de-stress. It not only boosts your metabolism but also improves your health in general.

 

So now you know the entire program. But we are not through just yet!

 

Chapter Five

FIRE UP YOUR METABOLSIM NOW!

 

You have learned all you need to do – now is the best time to start.

 

In sum, you have learned that metabolism is the process of converting calories into energy for storage or immediate use. You now know that metabolism is an essential body function, working every second of your life – even while you are sleeping. And you now know the overall metabolism formula – basal metabolism + physical activity + the thermic effect of food, as well as what factors influence the rate of your metabolism.

 

Now you already have the knowledge on how to boost your metabolism:

 

Exercise smart

 

• Build muscle through a combination of strength and resistance exercises with weights and without weights. Use exercises that work the most number of muscle groups possible. (2-3 sets, with 6-8 reps each)

 

• Increase calorie-burning through interval training with cardiovascular exercise. Alternate high-intensity exercise with moderate-intensity exercise. (30 minutes, with one to four minutes per interval)

 

• Do the two exercises on alternate days throughout the week. Allot one day for total rest with no exercise.

 

Eat right

 

• If less is good for traditional weight loss diets, more is good for the fast metabolism diet.

 

• Stock up on carbohydrates and protein, as these are the driving forces of metabolism.

 

• Include calcium and healthy fats in your diet.

 

• Timing is important.
  • Always eat breakfast to kick off your metabolism for the day.
  • Eat five to six meals in a day, every two and a half to three hours. Never skip meals.
  • Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
  • Take one snack or meal within one hour after your workout for the day.

 

De-stress

 

• Re-charge through “sensation therapy” (aromatherapy, massage and music) and imagery.

 

• For long-term improvement, meditate daily, take up yoga, and think positively. Do not dwell on negative feelings. Plan ahead to avoid stressful situations.

 

So there you have it. What you now need to do is “excuse-proof” your fast metabolism program to ensure you get the best results. In times when you feel little motivation, go back to the scene I asked you to visualize – yourself, after going through the program. Though people’s bodies differ, you will most likely notice the results in just three or four weeks – or even two weeks.

Good luck! Cheers to a healthier, better you!

Introduction  

The idea of fasting is still tied to the spiritual and religious practices. When we first heard about fasting, we immediately relate the term to the Catholics who practice this during Lent or to Muslims during Ramadan. In ancient times when people fasted they believed that doing so would improve their clarity of thought and bring spiritual enlightenment and inspiration.

In fact, many people who fast relay a feeling of being more removed from the physical and a more spiritually focused consciousness. It should be reflected however, that having strong values is integral to this – as mental attitude is huge part of one’s sense of the world.

 

Most would consider fasting as a spiritual enlightenment. But what is really behind fasting that those who practice it have an aura of well contentment and happiness. Those who practice them don’t seem to have the effect of the environment on their physical outlook.

 

A few of us have tried fasting but not everyone understands its concept and benefits therefore the more we need to know on the subject to fully grasp its benefits.

 

For those who already are in fasting, you’re further given the insights of fasting. The benefits to be fully enjoyed, one must accompany it with healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits. Fasting is useless if we don’t have the two to accompany it with the two.

 

As you read on, you will find a lot of information on the topic. And you near the end of this, you can be assured that you will learn more than what you expect. Then perhaps see that change you always wanted.

 

Take note however that results will vary with each person as each and every one of us response differently. Two people can be subjected to the same conditions and their reactions can be quite different. So never compare your results with another, what is important is that you feel that positive change in your body, mind and soul.

 

“In my opinion, the greatest discovery by modern man is the power to rejuvenate himself physically, mentally, and spiritually with Rational Fasting.” The Miracle of Fasting by Paul Bragg, ND, PhD

 

Our Body

 

The body is a physical structure of a living thing. It is made up of cells, tissues, organs and systems that work hand in hand. They form a complex system of relationship that the absence of one greatly cripples the entire body. The loss of an eye makes it hard for our other systems to grasp the events happening around and must rely to the remaining senses.

 

Our body is one wonderful machine, a wonder of science.  The complexity of it and how it is able to perform so many things at a time often leads it to being called the “wonder machine”. It never runs out of battery, it could do work all by itself, it could even process different applications, it could come up with solutions and so much more.

 

Our body could do so many things that almost each and every single one of us are testing and pushing our bodies to the limit. We defy the laws set by nature about caring for our body. And when our body seems to be slowing down, we simply revive it with caffeine over and over again even to the point of overloading ourselves with it.

 

We are in touch with our body that we know what it’s capable of and sad to say, this knowledge led to the abuse of our body through the years. We eat like there is no tomorrows because we perfectly know that the body will simply digest, absorb and excrete what we eat. We drink and smoke because we know that our body has its defence system working round the clock. We drink medicines anytime we want because we know that our body could take them.

 

Yet do we also know that too much abuse of what our body can do is also bad? Our body is just like any machine that once it reaches its limit, it breaks down. Too much alcohol, unhealthy food and lifestyle combined with stress is extremely harmful to our body.

 

As we age, the maximum capacity of our body will only reach its peak once and will decrease over time. Because of the decrease, our body becomes prone to different ailments and sickness, we become weak over time and if we don’t heed to the pleas of our aging body, this just might cause us our lives.

 

It must be remembered that our body should be handled with care just as we do with other things. We must always love and care for it.

 

 Stress and The Human Body

 

What is stress?  It is said that stress is a condition that almost everyone can relate in an everyday sense. Stress is not new and we are no stranger to stress. Almost everything and every where there is stress, there is stress in the workplace, at home at school and even in emotional perspective. And we must remember that stress will never give our bodies good benefits, in short stress never serve us well.

 

How a person reacts to stress differs. Stress is caused by different factors and with different resolutions. Our personality and emotions will determine how much the effect of stress on our body will be. Some may have higher stress threshold as compared to us. These people are able to meet up with deadlines calmly and still give positive results.

 

But the physical effects of stress on our body can be very damaging our emotional and physical health. While the effects are subtle, the long-term effects of stress are deadly. Even more alarming is the long-term effect of stress on our body. It very much acceptable to accept the fact that stress shortens our lives.

 

Increased risk of heart disease, nervous breakdowns, stomach ulcers, tension headaches, and an increased susceptibility to infection are just a few of the things that stress can do to us. No single effect of stress is beneficial to us.

 

Although stress in the short run can have positive effects such as the ability to react to the situation quickly and resolve it as immediately as possible, it is never good in the long run. But, almost each and every one of us lives each single day with stress and sometimes in the succeeding years.

 

Stress affects our health, body and mind to such great extent that we are crippled by its effects over time. Some of the signs of stress include short-temper, anxiety, impatience, low moral, temperature changes, blood pressure increase, and migraines and so on. Yet there are times when the stress is not so hard and that person has a higher threshold, the stress condition may actually be of beneficial results that will end short with a complete relaxation.

 

Most often than not, insomnia and depression are the most common effects of stress on us. Because of the two, our mental and physical state is affected. Likewise, our diet is affected too which leads to our low energy levels and thus making us unproductive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common Ailments of The Body

 

As living things, we too are prone to different diseases. Despite the fact that our immune system works 24/7, it cannot battle the all the diseases that invade our system all at once. Often times the common ailments are signs of even bigger catastrophe.

 

Not giving due attention to the common ailments will lead to something even more dangerous and deadly. A simple cold if not treated or given attention, might progress to something worse. A cough if lingers for days or weeks could mean the patient is having lung problems.

 

So, what are common ailments? Common ailments are simply diseases which we are prone to suffer in our everyday life. The term arises from the fact that they are occurring commonly to almost all individuals. Most common are headaches, stomach aches, pimples, acne and the list go on.

 

These common ailments can be very irritating, if not disturbing for small children as they keep on coming back. This holds true for adults too. The general health of the person determines the frequency of the ailments. A person with good health and excellent immune system will most likely not be bothered with common ailments as compared to someone who isn’t.

 

Do not be paranoid of your common ailment not unless it’s worse than the usual one. These are not so serious and will be gone after a few days. A week of care and rest is usually enough for them ailments to leave the body. Do not immediately drink medicines on the first day. Try to observe fro other signs and symptoms. Taking medicine too early will mask these symptoms which could’ve helped in diagnosing as to the nature and cause.

 

There are a variety of common ailments from which people suffer from. These ailments are not very serious and can be cured by referring to some home remedies or over the counter medicines. If your ailments persist then you should immediately consult a doctor or physician.

 

 

The Common Ailments list is quite big some of them are as follows:

• Allergies
• Headache
• Heartburn
• Nasal Congestion
• Cough and Cold
• Fever/Flu
• Stomach Disorders
• Tummy aches
• Migraine
• Acidity
• Constipation

 

They could even be prevented. Doctors, nurses and mothers alike would all agree to the tips to prevent common ailments.

• If you are prone to cough and cold then try to avoid sitting in A. C. for long and avoid cold drinks and ice creams as much as possible.
• If you have frequent congestion problem then try not to breathe the polluted air outside and use a mask while going outdoor.
• Keeping yourself away from the junk food will lessen the occurrence of stomach disorders largely.
• Maintaining a balanced diet comprising, seeds, green leafy vegetables, legumes, cereals fresh fruits, and other foods enriched in vitamins and protein will help to keep the body healthy and strong enough to fight various diseases.
• Maintain the basic hygiene and keep yourself clean. Take frequent baths and wash the face, hands, and legs whenever you are back from outdoors. This will prevent development of germs in your body.
• Whenever sneezing or coughing, cover the face with a hanky.
• Maintain a proper sleeping itinerary of at least 6-7 hours and avoid stress and tension. This will help in preventing headache and other such elements. There are other significant information on the common ailments and the ways to combat it.

 

 

 

Unhealthy Lifestyle

 

It is often emphasizing that a healthy lifestyle is always the ideal one especially today that we cannot afford to be sick as the bills are very expensive.

 

But it has been observed that our health is degenerated and we are exposed to a lot of toxins and chemicals anywhere we go. There are toxins and chemical and we are exposed every day at work, home, in the air, and in the food that we eat and water we drink.

 

With the fast-paced life, we depend on processed food and fast foods. We have bombarded ourselves with medicines and drugs and with less exercise.

 

So, what makes a lifestyle unhealthy?

 

Some of the factors which make our lifestyle unhealthy are as follows:

 

• Too much junk food being put into our hands especially in children’s hands. Junk food which contains saturated fat increases blood cholesterol levels and therefore increases your risk of heart disease and some cancers.
• Life is full of stress. Modern life is full of hassles, deadlines, frustrations, and demands. Work can be a stressful place, whether in an office, a factory, or a school. For many people, stress is so commonplace that it has become a way of life.
• We are generally dependent on medical drugs and are not aware that medical drug side effects are dangerous to their health. In the world today, many people seem to think that they just want medicines and drugs to solve their health problems; they believe they can always seek medical assistance. But what they are not aware of is that these pharmaceutical medications may have potential adverse reactions. Some drugs which are toxic to your liver and do crazy things to your health and metabolism, perhaps you obediently swallow those little poisons without considering what they are doing to your body.
• Exposure to pollution and toxic wastes such poisonous agents from the household items. Our bodies are absorbing the harmful chemicals surrounding the environment today. It is thus imperative that we clean up our living environment as much as possible. Those regular detergents, soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and perfumes that we uses today contain many chemicals which are toxic to our bodies, some even carcinogenic.
• Lack of exercise. Exercise always improves our fitness level. No questions asked bout this.

 

  

Here Enters, Fasting

 

Fasting often described by many books and experts as primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. A fast may be total or partial concerning that from which one fasts and may be prolonged or intermittent as to the period of fasting.

 

Fasting practices may preclude sexual activity as well as food, in addition to refraining from eating certain types or groups of foods; for example, one might refrain from eating meat. A complete fast in its traditional definition is abstinence of all food and liquids.

 

Over a period of time, we all know that in the absence of food makes us weak and will have detrimental effect on our body. In fasting however, this is not always the case. Water or any fluids is consumed at quantities that satisfy thirst and other during the absence of food, the body will systematically cleanse itself of everything except vital tissue.

Starvation will occur only when the body is forced to use vital tissue to survive. Although protein is being used by the body during the fast, a person fasting even 40 days on water will not suffer a deficiency of protein, vitamins, minerals or fatty acids. In the breakdown of unhealthy cells, all essential substances are used and conserved in a most extraordinary manner.

There is an unwarranted fear of fasting that strength diminishes from the catabolism of proteins from muscle fibres. Even during long fasts, the number of muscle fibres remains the same. Although the healthy cells may be reduced in size and strength for a time, they remain perfectly sound.

1. J. Carlson, Professor of Physiology, University of Chicago, states that a healthy, well-nourished man can live from 50 to 75 days without food, provided he is not exposed to harsh elements or emotional stress.

Human fat is valued at 3,500 calories per pound. Each extra pound of fat will supply enough calories for one day of hard physical labor. Ten pounds of fat are equal to 35,000 calories! Most of us have sufficient reserves, capable of sustaining us for many weeks.

However, fasting also has its down side. Some people do excessive fasting out of intense fear of becoming overweight. Pairing this fear with mental disturbance is very dangerous and deadly as in the cases of people with anorexia nervosa.

 

It must be remembered that the fasting that will be discussed in this book is for the good health and well being of the individual. Never use fasting as a resort to losing weight drastically. Good results come with time.

 

Fasting and Its Applications

 

This chapter will discuss and present some applications of fasting in the fields of medicine and politics.

• Medical application. I remembered once when a family member was to undergo surgery. Her surgeon told her to fast at least 8 hours prior to surgery. If one is not familiar why the surgeon asked his patient to fast, then know that fasting is often indicated prior to surgery or other procedures that require anaesthetics.

With the presence of food in a person’s system, it can cause complications during anaesthesia; thus, the strong suggestion of the medical personnel that their patients fast for several hours (or overnight) before the procedure. Additionally, certain medical tests, such as cholesterol testing (lipid panel) or certain blood glucose measurements require fasting for several hours so that a baseline can be established.

In the case of cholesterol, the failure to fast for a full 12 hours (including vitamins) will guarantee an elevated triglyceride measurement. Patients about to get a CT scan are required to fast as well.

• Political application. Ever since, fasting is one tool that is used by political leaders and protesters to air out their protest, political statement or even awareness for a cause. This is often known as “hunger strike”, a non-violent method of resistance practiced by participants where they fast as an act of political protest or to achieve awareness or goal for change.

The most noteworthy events include the fasting of Gandhi and that had significant impact on the British Raj and the Indian population. In history, one “hunger strike” resulted in the death of 10 persons. It is in Northern Ireland in 1981, that a prisoner, Bobby Sands, was part of the 1981 Irish hunger strike, protesting for better rights in prison. Sands had just been elected to the British Parliament and died after 66 days of not eating.

His funeral was attended by 100,000 people and the strike ended only after 9 other men died. In all, the ten men survived without food for 46 to 73 days taking only water and salt.

 

  

Fast Facts About Fasting

In an excerpt from the book “Fasting to Freedom”, the author discusses the effects of fasting and what is being eliminated in the process. Here we are given an overview as to how fasting works and its effect on us. Its been said that the other health benefits include stress resistance, increased insulin sensitivity, reduced morbidity, and increased life span

“During a fast, a metamorphosis occurs.  The body undergoes a tearing down and rebuilding of damaged materials.  There is a remarkable redistribution of nutrients in the fasting body.  It hangs on to precious minerals and vitamins while catabolising old tissue, toxins and inferior materials. The end result is a thorough cleansing of the tube, membrane and cellular structures.  This process of cleansing and rebuilding has made fasting famous for its ability to rejuvenate, heal disease and give the body a more youthful tone.

Eliminations during the cleansing process

• Dead, dying or diseased cell
  Unwanted fatty tissue
• Trans-fatty acids
• Hardened coating of mucus on the intestinal wall
• Toxic waste matter in the lymphatic system and bloodstream
• Toxins in the spleen, liver and kidneys
• Mucus from the lungs and sinuses
• Imbedded toxins in the cellular fibres and deeper organ tissues
• Deposits in the microscopic tubes responsible for nourishing brain cells
• Excess cholesterol. 

The Result

• Mental clarity is improved
• Rapid, safe weight loss is achieved without flabbiness
• The nervous system is balanced
• Energy level is increased
• Organs are revitalized
• Cellular biochemistry is harmonized
• The skin becomes silky, soft and sensitive
• There is greater ease of movement
• Breathing becomes fuller, freer and deeper
• The digestive system is given a well-deserved rest.

 

To heal illness, the body must pull all of its resources toward cleansing and repairing by removing appetite and reducing or stopping digestion.  Wounded animals will fast, emerging to eat only after their wounds or broken bones have healed.  This is the reason why there is little desire to eat food when sick—the body wants to focus all of its resources on cleansing.”

 

 

 

Fasting Our Soul, Body and Mind

Most of the experts on the field, fitness experts, doctors and spiritual experts, would agree as to the effects of fast on the soul and our body. Most striking is the article written by Gabrielle Lim when she summarized the benefits into five simple yet unforgettable sentences. In an excerpt from the article, she gives the 5 benefits.

1. Retune your digestive system

Not many people know this but fasting can be a way for you to give your digestive system a tune up. According to Dr. Naomi Neufeld, an endocrinologist at UCLA, “You re-tune the body, suppress insulin secretion, reduce the taste for sugar, so sugar becomes something you’re less fond of taking.”

What happens is that the body eventually uses up the stored sugar (glycogen) so that less insulin is needed to help the body digest food. And that gives your pancreas a rest.

2. Reduce your intake of free radicals

Mark Mattson, a scientist with the National Institute on Aging, has reported that fasting can reduce your intake of free radicals, which can cause cancer. In fact, according to Mattson, “These free radicals will attack proteins, DNA, the nucleus of cells, the membranes of cells. They can damage all those different molecules in cells.”

Even just reducing your calorie intake can have the same effects as a fast. In a study amongst rats and mice, it was noted that those who were fed very little and restricted in their food intake had a reduction in disease compared to those who were fed normal daily diets.

3. Speed up your journey to self-discovery

We are all creatures of habit. And eating, just like smoking and sleeping, is a habit. What happens during a fast is that by taking away such an essential part of your daily routine, you mess up your whole schedule. This sounds bad but it’s not. It’s really a time to reflect on your routines and give you a pause to think about how you want your life to move forward.

By fasting, you become more conscious of yourself and you can take the time usually spent eating to meditate, journal, or do any other form of reflection.

4. Increase your gratitude

How could you not be grateful to break your fast? And after each day when you do break fast, it’s a celebration. It is a celebration for a completed day of fasting, reflection, and persistence. So, rejoice and celebrate your success! Show gratitude to yourself and others.

And when you break your fast, you will be very happy to taste food again. And contrary to some beliefs, you won’t binge on food. In fact, you will be more conscious of what you allow into your body and feel gratitude for the food you receive.

5. Launch yourself into your ideal life

Sounds like a pretty big benefit for something as simple as fasting. But it’s true. When you begin your fast you can take this time to break old patterns, examine your current situation, and use it as the starting point for a whole new life.

 

 

Kinds of Fasting

Fasting can be done in many different ways. Below is a list of the different types or categories of fasting that is commonly practiced.

• Complete Fast: In complete fast, every two hours you drink a glass of water
• and a glass of warm water together with some lemon juice is taken an hour after. The main purpose of taking lemon juice in warm water is to prevent gas formation. If one needs some energy during this period, then a spoon of honey may also be taken with lemon juice in ordinary water also. Water of a tender coconut may also be taken during this fasting.

 

• Milk-Banana diet- In his kind of fast, one cup of skimmed milk and a banana is taken alternatively three to four times a day. Added to that honey and lemon juice and lemon juice in warm water may also be taken.

 

• Fruit diet: In this kind of fast, a person lives only on fruit and fruit juices. Again, in this fast, water and lemon juice in water can be continued. But his fast must not exceed 6-7 days; otherwise the body will become deficient of essential enzymes and amino acids.

 

 

• Fruit and Vegetable diet: In such a diet, lightly boiled or steamed vegetables can also be taken besides fruits. But the use of salt must be avoided. This fast can also not exceed more than 6-7 days at a stretch.

 

• Traditional Fast: In this kind of fast, a light meal is taken only once a day. This meal may contain a little of salt, sugar and fat. But one does not take any fruit, vegetables, tea, juices besides that meal. Ordinary water or lemon juice in warm water may be taken alternatively. This kind of fast is traditionally kept on full moon day or on the first day of the solar month.

 

• Water Fast: You can fast from 1 to 40 days. Try to drink 2 litres of water or more per day.  The ten-day water fast has become a recommended number of days. Ten days on water will cause the same weight loss as 30 days on juice. But water fasting is far more difficult, especially if you have a fast metabolism. Water fasting cleanses the body aggressively removing toxins rapidly. Water fasting can be more beneficial than juice fasting in combating more persistent forms of cancer, cleansing the tissues more aggressively.

 

Water fasting demands mental preparation, the less pressure and responsibility you have during water fast the better. Think of it a holiday away form the normal patterns of living. Some recommend that the week before your fast, you drink fresh juices and eat mostly raw fruits and vegetables to cleanse the body so that the detoxification during water fasting will be less aggressive. Water fasting should always include two of three days of juice fasting before and after the water fast. This alternating between juice and water fasting is the most effective method of achieving a full cleansing through fasting.

 

• Juice fast: Juice fasting is safe and can allow the body to clean itself of toxins while greatly improving conditions for health. A benefit is that your energy level is high because you are receiving sufficient nutrients from the juices, so you can carry out normal activities. A juice fast takes some burden off the digestive system and frees up some energy for accelerated healing though water fast does much better in that regard.

 

Also, juices can make available extra quantities of nutrients that a person might lack. Juices are easy to assimilate and take hardly any digestive energy from the body, allowing the body to put more energy into healing and rejuvenation. Packed with vitamins, minerals, living enzymes, antioxidants, photochemical, yet low enough in calories to force the body to cannibalize on its filthy waste, propelling you to vigorous physical health and clarity of mind.

 

  

Preparing To Fast

Depending on the length of your planned fast it can be helpful to prepare yourself for the change and the challenges you are about to face.

It is always better to inform yourself about fasting. Try doing your own investigation, read as much as you can on the fasting process, what are the various kinds of fasts and what you can expect as side affects. Never go into fasting if you have a pre-existing health condition. Consult your doctor if there are contrary indications with fasting and your condition.

Now, if it’s your first time to fast and have not done any fasting before, start by doing things in smaller scale. Try doing it for, lets say2-3 hours or half-day. When you decide to do it in the evening, try going to sleep without eating or the whole morning on fasting. Do immediately try the whole day fast or 1 week fast as your body will be overwhelmed with the new situation.

Try to eat one single meal a day. The preparation should also include selection of what you will be eating. It is important to abstain from something that you always like pork or beef. Try to slowly cut-down your caffeine, alcohol or smoking routine for the following days. If you’re a little bolder try to eat nothing but fruits and vegetables for a set amount of time. Whatever kind of test you can set up for yourself will give you an idea of what you will face once you jump fully into a more complete fast.

Most would agree that fasting detoxifies your body. By eating less or nothing at all your body has an opportunity to clean itself in a way it normally cannot.

Fasting is useless diet still consists of a lot of meat, processed foods, and you drink coffee and smoke. Sudden caffeine withdrawal can induce headaches if you are used to having caffeine every day. Cutting back or altering your diet days before you fast can help your body’s detoxification process be less of a shock once you get into your fast.

Everyone would agree with what one expert on fasting said, “Determine your cleanse duration and time period:  Try to arrange that your fast is in a time period where you have low activity or lobsters. Avoid heavy kinds of work if at all possible. When it comes to long fasts and inability of somebody to handle a long fast, you just do the best you can. When detoxification increases as it does during fasting, the liver, kidneys, lungs and immune system work extra hard to handle the load.”

As the purpose of the preparation is not to shock and overwhelm your body with fasting.

 

 

Stages of Fasting

Below is an excerpt from the book “How and When to Be Your Own Doctor” book, by Dr. Isabelle A. Moser with Steve Solomon, published in 1997. It clearly described the stages of fasting and how they work in relation to our body.

The best way to understand what happens when we fast is to break up the process into six stages: preparation for the fast, loss of hunger, acidosis, normalization, healing, and breaking the fast.

A person that has consumed the typical American diet most of their life and whose life is not in immediate danger would be very wise to gently prepare their body for the fast. Two weeks would be a minimum amount of time, and if the prospective faster wants an easier time of it, they should allow a month or even two for preliminary housecleaning During this time, eliminate all meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, coffee, black tea, salt, sugar, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, and greasy foods. This de-addiction will make the process of fasting much more pleasant and is strongly recommended. However, eliminating all these harmful substances is withdrawal from addictive substances and will not be easy for most. I have more to say about this later when I talk about allergies and addictions.

The second stage, psychological hunger, usually is felt as an intense desire for food. This passes within three or four days of not eating anything. Psychological hunger usually begins with the first missed meal. If the faster seems to be losing their resolve, I have them drink unlimited quantities of good-tasting herb teas, (sweetened –only if absolutely necessary–with nutrisweet). Salt-free broths made from meatless instant powder (obtainable at the health food store) can also fend off the desire to eat until the stage of hunger has passed.

Acidosis, the third stage, usually begins a couple of days after the last meal and lasts about one week. During acidosis the body vigorously throws off acid waste products. Most people starting a fast begin with an overly acid blood pH from the typical American diet that contains a predominance of acid-forming foods. Switching over to burning fat for fuel triggers the release of even more acidic substances. Acidosis is usually accompanied by fatigue, blurred vision, and possibly dizziness. The breath smells very bad, the tongue is coated with bad-tasting dryish mucus, and the urine may be concentrated and foul unless a good deal of water is taken daily. Two to three quarts a day is a reasonable amount.

Most fasters feel much more comfortable by the end of the first seven to ten days, when they enter the normalization phase; here the acidic blood chemistry is gradually corrected. This sets the stage for serious healing of body tissues and organs. Normalization may take one or two more weeks depending on how badly the body was out of balance. As the blood chemistry steadily approaches perfection, the faster usually feels an increasing sense of well-being, broken by short spells of discomfort that are usually healing crises or retracing.

The next stage, accelerated healing, can take one or many weeks more, again depending on how badly the body has been damaged. Healing proceeds rapidly after the blood chemistry has been stabilized, the person is usually in a state of profound rest and the maximum amount of vital force can be directed toward repair and regeneration of tissues. This is a miraculous time when tumors are metabolized as food for the body, when arthritic deposits dissolve, when scar tissues tend to disappear, when damaged organs regain lost function (if they can). Seriously ill people who never fast long enough to get into this stage (usually it takes about ten days to two weeks of water fasting to seriously begin healing) never find out what fasting can really do for them.

Breaking the fast is equally or more important a stage than the fast itself. It is the most dangerous time in the entire fast. If you stop fasting prematurely, that is, before the body has completed detoxification and healing, expect the body to reject food when you try to make it eat, even if you introduce foods very gradually. The faster, the spiritual being running the body, may have become bored and want some action, but the faster’s body hasn’t finished. The body wants to continue healing.

 

Fasting for Healing the Body

One of the most wanted benefits of fasting is the healing process that begins in the body during the fast. The healing process is said to happen when the body is searching for energy resources. When fasting, a fast energy is said to be diverted from the digestive system to another system, like the immune system, due to its lack of use.

Properly carried out, fasting can promote healing, is rejuvenating and can prolong one’s life. Fasting is actually all about healing the body, unlike the conventional and alternative medicine. Ron Laguequist in his book pointed out that healing could be achieved through fasting.

He said that, “Fasting intensifies healing as deep tissue and tired organs are repaired rapidly.  To heal illness the body must pull all of its resources toward cleansing and repairing by removing appetite and reducing or stopping digestion.  Wounded animals will fast, emerging to eat only after their injury or broken bones have healed. There are testimonies of people’s old wounds aching during a fast for the first time in years; unnecessary scare tissue is being broken down as fuel.  This is the reason why there is little desire to eat food when sick—the body wants to focus all of its resources on healing. 

Why does fasting have such a powerful effect on healing the body?  In the fasting state, the body scours for dead cells, damaged tissues, fatty deposits, tumors and abscesses, all of which are burned for fuel or expelled as waste.  Diseased cells are dissolved in a systematic manner, leaving healthy tissue.  The result is a thorough cleansing of the tubes, membranes and cellular structures.  Ingestion of mucus-forming foods clogs the body’s microscopic tubes and membranes, all of which are the highways used by the immune system.  Fasting dissolves this internal mucus.  During a fast it is common for the nose, throat and ears to pass sticky mucus, clogging the sinuses.  Strands of mucus may be found in the stool after the first bowel movement.  There is a remarkable redistribution of nutrients in the fasting body.  It hangs on to precious minerals and vitamins while catabolizing on old tissue, toxins and inferior materials”.  

 

  

Fast the Healthy Way

After knowing the benefits from fasting, keep in mind that when fasting, it should always be the healthy way. Do not fast for the sake that it’s the trend or because you want look sexy because others are. It should be holistic and beneficial to you and your outlook.

 

So, how do you fast the healthy way?

1. Be accountable. Whatever the consequences are, be accountable for your actions and for other things. Likewise, be sensitive to the response or reaction of others towards your fasting. They might have seen something wrong with your fasting.
2. Prepare in advance. When you want to fast, do not act on impulse, it best to be prepared. Try to know what could be things that might actually happen before, during and after the fast. It is always safe to prepare in advance the things you are about to do. The time of transition is useful for the body but can also be used to prepare on spiritual and practical levels as well. If you don’t skimp on the preparation time, your fast will likely go more smoothly and be more effective.
3. Understand the effects on your body. Your body goes through several distinct phases when you begin to fast. It is possible that during the first few hours, you will feel weak. Don’t be alarmed yet as this is natural since your body begins to eliminate the toxins in your system. There are a lot more of things that will happen but again, don’t be alarmed as they are normal and will disappear as soon your fasting is over.
4. Break the fast properly. The body through a period of heightened detoxification. An extended fast should have medical guidance that includes plans on how to deal with some potentially serious issues once your fast ends. The body has adjusted to a different state and must not be severely shock it by eating and drinking things that will cause discomfort and physical problems.

 

Who Should Not Fast?

Fasting, no matter how properly it is done, will always have dangerous effects on certain people. It is best advised that these should not fast even if they want to. Here are the categories of people who should never fast or must practice extreme caution.

1. Infants and children. There is really no reason for infants and children to fast. Due to their lack of maturity, they would likely not really understand the spiritual purpose of fasting, and their bodies need to take in ample nutrients regularly.
2. Pregnant women. Water-only fasts should definitely be avoided by women who are pregnant or nursing. The baby requires so many nutrients for normal development and is dependent on the mother’s proper nutrition to receive those nutrients. You are forcing the unborn baby to fast as well if the mother decides to fast.
3. People with cancer. Cancer is usually indicative of, among other things, an immune system that is not in good shape.
4. People with other health concerns. Water-only fasts should be avoided by those with significant health issues such as diabetes. However, juice fasts MAY be an option, but should be undertaken only under a doctor’s close supervision.
5. The elderly. Water-only fasts should be avoided by elderly people. There is no need for the elderly to fast as their body may not be able to carry such task.

And if one has still some concerns or questions, they should always ask with their doctor. Remember, fasting is supposed to bring out the best and healthy us.

 

Tips on Fasting

 

Here are some fasting tips shared by Debopriya Bose

 

For those who do not fast regularly or are doing it for the first time, it is better to adopt a moderate approach towards fasting and then graduate to stricter regimes. Start with a 1-day program. Then move on to programs for 2 days, 3 days and so on. In between the fasting days, one can have food consisting of raw fruits, vegetables, soups and juices. This is a good way of

Graduating to a 5 or 10 day fast. 

 

A first timer could consider juice fasting than water fasting as juice fasting is easier than water fast. Also juice fast provides most of the nutrients and calories that solid foods provide. Hence one would not miss solid food when on a juice fast. 

 

One of the important fasting tips is to prepare the body slowly for the process. For beginners, it is helpful to start fasting with a little bit of food each day. Extend the fast to 12 to 14 hours in the evening (including sleep). Such a method could also be adopted for a couple of days before actually starting the fast. For greater benefits from fasting, one should stop the intake of alcohol, caffeine, red meat, sugar and poultry for a few days before going in for a fast. Also the intake of nutritional supplements should be limited. Natural is the way to go during fasting!

 

For the first 2 days one may feel irritated and experience headaches. However, from the 3rd day onwards, one’s body adjusts better to the fasting program. To avoid such symptoms, one could take a meal that would comprise of water, juices, tea or snacks made from fresh fruits and vegetables, sometime around 3 p.m.

 

As it is clear that even during fasting, all the nutritional requirements of the body are met; there is no reason to stop working out. In fact, regular exercise will help expedite the cleansing process. However, beginners can go easy with their workouts in case they are used to heavy workouts. Yoga and meditation are great ways to complement the healing process during fasting.

 

One of the important tips for fasting is not to start binging on food once you are out of it. Since the body has already got accustomed to eating healthy and only as much as required, fasting is good opportunity to start off with healthy eating habits. 

 

Those who are underweight or pregnant should not fast. People who have undergone a surgery or are suffering from anemia, hyperglycemia, and chronic problems of heart, kidneys or lungs should avoid going on a fast. Nevertheless, if one is suffering from some health condition it is always better to consult a physician before starting a fast.

 

Fasting is not a crash course for weight loss. Despite all the benefits, listen to your body. If one feels ill while fasting, call in the doctor. It is important to follow the fasting tips in order to reap the benefits of fasting that ensures overall well being of the body.

 

 

 

Sample Fasting Program for Starters

Now that you pretty much know about fasting and its benefits, try this simple fasting regime using fruit juice.

1. Begin by clearing out any junk food from your home if you intend to do even a short 2 or 3-day juice fast. Having cookies and potato chips nearby in your kitchen while you juice fast will require enormous will power to refrain from eating them. You can give these items to a friend to store until you complete your juice fast or simply donate them to your local soup kitchen.

 

2. Purchase organic fruits and vegetables from your local farmer’s markets or the health food store. If you purchase non-organic produce, avoid buying grapes, apples, or peaches as these items are generally grown with heavy pesticide.

 

3. Make a detox bath for non-organic produce by filling a large tub with filtered water and 2 teaspoons of Clorox bleach. Submerge the non-organic produce only in this bleach bath for 15 minutes. Rinse thoroughly and drain.

 

4. Juice fasting requires you chop, cut and peel assorted vegetables and fruits before you juice them through a heavy-duty juicer so that you are consuming the vitamins and minerals immediately. There is quite a difference between canned fruit juice and freshly prepared juices. Storing fresh juices in your refrigerator for 4 to 5 hours is acceptable but avoid doing so overnight.

 

5. Combining fruits and vegetables is generally okay but there are certain combinations that may be hard to digest or are simply not palatable. A classic rule of thumb was that apples of all types can be juiced with any other fruit and vegetable as apples will digest easily for most people. Melons are best eaten alone. Melons tend to digest very quickly and if consumed with other foods, you may experience indigestion of the foods or liquids that take the body more time to digest. Common sense and personal taste preference will guide you. For example, juicing carrots and bananas and kale together will probably not yield a juice you will enjoy.

 

6. Juicing basics: prepare only as much as you will need to consume at each setting. For example, a good snacking juice is made from juicing 2 apples, 1 small carrot, one half of a small lemon and ½ teaspoon of gingerroot. For an excellent breakfast juice, combine ½ large medjool date (for the date sugar), 1 medium banana, liquid from a coconut (or to cheat, use “lite” coconut milk from a can, if diluted 1 part coconut milk to 3 parts filtered water), adding filtered water to thin to your desired consistency.

 

7. Juicing for lunch or dinner drinks could include combinations any vegetable with apples to sweeten. For example, juice 5 to 6 large leaves of curly kale (or lacinto or dinosaur kale), ½ cup parsley, 2 stalks of celery, 1 large carrot and ½ teaspoon of gingerroot or cayenne Try 6 leaves of rainbow chard, 6 leaves of baby bokchoy, beets (the tops as well), and a very small bulb of garlic for a spicy dinner drink.

 

8. Drink at least 6 to 8, 8-ounce glasses of filtered water to help you adjust to the cleansing effects of juice fasting. If you intend to juice fast for more than a day, add 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds to any drink and consume three times a day to make certain you are moving your bowels in the absence of soluble and insoluble fiber (as is found in the skins and cellulose of vegetables.)

 

9. Do not be ambitious while juice fasting. Do not starve yourself by consuming too few juice drinks. Prepare from scratch and consume at least 5 to 6 fresh juice drinks in any 24-hour period along with the 6 to 8 glasses of filtered water.

If you find that after the first 6 hours of such a juice fast you experience any changes in heart rate (very rapid or slower than normal), dizziness, headaches, or extreme physical fatigue, consider limiting your juicing to only that 6-hour time frame. For example, juice Friday morning until noon. If you are miserable, consider breaking the fast gently with steamed vegetables, vegetable soup, plain toast and unsweetened organic yogurt. Do not break your juice fast with a steak and fries or a pizza.

Depending on your general health prior to juice fasting, it is common to experience headaches and several additional bowel movements as your body begins to cleanse. Transition slowly back to solid foods by introducing steamed vegetables, easy-to-digest proteins such as scrambled eggs, yogurt, or chicken soup.

Break the juice fast slowly so that you are not overwhelming your digestive system. If you experience what is called a “healing crisis” and find the juice fast kicks off a flu or minor cold bring your juice fast slowly to a close, adding vegetable and chicken soups back into your diet slowly. Rest as needed and cut back on very strenuous exercise while juicing.

 

Conclusion

There are lot of things to know more about fasting. As we age, we hear so much about fasting that we don’t know which are real and which are not.   But there are many reasons to consider fasting as a benefit to one’s health.

The body is one amazing thing as rids itself of the toxins that have built up in our fat stores throughout the years. It also heals itself, repairs all the damaged organs during a fast. And finally, there is good evidence to show that regulated fasting contributes to longer life.

Yet many doctors warn against fasting for extended periods of time without supervision. There are still many doctors today who deny all of these points and claim that fasting is detrimental to one’s health and have evidence to back their statements. That is because fasting is still considered to be as just the simple deprivation of the body the much-needed food. The idea of depriving a body of what society has come to view as so essential to our survival in order to heal continues to be a topic of controversy.

Let us not forget however that the effectiveness of the fasting we do still depend on ourselves. How we look at fasting and why we fast will still play a major role in determining the success of the fasting we just did.

All in all, the reason we fast may be about weight reduction, health improvement, or healing of the body. Regardless of the reason, fasting should be not be scary and what’s important is that we enjoy and relax ourselves as we fast. It should be a meaningful experience for us.

So, better pick up that pen and plan away to healthy, new you!

 

 

Introduction

 
There was a time in this world when the need to lose weight was completely unheard of. People ate well, but they worked well too. They woke up early in the morning and then engaged in a whole day’s work. This work was mostly physical labor. People worked on fields digging, sowing, and harvesting. They tilled they soil, rode horses, worked on farms and ranches. The result was they could afford to eat almost anything they wanted in whatever quantities they wanted.
 

But that was ages ago, and life styles have changed. Most of us have sedentary jobs that demand little or no exercise at all. As a result, weight gain has become a major concern for almost every city dweller.
 

It’s not about the hour glass figure or the perfectly sculpted and toned body. It is more about staying fit and remaining healthy to ensure a long, disease free life. Everybody knows those extra pounds spell illness.
 
Follow the tips in this publication and watch those extra pounds melt away.
 
 
 

Tip # 1

Drink plenty of water. Water is not just way to flush out toxins. If you have more water in your body you will generally feel healthier and more fit. It also helps you feel full, so you don’t have the urge to eat so much. And water has no calories at all.
 
Tip # 2

Start your day with a glass of water. It’s a wonderful way to start you day. A glass of water lubricates your insides. You can still have your morning cup of tea, but have it after a glass of water.
 

Tip # 3

Drink a glass of water before you eat each meal. Water takes up space in your stomach, so you feel fuller without eating as much.
 

Tip # 4

Have another glass of water while you are having your meal. Again this is another way of making yourself full. Instead of drinking it all at once, take a sip after each bite of food. It will help the food settle and you’ll feel full faster.
 

Tip # 5

Stay away from sweetened bottle drinks, especially sodas. They are full of sugar and calories.
 

Tip # 6

Include foods that contain more water, like tomatoes and watermelons. They contain 90 – 95 % water, so feast on them as much as you like. They fill you up without adding pounds.
 

Tip # 7

Eat fresh fruit instead of drinking fruit juice. Juice is often sweetened with sugar, but fresh fruit has natural sugars. When you eat fruit, you are taking in a lot of fiber, which the body needs, and fruit is an excellent source of vitamins.
 

Tip # 8

If you have a craving for fruit juice, try making your own. There are lots of juicing machines on the market.
 

Tip # 9

Choose fresh fruit instead of processed fruit. Processed and canned fruit does not have as much fiber as fresh fruit and processed and canned fruit is nearly always sweetened with sugar.
 

Tip # 10

Increase your fiber intake. Your body needs a lot of fiber, so try to include it in your diet. Eat as many fruits and vegetables as you can.
 

Tip # 11

Eat lots of vegetables. Leafy green vegetables are the best. Include a salad in you meal plan everyday.

 
 
Tip # 12

Eat intelligently. Choose your foods wisely. Instead of grabbing chips or candy bars, grab a fruit or vegetable.
 
 

Tip # 13

Watch what you eat. Sometimes the garnishes can be richer than the food itself. Accompaniments can be very rich too.
 

Tip # 14

Control your sweet tooth. Sweets generally mean calories. You don’t have to cut sweets out of your diet completely, but eat them in moderation. Every sweet you put in your mouth adds fat cells to your body.
 

Tip # 15

Develop a meal schedule and stick to it. Try to have food at fixed times of the day. You can stretch these times by half an hour, but anything more is going to affect your eating pattern.
 

Tip # 16

Eat only when you are hungry. Some of us have a tendency to eat whenever we see food.
 

Tip # 17

Quit snacking between meals. The main problem with most snacks and junk food is, they are usually less filling and contain a lot of fat and calories.
 

Tip # 18

Snack on vegetables if you have to snack.
 

Tip # 19

Go easy on tea and coffee. Tea and coffee are harmless by themselves, but when you add cream and sugar they become fattening. Having a cup of tea or coffee with cream and sugar is as bad as having a piece of chocolate cake.

 
Tip # 20

Drink black tea/coffee. Black tea or coffee can actually be good for you. But personally I would like to recommend tea rather than coffee. The caffeine in the coffee is not really good for you because it is an alkaloid and can affect other functions of your body like the metabolism.
 

Tip # 21

Count the calories as you eat. Check the label of any packaged product for the number of calories and the serving size. For unpackaged food, buy a calorie counting book.
 

Tip # 22

If you consume more calories than you should one day, add a bit of extra physical activity to your routine for the following day.
 

Tip # 23

Stay away from fried foods. The oil used for frying penetrates into the food and adds unwanted calories.
 

Tip # 24

Do not skip meals. The worst thing you can do while watching your weight is skip a meal. It has just the opposite effect of what you want. You need to have at least three regular meals every day.
 

Tip # 25

Fresh vegetables are better than cooked or canned vegetables. Try to eat your vegetables raw. When you cook them, you are removing nearly half the vitamins.
 

Tip # 26

One egg a day. It’s best if you reduce your egg intake to three a week. If you’re in the habit of eating eggs everyday, limit your eggs to one a day maximum.
 

Tip # 27

Make chocolates a luxury and not a routine.
 

Tip # 28

Choose a variety of foods from all food groups every day. In addition to helping you lose weight, it also helps your body fight deficiency diseases. Change the foods you eat each day so you do not get bored of your diet.
 

Tip # 29

Very limited or no alcoholic beverages.
 

Tip # 30

Try to have breakfast within one hour of waking up, so your body can charge itself with the energy it needs for the day. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it does not mean that it should be the most filling meal of the day.
 

Tip # 31

50% – 55% of your diet should be carbohydrates. It is a myth that you should try and avoid carbohydrates when you are on a diet. Carbohydrates are an instant source of energy.
 

Tip # 32

25% – 30% of your diet should be proteins. Protein is an active part of keeping your body healthy.
 

Tip # 33

Fats should only be 15% – 20 % of your diet
 

Tip # 34

Try and adopt a vegetarian style diet. A vegetarian diet is healthy, but research has shown it often is missing vital minerals that come from eating meat. If you try a vegetarian diet, allow yourself to eat meat on the weekends.
 

Tip # 35

Choose white meat rather than red. White meat, which includes fish and fowl, is healthier than red meat.
 

Tip # 36

High Fiber multigrain breads are better than white breads. Multigrain breads allow you to increase your fiber and protein intake.
 

Tip # 37

Reduce your intake of pork. Pork is not something that can help you to lose weight. So the lesser pork you eat the better chances you have of losing weight. And remember that pork includes the pork products as well, things like bacon, ham and sausages.
 

Tip # 38

Limit your sugar intake. Use sugar substitutes to sweeten your food. They are just as sweetening, but not fattening.
 

Tip # 39

Graze 5 to 6 times a day. Instead of sticking to just three meals a day, try grazing. Grazing means having 5 or 6 smaller meals instead of three large meals. It is an excellent way of having smaller quantities of food.
 

Tip # 40

Eat cheat food occasionally, but only for flavor. There are many foods you need to avoid in your diet, but you may have an undying craving for them. Do not avoid them altogether. Indulge in them once in a while, but only in moderation. Don’t use them to fill up, but simply to fill a craving. Enjoy the flavor.
 

Tip # 41

Watch your fat intake. Each fat gram contains 9 calories. By knowing the total calories and the quantity of fat in your food, you can estimate the percentage of fat. Fat content should not exceed 30%.
 

Tip # 42

Go easy on salt. Too much salt is one of the causes of obesity.
 

Tip # 43

Change from butter to cholesterol free butter. It tastes the same, but is much healthier for you.
 

Tip # 44

Instead of frying food, try baking it. Baking is a healthier method of preparing food because it doesn’t require excessive amounts of fat or oil.
 

Tip # 45

Use a non stick frying pan for your cooking so you do not have to add oil.
 

Tip # 46

Steam your vegetables instead of cooking them. The best option is eating your vegetables fresh, however, if you do not like eating fresh vegetables, try steaming them without adding any additional salt or seasoning. This is the healthiest way to eat cabbages, cauliflowers and a host of other vegetables.
 

Tip # 47

Carry parsley with you. Parsley is an excellent thing to munch on between meals. It’s vitamin rich and keeps your breath fresh.
 

Tip # 48

Choose low fat or no fat  substitutes. Although fat gives us nutrients, it also packs on the calories. It’s much better to get your nutrients from proteins and carbohydrates. It’s  healthier for your heart too.
 

Tip # 49

Avoid crash diets. They are bad for your health and you will gain your weight back as soon as you stop them. Crash diets are not a solution to weight loss. You might lose a few pounds quickly, but the moment you give up on the crash diet, all your weight comes back.
 

Tip # 50

Develop a habit of chewing all your food including liquid food and soft foods like sweets, and ice cream, at least 8 to 12 times. This is essential to add saliva to the food, as it starts the digestion process.
 

Tip # 51

Dry wine is better than sweet wine. Sweet wines naturally contain a lot of sugar, but in dry wines, most of the sugar has been fermented away.
 

 

Tip # 52

When you decide it’s time to start working out, start slowly and don’t get discouraged if you don’t achieve your fitness goals after the first week. If you try to push your body too much in the first few weeks, you are likely to end up with injuries.
 

Tip # 53

Check your weight before you start a training routine and keep checking for changes, but do not expect a radical drop immediately. It might be a couple weeks before you notice some change. However it is crucial that you continue to monitor your weight. As you’re losing fat weight, you’re gaining muscle mass, so your overall weight may not change as dramatically as you would like it to. Your size, however, will decrease, so measure your body regularly too.
 

Tip # 54

When you notice a change, reward yourself…but not with food. Go to a movie or buy yourself something like a new dress or accessories. This can help keep you motivated.
 

Tip # 55

Take a day off from exercise every week. Your body needs a day or two each week to relax and rejuvenate itself.
 

Tip # 56

Exercise outdoors as much as possible. It gives your body a chance to get fresh air and sunshine. It also keeps you perked up and it’s a break from being inside all day.
 

Tip # 57

Exercise at home. You don’t need to join a gym to exercise. You don’t even need to buy exercise equipment. Visit the library or look online for exercises you can do without equipment. If you do want to get some equipment, a Wii Fit is a great investment and it makes exercising a lot of fun.
 

Tip # 58

Exercise with a friend. Ideally, it should be somebody committed to exercising like you or your interest might fade.
 

Tip # 59

Stop when your body has had enough. There is no need to push it. When you have worked out for a considerable time, your body will start giving you signals.
 

Listen to your body, especially in the initial stages. Take one step at a time. Stop when you are out of breath or when a certain part of your body tells you that it has had enough.
 
 

 

Tip # 60

Increase your exercise time gradually. Dramatic jumps in exercise time can leave your body exhausted and more prone to injury. Instead of increasing your workout routine by 30 minutes, increase it by 10 minutes a week for 3 weeks.
 

Tip # 61

Select an exercise pattern to suit your lifestyle. All of us have different lifestyles and professions so follow an exercise routine that is suitable for you.

 

Tip # 62

Don’t stand, walk. If you can walk about then do so. Do not stand in a fixed position. Pacing about is a good thing to do. If you are thinking deeply about something, try pacing, it will aid in your thinking too.

 

 

Tip # 63

Don’t sit, stand. If you can stand, then do not sit. The golden rule is to choose a position that is less comfortable.
 

Tip # 64

Don’t lie down, sit. The rule that we mentioned above rings true here as well.
 

Tip # 65

Replace the comfortable couch and chairs in front of the TV. If you have less comfortable furniture in front of the TV, you are less likely to sit in front of it.
 

Tip # 66

If you have a sitting job, stand up and stretch every half hour. Most jobs today are sitting jobs that are sedentary. By stretching every half hour you help your body stay awake and your metabolism running, which helps burn fat.
 

Tip # 67

While making telephone calls try walking around.
 

Tip # 68

Use the stairs instead of the elevator whenever you can. If you have to travel to the 40th floor, take the elevator part way and walk the rest of the way.
 

Tip # 69

Smoking is bad for weight loss. Smoking may not contribute to weight loss but smoking leads to other conditions like erratic eating habits and excessive dependence on things like coffee.
 

Tip # 70

If you hate running, remember, you do not have to run a marathon to stay fit. 10 minutes of cardio each day is good enough for most people.

Tip # 71

If you can’t run, try walking. 15 minutes of brisk walking a day is enough to keep most people fit.
 

Tip # 72

Any distance is walkable if you have the time, so consider walking to places that you would normally drive, such as work or the market if they’re not too far away. It may take you longer, but the health benefits will last you a lifetime.
 

Tip # 73

It sounds strange, but some people have reported that they lost more weight when they drank black coffee before a workout. While there’s no hard data to support this, nutritionists speculate that the caffeine in coffee makes the body rely more on fat for fuel during the work out. It’s worth trying.
 

Tip # 74

Avoid drinking coffee in excess, as it tends to desensitize your body to the fat burning effects of caffeine.
 

Tip # 75

Stop using remote controls. Get up from the couch and change the TV channel manually.
 

Tip # 76

Often when we come home tired from work, we tend to get others to do simple chores for us. These things are no big deal. They are things that we can do for ourselves, but we don’t.
 

Tip # 77

Walk up and down escalators as if they were normal stairs.
 

Tip # 78

During TV commercial breaks, get up and walk around. Reach over and touch your toes or do any simple exercise that will get the blood flowing.
 

Tip # 79

Wriggle your toes and your fingers whenever you can. This is a stress reliever and it gives you a chance to work your hand and leg joints.
 

Tip # 80

Turn on music and dance like wild. Let your hair down once in a while. Think back to the days of your wild child hood. Close the door of your room, turn on your sound system to the highest volume possible and do the wackiest dance you can think of. Jump on your bed and jump off it again. Roll all over the floor. Have fun.
 

 

Tip # 81

Carry a soft flying disc or Frisbee with you. Toss it around and get up and go get it. This is also an excellent way to beat stress. It makes you feel good to throw something. Although it’s not the throwing part that you are interested in, it is the fetching part. Each time you get up to fetch, you are giving yourself a chance to stretch your muscles and joints and get your metabolism working harder to burn more fat.
 

Tip # 82

Park at least a block away from your destination and walk the rest of the way. You might not have time to fit long walks into your busy schedule, so this is a way to ensure you get to walk for a little bit every day. If you take the bus or the subway, get off at an earlier station and walk the rest of the way.
 

Tip # 83

When nobody is watching try doing pelvic gyrations. Your mid section gets the least bit of exercise so excess weight tends to settle there.
 

Stomach crunches might be too strenuous an exercise to start off with, but gyrations are relatively mild. Pelvic gyrations make you thrust your midsection towards all directions and this is the best way of tightening every muscle in that area.
 

Tip # 84

Tuck in your tummy whenever you walk. Get that proper gait and exercise your muscles at the same time.
 

Tip # 85

Try breathing exercises. Breathing exercises can lead to weight loss. If you are doing the breathing exercises properly, you will find that you can exert a lot of pressure on the muscles around the mid section.
 

You can feel a tightening of these muscles each time you breathe in or breathe out. So breathe properly, it is good for you.
 

Tip # 86

Try yoga. Yoga is one of the best ways of losing weight. One of the benefits of yoga is, you learn to control virtually every muscle and joint of your body so the issue of weight gain will cease to exist.
 

Tip # 87

Try massaging your partner. This is a fun way to lose weight. It is something that can give your partner a lot of pleasure and at the same time can help you exercise.
 
 

 

Tip # 88

Punch the air 50 times. It helps your cardiovascular system and jump starts your metabolism.
 

Tip # 89

Instead of walking up and down the stairs one at a time, take them two at a time.
 

Tip # 90

If you have a dog, take it for a run and let the dog lead you on. You will be surprised how much exercise a dog can give you.
 

Animals are sensible enough to know that they need a lot of exercise, so let your animal walk you and before you know it you’ll be running.
 

Tip # 91

Join a dance class. Dancing is a wonderful way to burn off extra calories. When you dance, you are burning a lot of calories.
 

Tip # 92

Lean against a wall with your hands flat against the wall and your face very close to the wall. Use you hands to push your body away from the wall. It resembles a standing push up and is easier than lying on the floor.
 

Tip # 93

If there is a pool nearby, go for a swim as often as you can. Swimming is one of the best exercises to move your whole body.
 

Tip # 94

Play table tennis or basket ball. Games are a fun way to lose weight. It is much more exciting to play a game than just work out by yourself. The best thing about games is, they are addictive. It is something you can look forward to and there is no stress involved in the program. In fact the more you play the less you will consider this to be a part of your weight loss program. As you burn away those calories, you will also be able to expand your social circle.
 

Tip # 95

Any work out should start with a 5 to 10 minute warm up and should end with a 5 to 10 minute cool down session. Your body needs to reach a certain level of readiness before it can actually start responding to exercise.
 

Tip # 96

Do not carry your mobile phone, but leave it someplace where you can hear it ringing. When it rings, you have to get up to answer it.
 

 

Tip # 97

While traveling in an elevator, raise up on your toes and then back onto your feet again. Do this several times. Also try flexing your buttock muscles.
 

In fact there are many muscles in our body that we can twitch and flex without inviting the attention of others. Even if others do notice you, its no big deal.
 

Tip # 98

Undress and stare at yourself in front of your mirror. If what you see displeases you, then you have more reason to work out.
 

Turn to your side and get a very good view of your side profile. This is an excellent way of checking whether you have a tummy that is starting to bulge or has bulged already.
 

Tip # 99

If you have a banister rail or a balustrade that will support you, sit on it and pump your legs as if you are riding a bicycle, taking care not to fall off. This might sound like a crazy idea, but it’s fun. And fun will keep you active.
 

Tip # 100

Do not slouch in your chair. Maintain an erect posture with your tummy tucked in. Slouching is a very bad habit. Not only is it bad for your back, but it also gives you a very flabby figure.
 

Tip # 101

Breathe in as strongly as you can and tuck in your tummy as much as you can. Hold it for a few seconds and slowly release your breath, taking care not to let out your tummy. Try to keep breathing like this at least fifty or sixty times a day.
 

After the first day, you should feel the muscles of your stomach tightening each time you do this. Practice this for 20 days. At the end of the twentieth day, you will have lost at least an inch.

 

 

Bonus

Below I have included a table of the various exercises and the number of calories that can be burnt with each exercise. Choose what you can do best and choose something that you will enjoy doing in the long run.
 

The choice of exercise is completely up to you, but do whatever you wish for at least twenty minutes. It is only after you do the exercise for twenty minutes that the actual calorie burning sets in.
 
 

Aerobics	200-250 calories
Bicycling, Stationary	250-300 calories
Bicycling, Actual	300-400 calories
Running, 5-6 mph	300-350 calories
Stair climber	200-250 calories
Swimming laps	350 calories
Walking briskly	150-180 calories

 
 

 

How Much Do You Know?

From the information you just read, how much do you remember?

• Which of the following is suitable for a between meal snack?

1. Cheese
2. Carrots
3. Yogurt
4. Coffee
5. Candy

• How many glasses of water should a person have in a day?

1. 5-6
2. 10-20
3. 10- 12
4. 4-5
5. 15-20

• Which of the following is bad as far as weight control is concerned?

 

1. snacking
2. smoking
3. coffee
4. crash diets
5. all the above

• How many hours sleep does an adult need?

1. 7-8
2. 6-7
3. 8-9
4. 5-6
5. 9-10

 

• Which is better for a person on a diet?

1. fresh fruit
2. canned fruit
3. fruit juice
4. processed fruit
5. cooked fruit

• Which of the following should you always include in your diet?

 

1. nuts
2. dried fruits
3. fruit juice
4. salads
5. tea

 

 

• Which is better for your health?

1. coffee
2. tea

 
 

• The most important meal of the day is

 

1. supper
2. snacks
3. break fast
4. lunch
5. tea

• Which of the following can you afford to cut out from your diet?

1. fats
2. carbohydrates
3. vegetables
4. proteins
5. vitamins

• Which meat is better for you?

1. white meat
2. red meat
3. raw meat

 

 

 

Answers:

1. b
2. c
3. e
4. a
5. a
6. d
7. b
8. c
9. a
10. a

 Muscle Power 

Use your brain to answer the test on the best ways to work out. 

• Which is the best exercise?

1. horse riding
2. walking
3. swimming
4. running
5. bowling

• efore you work out, you need to

 

1. drink water
2. warm up
3. consult a trainer
4. make up your mind
5. cool off

 

• You can afford to take a day off from your work out every week

 

1. true
2. false

 
 

• Yoga does not help to reduce weight

 

1. true
2. false

 
 

• Breathing exercises strengthen the shoulder muscles

 

1. true
2. false

 
 

Answers:
 

1. c
2. b
3. a
4. a
5. b

 
 

 

Conclusion
 

Eating a balanced diet and increasing your physical activity will help you reduce your weight. Drink extra water each day and ensure you are eating fruit and vegetables and you’ll begin to see results very quickly.