Chewing and Weightloss

©Bruce Tuten

If we have teeth, it's for a reason.. they're not there just like that.. they have an important role. Therefor we should develop a habit of chewing.. Many people think that chewing is for solid food only.. Wrong, chewing is for all kind of food including liquid and soft food like sweets and icecreams.

chewing adds saliva to the food, so if you don't give enough time to your teeth to chew  you also don't allow digestion to take place like it should. You just send food to your stomach that was not digested enough and didn't get the benefits of your saliva.

here are some of the benefits of chewing:

*Better digestion

*Better appreciaion of food

*Eliminating excessive gas and bad breath

*Reducing Appetite and cravings

*Making immune system stronger

As we all know, the biggest tip to lose weight is the digestion.. so we must do whatever we can to help our body to digest.. and it all start in the mouth, and by the way saliva  is important to oral hygiene and it's a first defense against bacterial infection.. anyway here are some habbit you should start doing that are related to chewing:

1- Take all your time in eating, do NOT eat in a rush. Give yourself  as much time as possible to chew.

2- Cut the food into small portions. The smaller the better, big portions would be hard to chew thoroughly.

3- Do NOT put much food in your mouth at once even if it's cut to small portions.

4- Chew thoroughly. The number of chews needed depends on the food itself and of the salivary glands, but try to make food go liquid and lose all texture.

5- Take all your time in swallowing. gulping an entire mouthful of food down your throat can cause choking or damage to the esophagus.

6- Take a little pause after swallowing, wait for the food to pass through your esophagus before putting more in your mouth.

More benefits:

• Chewing well combined with saliva are partners in digestion.

• Saliva plays as a first defense against bacterial infection. chewing food well means creating more surface area on which the saliva can act, so more potential food-borne bacteria can be killed.

• The bicarbonate in saliva may activate the enzyme cellulase found in raw vegetables.

Smoking to lose weight

© jinwesst

People have always thought that smoking will make them lose weight.. and it has been like that for soo long, yes the nicotine is an appetite suppressant, so it might make you lose your appetite and then eating less, but it's still an unhealthy way.. I don't think I need to tell you that smoking is bad for you cause you know that.. what you have to know is that it's a tobacco companies strategy to advertise.. creating a visual link by showing you thin beautiful "most of the time women" smoking.
here's an interesting article about that from wikipedia.org:

Cigarette smoking for weight loss 

is a practice dating to early knowledge of nicotine as an appetite suppressant. Tobacco use was associated with appetite suppression among pre-Columbian indigenous Americans, and old world Europeans. For decades, tobacco companies have employed these connections between slimness and smoking in their advertisements, mainly in brands and advertisements targeting women and related body image issues. Culturally, the links between smoking cigarettes and controlling weight run deep. While it is unclear how many people begin or continue smoking because of weight concerns, research reveals that white female adolescents with established weight-related anxieties are particularly prone to initiate smoking.

Cultural connections between cigarettes and being thin are reinforced through mass media depictions of high levels of cigarette consumption among thin public figures, such as persons in the fashion industry.
Basic, though generally not extensive knowledge of nicotine’s effects upon the appetite also contributes to people smoking for weight control purposes. However, studies have not shown that people smoke exclusively to maintain or lose weight.

Science of nicotine-related appetite suppression and weight control

Though smoking is widely discouraged by public health professionals for its countless negative health consequences, nicotine has been proven to be an appetite suppressant. Nicotine reduces appetite and can influence an individual’s eating habits. A study on nicotine’s effects on appetite demonstrated that “net effects of nicotine include elevated blood pressure, heart rate, and gastric motility while eliciting a sustained decreased in food intake. Autonomic, sensory, and enteric neurons each constitute potentially important loci for nicotine-mediated changes in feeding behavior.” Thus the cultural associations between smoking and weight control in part reflect the body’s physiological reactions to nicotine.

Nicotine gum has similar effects to cigarettes in terms of appetite suppression, and there are some people who do not smoke, but use nicotine gum for the purpose of weight control or weight loss.
Nicotine also can lower insulin levels in a person’s bloodstream, which can reduce cravings for sugary foods. Furthermore, “nicotine-triggered effects of adrenaline on the stomach’s musculature” lead to temporary feelings of subsided hunger. Other studies have shown that smokers expend more calories while engaged in activity, which echo conclusions that smokers experience heightened metabolic rates.
There is controversy concerning whether smokers are actually thinner than nonsmokers. Some studies have shown that smokers—including long term and current smokers—weigh less than nonsmokers, and gain less weight over time. Conversely, certain longitudinal studies have not shown correlation between weight loss and smoking at least among young persons. Accordingly, while the connection between nicotine and appetite suppression, as well as other physiological responses to nicotine consumption, has been established, whether these chemical and biological reactions translate to smokers being thinner than nonsmokers (at least concerning certain age groups), is still debated. Age may act as a compounding factor in some of these studies. Essentially, a causal relationship has not been explicitly established between physiological effects of nicotine and epidemiological findings about weight among smokers and nonsmokers.

Smoking and perceptions of weight control among adolescents

While most adults do not smoke for weight control, studies have shown that associations between tobacco use, being thin and desire for weight control do influence adolescents in terms of smoking behavior. Research demonstrates that adolescent girls that strongly value being thin are more likely to initiate smoking.Additionally, girls already engaged in risky behavior for weight control are at increased odds to begin smoking as well.
Further research needs to examine trends in ethnicity concerning women and smoking for weight control. So far, studies have shown that young white women may be more prone to use cigarettes to manage their weight. Advertisements for particular brands and types of cigarettes seem target this demographic accordingly.
Several studies have been conducted over the past decade examining this issue in depth. While it has generally been found that white females are more apt to smoke to lose weight, one study found that smoking to lose or control weight is not limited to white females, but is prevalent across racial and gender boundaries. Within all racial groups, it was found that weight concerns and negative body perceptions were a significant factor in an adolescent's decision to smoke. However, it should be noted that the relationship between weight and smoking amongst young men was only statistically significant in white or mixed race groups.
In the past, studies have shown that adolescent girls do consider weight loss or weight control to be one of the positive values of smoking. Overall, young women and girls concerned about weight control, particularly those already using unhealthy weight control techniques, are at a higher risk of smoking.

you can read the full article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_smoking_for_weight_loss

Crash diets (that works)

©malias

A crash diet is a diet which is extreme in its nutritional deprivations, typically severely restricting calorie intake. It is meant to achieve rapid weight loss and may differ from outright starvation only slightly. It is not meant to last for long periods of time, at most a few weeks. Importantly, the term specifically implies a lack of concern for proper nutrition.

So it's clear now what does a crash diet mean, or simply it means eating what you need to just keep surviving... Many people start this kind of diet to lose weight fast, thinking that it's safe, well unfortunately it's not. crash diets are bad for health and you will gain what you have lost once you take a break. they are not a solution to weight loss. It might seem as if you have lost few pounds but the moment you give up on the crash diet every thing will bounce back with a vengeance.

Real and permanent weight-loss is an investment in your future. Take a look at it that way, it's just like the difference between buying and renting a house, in the long run you know you’ll be better off buying, even if that means some compromises in the short term.

Just think about it.. is it possible for a person to survive on a crash diet for the rest of his/her life? of course not! So at some time or another, you will have to give up the crash diet and then you will see that it does more harm than good on the long run because the weight is usually regained quickly in the weeks that follow, as the individual reverts to their original pre-crash diet.  
Crash diets may have a lot to promise, but it doesn't work all the time and accept it or not it might be dangerous for your health..
People go for crash dieting when they have a special occasion coming up and they want to wear an old dress or something, it's not meant for a long term.
So the best thing to do is To Simply Avoid Crash Diets and to stick to the long term healthy diet.

Wich is good for weight loss? coffe or tea?

©rightee

Many of you are wondering wich is better when we are trying to lose weight coffee or tea, well till now there's no final answer to this question but most opinions are for tea, anyway, here are some few things that you should know:

1- Go easy on both tea and coffee, don't drink too much of them during the day.

2- don't add cream or sugar to your coffee or tea, or at least don't add too much, because then they become fattening, (they are harmless without). A cup of tea or coffee that has cream and cubes of sugar is as bad as having a big piece of rich chocolate cake.

3- Try to stick to Green tea, it is great in weight loss, because it's a appetite suppressants and a metabolism booster.

4- Try to Drink varieties of your green tea, there are many flavors available, green tea with lemon, with apple, with herbal infusions...

5- remember that the caffeine in the coffee is not really good for you because it is an lkaloid and can affect other functions of your body like the metabolism, (another point for tea).

6- Stay away from teas which promise instant weight loss, because they could well contain a whole lot of powerful prescription drugs which could be dangerous to your health.

Tip 5: Meat that is good for weight loss.

©soyculto

Meat is often served in the main dinner plate. Restaurant menus and home meals too are tipically organized around meat. Many meat lovers can't imagine a major meal without it. Meat is a good source of protein and iron that your body needs. BUT certain types of meat contain a lot of cholesterol, satured fat and calories.
As I said before it's much better to adopt a vegetarian diet, but if you're a meat lover and want to include it in your diet, always choose those lean and low in calories.

Selection:
1- Examine the meat for visible fat and marbling. Instead, choose lean meats. Look at package labels for ground beef and poultry. Choose meats that are 90 percent or higher in lean meat.

2- Carefully read labels for ground turkey and chicken as they often include dark meat and fat. This boosts the fat content and often lowers the lean meat percentage to 80 percent or less, about the same as you'll find in cheaper ground beef.

3- Avoid "Prime" cuts, as this means this meat is well-marbled.

4- Choose white meat rather than red. White meat, which includes fish and fowl, is miles better than red meat, which includes beef and pork .

5-Stay away from pork. Pork is not something that can help you to lose weight. The fatiness of pork is the reason for this weight loss tips. So the lesser pork you eat the better chances you have of losing weight.

6-pork includes the pork products, things like bacon, ham and sausages, so stay away from them aswell.

preparation:
Avoid breading or battering your meat, and avoid frying it. Instead, broil, grill or sauté the meat in a small amount of olive oil.Trim all visible fat from the meat before you cook it. Use marinades, curries or low-calorie sauces to moisten, tenderize and flavor the meat, rather than relying on the fat. Reduce fat further by making soups or stews a day ahead of time.

Poultry:
Chicken and turkey breast are great in in terms of nutrition, mild flavor that complements many cuisines and fewer calories than most meats. Always remove the skin to reduce the calories.
chicken breast without the skin provides 48 percent fewer calories and nearly 90 percent less fat compared to chicken breast with skin.

Fish and Seafood:
Fish provides quality protein and, in contrast to many other meats, it is low in saturated fat. It's also an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, nutrients that lower cholesterol, reduce your risk of cardiovascular and offer numerous other health benefits.
Eat fish at least twice a week.
Eat water-packed rather than oil-packed tuna.

Tip 4: Healthy balanced Diet in percentage

©globalcosmic

This is for the people who count the amount of calories they take, I have done some researches and found some interesting informations that im sharing with you.
IMPORTANT NOTE: if you have high blood pressure, heart disease or any other conditions, your healthy diet may be different. Check with your doctor about your particular situation.

1-Carbohydrates : are the source of energy to your body, you generally find them in plant-based foods. Carbohydrates in the form of sugars, starches and fiber are found in legumes, grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, baked goods and many other foods.
Recommendation: Get 45% to 65% of your daily calories from carbohydrates.Carbohydrates have 4 calories a gram. Based on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, this amounts to 900 to 1,300 calories a day, or about 225 to 325 grams. Emphasize natural, nutrient-dense carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables, beans and legumes, and whole grains. Limit less healthy sugar-sweetened beverages, desserts and refined grain products.

2-Protein: is important for growth and development. All the cells of your body include protein. It's also a source of calories and energy. Both plant-based and animal-based foods provide protein.

Recommendation: Get 10% to 35% of your total daily calories from protein. Protein has 4 calories a gram. Based on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, this amounts to about 200 to 700 calories a day, or about 50 to 175 grams a day. Emphasize plant sources of protein, such as beans, lentils, soy products and unsalted nuts. Include seafood twice a week.

3-Fat: is not a bad thing, your body still need it BUT needs only a small amount, fat has a LOT of calories and may increase the risk of weight gain.
Recommendation: Limit total fat to 20% to 35% percent of your daily calories. Fat has 9 calories a gram. Based on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, this amounts to about 400 to 700 calories a day, or about 44 to 78 grams of total fat. Emphasize unsaturated fats from healthier sources, such as lean poultry, fish and healthy oils, such as olive, canola and nut oils. Limit less healthy full-fat dairy products, desserts, pizza, burgers and sausage, and other fatty meats.

4-Fiber: is the part of food that your body doesn't digest and absorb, there are two kinds of fiber: 1-Soluble fiber that you can find in dried beans and some fruits, like apples and oranges. And that may help you improve your cholesterol and blood sugar levels. 2-Insoluble fiber taht you can find invegetables, wheat bran and other whole grains.And that adds bulk to your stool and can help prevent constipation.
Recommendation: woman: get about 22 to 28 grams of fiber a day.  Man: get about 28 to 34 grams of fiber a day. Emphasize whole-grain products, fruits, vegetables, beans and peas, and unsalted nuts and seeds.

5-Sodium: little bit of it helps maintaining  the right balance of fluids in your body and transmitting nerve impulses, BUT too much of it can be harmful, can increase your blood pressure nd the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Recommendation: Limit sodium to less than 2,300 milligrams a day — if you're 51 or older limit it to 1,500 milligrams, also if you have high blood pressure, diabetes or have chronic kidney disease. Reducing sodium in your diet, can be done by limiting processed and prepared foods, and avoiding salty condiments, don not add salt at the table, and avoid it in recipes as much as you can.

6-Sugar: is a type of carbohydrate that the body uses as energy, you can find it in some foods, vegetables and fruits but also in milk and some grains. Processed sugars also are added to foods and beverages, processed foods have both solid fats and added sugar.
Recommendation: get no more than 5% to 15% of total calories from Solid Fat and added sugar. Or make it even less, about 6 teaspoons for women and 9 for men a day. You can cut added sugar and solid fat, by limiting table sugar, desserts, pizza, sausage and other fatty meats, sweetened beverages, stick margarine and butter, and candy.

Tip 3: Tips to have the best healthy Diet ;)

©Creap

Many people ask about diets, how to have a good one? what does a healthy diet mean? what am I supposed to eat and not to eat?...

First of all, you should know that only a specialist can give you the best suitable diet for you. You may NOT find what's good for you on the net.. what worked for some will NOT work for others so don't listen to your friends when they tell you eat that and don't eat this just cause it worked for them.

But.. There are few tips that could help you, few things that work for everyone:

1. Focus on VEGETABLES. very important. Having vegetables in your meals is a great tip to lose weight fast. Nature has a terrific spread when it comes to choosing vegetables, the leafy green vegetables are the best. so make sure to always include a salad in your diet.
2. FRUITS. very important too, try to eat them fresh instead of drinking them as juice, juice might be sweetened but fresh fruits have natural sugars. They also contain a lot of fiber and vitamins, and they are needed by the body.
3. If you Love fruit juice or just feel like having one then make sure you have fresh fruit juice, instead of the ones that contain flavors and colors, it's even better if you  make your own fruit juice and not sweetening it with too many calories.
4. Always go for fresh fruit. Processed and canned fruits do not have as much fiber as fresh fruit and processed and canned fruits are almost always sweetened.
5. Count calories. It's a great tip to have an Idea about how many calories are there in most items of food, so that you always know how many calories you probably had. Packed food have it on the label, check it out and try to remember.
6. As you count the calories you're having, if you feel like you consumed more calories then you actually need, make sure to burn them by the end of the week.
7. Do NOT have any Fried things. The more fried things that you eat, the more weight you will gain. they're called like that because they were fried in oil or fat, even if the external oil is drained, there is still a lot of hidden oil in it so stay away from it.
8. Go for Fresh vegetables. They are better than cooked or canned ones. Try to eat them raw. When you cook them, you are taking away almost half of the vitamins in them. And canned vegetables too are processed and are not nearly half as good a method of how to lose weight fast as fresh vegetables. When you buy your vegetables it would be a good thing to see if the label says that it is pesticide free.
9. No more than one egg a day, th best is to have 3 eggs a week, but if you're fan of eggs, then you can have one per day not more.
10. Do NOT include chocolate in your diet :D chocolate should be a luxury thing not a routine, even the ones with less sugar, they still contain cream.
11. do not have the same items of food everyday. Try to have variety of foods from all food groups every day, it's also a great way to keep deficiency diseases at bay. And it helps you to not get bored of your diet and experiment with a variety of dishes.
12. Avoid alcoholic beverages. They are not good for you, beer can be fattening and other alcoholic drinks may not be fattening by themselves but after a couple of swigs you will be in no position to watch your diet and your appetite too.
13. Start your metabolism early by taking your breakfast withing one hour of waking. So that your body get's the energy it needs for the day. remember Breakfast is the MOST important meal in your diet BUT it DOESN'T mean that it has to be the MOST FILLING meal.
14. It's better to adopt a more vegetarian diet. It's undoubtedly better for those who are watching their diet. Make a non-vegetarian diet a week end event or something if you find it impossible to give up eating all those animals :P
15. High Fiber multigrain breads are better than white breads. not only because they contain fiber that you must have in your diet (I mean to increase the fiber content in your food), but also because they contain protein as well.
16. Watch the sugar you take. If you must have sweet things go for sugar substitutes, they are sweetening but not fattening. Limit your sugar intake.
17. You can "cheat on your diet", it's hard to give up all the "good" things and all the flavors you used to have, so from time to time give yourself the right to cheat BUT only for flavor just to tingle your taste buds, don’t hog on them.
18. A good diet has 5 to 6 small meals a day, it's called greasing, it's better to eat 6 times a day then having 3 BIG meals, it's a great tip to have small quantities of food.
19. Watch the quantity of salt you have, yes try to stay away from salt, aim to reduce it to half of how much you're having now, salt is one of the causes of obesity.
20. Boil your vegetables instead of cooking them, and this only if you do not like eating them as they are, try steaming them without adding anything at all. it's the healthiest way to eat some vegetables like cabbages and cauliflowers.

...And Good Luck :)

Tip 2: How to eat?

©Philippe Put

Yes! because eating is an art, not only getting stuffed, so before you fix your diet here are some tips and techniques on HOW to eat:

1. Eat Intelligently: don't follow your instinct, the thing that make the difference between humans and beast is that we're driven by intelligeance not instinct. do NOT eat something just because you feel like eating it. ALWAYS ask yourself, does my body really need this?
2. Keep an eye on what you eat: watch everything that goes in you, sometimes garnishes can be richer than the main food you're eating, accompaniments too.
3. Control your Love for sweet things :) especially CHOCOLATE (sorry ladies lol). try to go easy on it. SWEET MEANS CALORIES, remember that. And everytime you eat something sweet don't forget that it's gonna ADD ON somewhere in your body ;).
4. Fix the times when you eat your meals, and RESPECT it. Of course it's not gonna be perfect like always having a meal at 7:43 min everyday.. but try to stick to the times you fixed as much as you can, a little while after or before wouldn't hurt, just don't make it more than 30 mins.
5. Eat when you're hungry and ONLY when you are :D don't eat just because you're offered food, if you're invited and can't refuse eating like in a party or something, just break on the nibble, so that you mind your manners but at the same time you're sticking to your diet, remember ONE day can ruin a WEEK diet :)
6. STOP snacking between meals: it's something hard to do but it's a great tip to avoid adding pounds..some people especially the ones who move or travel a lot go for snacks, snacks and junk food are tempting when you're hungry but fatning put this on your mind.
7. If you have no other choice then snacking, snack vegetables, it's a greta tip.. Carrots for example can satisfy those hungry pangs and still good for your body :)
8. Even if you're busy always take all your time to eat, most people are in a hurry that they gulp down their food and rush off. Eating slowly gives you time to digest your food and register a sense of fullness.
9. Eat smaller portions. When dining at home, serve yourself on a smaller plate. And if you were dining out, make it a rule that you will only eat half of the food. but it's much better to cook and eat at home.

Tip 1: Make water your best friend.

© sskennel

Water is just great, it's amazing, unfortunately we don't give it the credit that it deserves :( your body weight is 66% water ;) see how much water is important in weight control? and the most important is that water has NO CALORIES. yeaaah :D

so here are some water-tips that can help you losing weight:

1. Make sure to start your day with a glass of water, make it the first thing you do in the morning.. as soon as you wake up. Water will let out your digestive juices and kinda lubricates the inside of your body. if you usually drink something else at first "tea or coffee" make sure to have it after your cup of water.
2. Make sure to drink plenty of water the whole day, it's a great way to lose weight fast, having a lot of water in your body will make you feel healthier wich is a good thing. (Drink 1,5 to 2 Liters a day), 1Litre=0,26 US Gallon
3. before you start a meal, drink a cup of water, this cup will take a little space that you were going to full with food wich will make you feel full but with less food.
4. try as much as you can to avoide sodas and fizzy drinks and all kind of sweetened bottled drinks, they were sweetened with SUGAR and as you know sugar means CALORIES, sugar is an enemy..stick to normal water only. But still if you want you can take one drink from time to time and it's better if you stick to diet ones.
5. In your diet meals, try to include fruits that have a lot of water, like tomatoes and watermelons, they contain 90 to 95% water, so again, you can eat as much as you want of them with no risks you'll still have the feeling of being full but with less food and less pounds.
6. last thing is.. just be in LOVE with water lol I do love water, I drink it with passion and love lol and I feel happy when I do, just like when you love vodka or beer or anything ;) 

so yea.. water water water and more water, the word of today is.. WATER :D

..and Good Luck :)

Welcome to my blog

Hi everyone!

Hope all you guys are doing very well, this is my new blog about losing weight, I am just giving you free tips that i used myself to lose the extra pounds I had.

So yeah.. and why not exchanging our experiences with each other.. I am open for any kind of feed back from your side or any questions.

Now enough talking and let start losing some weight ;)