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16 Straight To The Point Fat Loss Lessons
2008-05-01 18:00:00
image by antmoose Something that has been left untouched for quite some time now at pro health blog is the subject of Weight Loss . With over half of the US population overweight and just about a gazillion different diets available on the market, I'm sure this is something some of you might be interested in. But before continuing, let me just correct myself and all the others out there using the term Weight Loss. A lot more accurate would be to use the term Fat Loss. Why is that, you ask? Our body weight consists of muscle, organs, water and fat. From those four things you can lose muscle, fat and water. When it comes to losing weight, all we really want to lose is fat. Muscles give us that healthy look, while water plays an important role in several of our bodily functions. There are many different goals you can set when considering a fat loss plan. Some people still see themselves with a long road ahead of them, while others have already reached a healthy fat percentage but don't...
More About: Point , Lessons , Straight

Beyond the Labels: Scary Stuff that?s in Our Food
2008-04-15 18:00:00
?You are what you eat." We hear this over and over again, but it doesn?t really register with most of us because it is so cliché. If this old adage is true, you might be thinking to yourself, ?Hmmmm? Well, if I am what I eat, then today I am a bowl of cereal, some Rice-A-Roni, some chicken, and a sugar-free ice-cream sandwich!? This all sounds very cute, until you take a closer look at the back of the cereal box, or the Rice-a-Roni box, or the ice-cream sandwich package. While reading the labels, you might discover that you are actually made of a lot of things that you might not expect, or may not even be able to pronounce. Now you might be saying something like, ?Today I am high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, monosodium glutamate and aspartame!? Not so cute-sounding anymore, is it. Not only are the ingredients we find in many foods unappetizing and hard to pronounce, but some of these things are the leading causes of obesity and disease today. Food industr...
More About: Labels , Stuff , Scary

Preventing Chronic Diseases through Weight Loss
2008-04-01 18:00:00
image by Nick Holliday If you are currently very overweight, chances are good you are frequently experiencing some kind of chronic disease. Allow me to use my personal history as an example. As a kid I used to live an extremely unhealthy lifestyle, drinking several sodas every day and eating fast food whenever I had the chance. I was so unhealthy and overweight I couldn?t even run a mile without having to take a break several times. I always was that kid in class with the serious immunity problems, sneezing all the time and snorting, annoying just about everybody around me. To think of it, it was actually kind of sad. Now it's true that a lot of this could be caused by the several allergies which I?ve been carrying with me since my birth, but I am sure there's more to it than just that. You'll soon read why.
More About: Weight Loss , Weight , Diseases , Loss

Rising Childhood Obesity and Vending Machines
2008-03-28 17:00:00
image by Joe 13 Childhood obesity trends are horrifying. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have noted that in the 70?s childhood obesity rates were less than 6% while studies done today are showing a trend upwards of around 20%. In other words, in a single classroom, instead of there being just one child picked on for being overweight, we now have two or three kids. When considering the fact that childhood obesity leads to serious health consequences, one starts to wonder why it is steadily increasing and what is being done to slow it down. While there are many factors affecting the obesity rates in the US, one huge area to be addressed are the school vending machines. In an educational and supposedly safe environment for children, it is difficult to understand why junk food or high calorie yet nutrient deficient foods are allowed into our schools. Some might argue freedom of choice, but for children who often cannot make the right choice; it is up to adults ...
More About: Machines , Obesity , Vending , Childhood obesity

The Power of Tea ? Green Tea
2008-03-22 17:00:00
In understanding the power of tea, we must first start with green tea. Many historians believe that green tea was first cultivated in China and India before spreading to other Asian countries like Thailand and Japan. Dried and cured leaves Camellia sinensis are used to make green tea beverages and although there are so many ways to include green tea in your diet, it is historically used by letting the unique healing properties seep out into the boiling water. These healing properties are widely known and some scientific studies are helping to get green tea to be used in medical treatments.
More About: Power , Green , Green Tea

What To Serve A Vegetarian Guest
2008-03-21 05:07:00
If you?ve ever requested a vegetarian meal on an airplane, then you know that the airline gives you an entirely different meal than everyone else--this is not necessary. While I?m eating bean paste and sprouts without a cookie, I?m salivating over the sandwich, grapes, and chips everyone else is eating. During my 15 years of vegetarianism, there is no question I get asked more frequently than, ?What should I feed a vegetarian guest?? To answer the question, prepare whatever dish you normally would, with meat on the side. Vegetarian s are like everyone else, but we just don?t eat meat. I?ve been to many dinner parties where I was forced to choke down bland, poorly-cooked tofu while everyone else ate gourmet. Follow these simple guidelines to please any vegetarian guest. You?ll be surprised how easy it is.
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Oatmeal is healthy, delicious and can help fat loss
2008-03-20 07:54:00
Metroknow from AlmostFit made a blog post called Did Cereal Make Me Fat?. While reading this excellent article I immediately felt like saying something about the miracle food called oatmeal. Here's what I commented: (...) For as far as my knowledge goes the ultimate breakfast cereal is ? oatmeal. Really. It?s unbelievable stuff. Every day one bowl of oatmeal and you?re set for the day. What I do is take one cup of oats and 2 cups of water and mix them in a pan. I cook it until it starts boiling a bit and then I quickly add some raisins while stirring a bit. Done! Of course there are many different ways to prepare oatmeal,... and some preparation methods take a bit more time. But if you want quality vs effort, this 2 minute preparation time is the way to go for a delicious bowl of healthy breakfast. I started eating oatmeal about 2 years ago and still have them every morning. This grain is absolutely brilliant. Oatmeal has several health benefits. Most notable are it's positive e...
More About: Loss , Healthy , Delicious

Why vegetarianism is good for you and the planet
2008-03-16 17:00:00
Even the Utah Beef Council admits, ?Several epidemiological studies indicate that vegetarians have lower morbidity and mortality from chronic degenerative diseases.? Today, vegetarians only make up about two percent of the population, but everyday more and more people give up eating red meat or try their first bite of tofu. Aside from ethics, what are the main reasons people are turning away from meat? Health and the ecology.
More About: Planet , Good , Vegetarianism , The Planet

Vegetarianism vs. Veganism - What?s Right For You?
2008-03-12 17:00:00
So what's the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan? A vegetarian doesn?t eat any animal flesh. Traditionally, you might say a vegetarian doesn?t eat meat, but in some countries ?meat? refers to just beef. A vegetarian does not eat cow, chicken, fish, pig, or any other animal. Some vegetarians do not eat chicken broth, lard, and even marshmallows because these items are made with animal by-products. A vegan, or lacto-ova vegetarian, does not eat any animal products. Like the name suggests, a vegan does not consume milk (lacto), eggs (ova), or meat (vegetarian). Obviously, a vegan diet avoids the ?gray area? items mentioned above, like chicken broth. A vegan diet is far more restrictive than a vegetarian diet and includes mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes.
More About: Vegetarianism

Going Veggie Style!
2008-03-09 18:00:00
There are over a dozen reasons why people chose for a vegetarian lifestyle. Motives can be ethical, health related, based on taste preference or just because they've been eating this way their whole life. Whenever you chose to convert to vegetarianism, you will need to make some serious lifestyle changes. Starting a vegetarian diet impacts several aspects in life, even socially.
More About: Style

Common mistakes new vegetarians make
2008-03-09 00:22:00
This may seem a bit shocking, but many new vegetarians actually gain weight when they stop eating meat. As a vegetarian, you must adjust to an entirely new vegetarian food pyramid. Years of eating patterns must be re-programmed. The golden rule of vegetarianism is that you need protein to feel full. If you?re still hungry after a meal, then you probably didn?t eat enough protein. Many new vegetarians gain weight because they find themselves not getting full after a meal. In turn, they eat more and start snacking.
More About: Common , Make , Vegetarians

What is Hoodia and can it help Weight Loss?
2008-03-07 04:31:00
Every now and then, some miracle supplement hits the headlines and seems to answer all our weight loss prayers. Often these supplements are labeled as ?natural? ? which seems to make us take leave of our senses and think that, because it has been produced by nature, it must be safe. If only that were so! Hoodia is a desert plant, a bit like a cactus, and grows in arid regions like South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Apparently, the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert relied on hoodia for years as a way to suppress appetite when they were out in the desert so, when ephedra was banned a few years ago, Hoodia became its natural successor in the weight loss world.
More About: Weight Loss , Weight , Loss

Losing weight by eating in moderation
2008-03-06 11:01:00
It is possible to come up with over a hundred different kinds of tips for weight loss. Some tips would be hard because they involve counting calories, while others are just easy guidelines, which when followed correctly, weight loss becomes easy. One of these simple weight loss concepts is to always eat in moderation. This moderation concept is actually very important in just about any diet. If you eat to much, you will store excess energy in the form of fat. When you eat in moderation, you will burn all of the excess fat. It's really that easy. This moderation concept is at the same time the explanation for the large number of overweight people in the US. Many Americans just eat way to much!
More About: Weight , Losing Weight , Eating

Junk food: Convenience and low price equals bad deal
2008-02-28 11:55:00
Recently I talked about slotting fees and how they are the reason why junk food is so popular at the supermarket. Slotting fees are a fee paid by food companies to supermarkets, so they would place the food company's products on shelves in higher traffic aisles, which consequently results in more sales. Because junk food companies have more profit, they can spend more on slotting fees (and advertising). Now, slotting fees probably are a very important reason for junk food's popularity, but it's definitely not the most important reason. The main reason for the popularity of junk food can probably be found in the denomination of the term itself.
More About: Food , Convenience , Deal , Price , Equals

pro Health Blog Launch and what is next?
2008-02-28 04:48:00
It's about one month since I launched this blog and I'm glad with the result so far. This blog lead me to discover several other interesting health blogs, such as Dietriffic and Health bolt. I met several interesting people in the community and got to witness the launch of Health Ranker, the new social media site which focuses mainly on health news. So many things have happened in one month. But my blog still looks rather empty. There's only about 15 articles and I don't have much else to offer besides that. Yet, I've actually spent quite a few hours working on it. Blog ging has proven to be a lot more time consuming than I thought! This has gave me a lot of respect for other health bloggers, like Rob from the Former Fat Guy or Israel at Fat Man Unleashed. They have been around for quite some time now and have accomplished great things already. Just visit their weblogs and you'll see what I mean.
More About: Launch

Foods and their healing power: what does what?
2008-02-25 03:38:00
I recently stumbled upon a site with a collection of foods and their positive effects on health conditions. Often people wonder what kind of food would help cure a certain type of disease or ailement. While you could probably find this answer by googling it, a shortcut would be to visit the Healing Food Reference.
More About: Power , Foods

Are raisins good or bad for your teeth?
2008-02-24 03:42:00
Kellie at Busymamas.com recently made a post saying raisins are bad for your teeth. This really surprised me. I always thought raisins were good for my teeth and I definitely did not think they were doing damage. I often eat a small bowl of natural yoghurt, mixed with raisins and sprinkled with almonds. Sweet, yet healthy... or so I thought?
More About: Teeth , Good

Why junk food is popular at the supermarket: slotting fees
2008-02-21 07:52:00
Do we choose ourselves what food products we buy at the supermarket? Yes and no. Ofcourse we choose what we take from the shelves. Nobody is forcing us to buy a certain food product. On the other hand, our shopping behavior is being influenced by other things than personal preference. In this post I will try to find out why more often people buy junk food instead of healthier food.
More About: Food , Fees , Popular , Junk , Supermarket

New Social Media site: Health Ranker
2008-02-20 08:03:00
Fellow blogger Israel from Fat Man Unleashed had the idea to launch a new social media site, especially focused on the Health niche. Israel realised there was no health related social media site available yet, so he said to himself, why not build one myself? The result after many hours of work: HealthRanker.com.
More About: Social , Media , Site

New Social Media site: Health Ranker
2008-02-20 08:03:00
Fellow blogger Israel from Fat Man Unleashed had the idea to launch a new social media site, especially focused on the Health niche. Israel realised there was no health related social media site available yet, so he said to himself, why not build one myself? The result after many hours of work: HealthRanker.com.
More About: Social , Media , Site

5 tips for a successful diet
2008-02-18 03:35:00
Upon reading this article at the Diet Blog called 5 Reasons Why Your Diet Is Failing, I thought it will be nice to write a post with 5 tips for a successful diet.
More About: Tips

How the food industry is deceiving you (Documentary)
2008-02-16 04:28:00
While surfing the stumbleupon health page I found a link to this YouTube video which was titled "How the Food Industry is deceiving you". The actual title of the documentary appeared to be "How to get fat without really trying", a Peter Jennings report, for ABC in 2004. Though already 4 years old, the documentary is still just as relevant today as it was then. Food industry has been influencing what we eat for years and it still does today.
More About: Documentary , Food Industry

5 Nutrition experiments: The Truth About Food
2008-02-13 11:11:00
I just saw the last episode of a 6 episode documentary about nutrition. I'm so mad for missing out on the first 5 episodes. However, nothing to worry about. These days you can find just about anything on the internet that's been on TV... and oh, look, here it is! I could also find some of the documentary's clips at YouTube. The episode I saw was called "How to be the best". The purpose of this episode was to test the effects of nutrition on our daily performances, both mental and physical. There were 5 experiments with all kinds of test subjects and environments.
More About: Truth , Food , Nutrition , Experiments , The Truth

Why does our body need water?
2008-02-13 06:40:00
What is it that makes water so important? You have an idea? I'll tell you what I think. The most important thing about water is that we need it badly. So badly that if we don't drink it, we die. Long before you would die from starvation, you'd die from dehydration. Now what does that tell us? It tells us only one thing. Water consumption is one of the most important parts of our diet. Our body needs, no craves water badly. When you don't drink enough water, your body will suffer. You probably already know that 70 % of our body is made of water. Sweating, breathing, living,... you lose water all the time! Let's take a look at some of the main bodily functions in which water plays an important role and water's role in weight loss.
More About: Body

Undercover at the supermarket (BBC Documentary)
2008-02-11 13:11:00
Today I found a documentary where two BBC journalist go undercover as employees at London's biggest supermarkets. One journalist applied at the Sainsbury's meat stand, while the other solicited for a job at Tesco's fish market. Earlier I said supermarkets only have one goal: to sell as much as humanly possible. What you're about to see in this this documentary can definitely fit that discription. Be warned, unhygienic practices ahead!
More About: Documentary , Supermarket , Undercover

Supermarkets: designed to sell
2008-02-09 07:19:00
Ever wonder why you always buy more than you got on your shopping list? Supermarkets use psychology and marketing techniques to sell as much as possible. Their only goal is to make you buy things and when you've done that, they want you to buy more. Social scientists have studied our shopping behavior. With the results of those studies supermarkets create specialized marketing strategies. An enormous effort goes into designing a supermarket. They consider all the different aspects, ranging from optimal product shelf space to deciding which background music makes you spend the most.
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Different kinds of Dietary fat
2008-02-06 12:37:00
In an earlier post I talked about the importance of dietary fats in any (weight loss) diet plan. Not only do they supply energy to our body, they also play an important part in our nerve system, cell membranes, hormones and many other bodily functions. In this article I?m going to talk about the 4 different kinds of dietary fats: saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat and trans fatty acids. Some fats are good for you, while others are dangerous and should be avoided at all cost. One interesting fact often overlooked is that fat in food always comes in a mixture. Some foods have more of the good fats while others have more of the bad fats. But there will always be a combination of the two. It's your task to learn which food products have more of the healthy dietary fat and consequently, avoid the bad foods.
More About: Dietary

Importance of Dietary Fat
2008-02-04 12:18:00
In the last few decades the general opinion about dietary fats has been very negative. Food industry spends billions annually to make our food products low fat. As a result we now have light products, dangerous fat substitutes such as Olestra (Made by Proctor & Gamble, often to be found in potato chips), low fat diet books and diet pills making sure our body doesn?t absorb the essential fatty acids.
More About: Dietary

Best diet plan ever
2008-02-04 02:32:00
If you don?t already know about the best diet plan ever, than you?re in for a treat! This diet plan has been around for so long, yet been kept a secret for so many. Better than all the other diet plans, this diet plan does not involve calorie counting, it isn?t low carb, neither low fat or even high protein! The best diet plan ever is a natural diet plan! That?s right; a diet doesn?t have to be difficult! It just has to be effective. All the popular diet plans such as the Atkins diet, Zone diet or the Perricone prescription are not very effective. These diet plans are focused on short term results and will not do very well in the long term.
More About: Diet , Plan