Coconut Oil and Weight loss

Coconut oil and weight loss.

Many people think that because virgin coconut oil has a high proportion of saturated fat it is bad for you to eat. This is one of the greatest myths surrounding coconut oil and now turn to dispelling this myth and seeing how you can use coconut oil as a an aid to weight loss.

 The chemical make-up of coconut fats 90% of coconut oil is saturated fat. Sounds like a nightmare, doesn't it, but a closer examination reveals the surprising truth.

This is because most of the saturated fatty acids in coconut oil are what are known as medium chain triglycerides. Medium chain triglycerides are actually easier for your body to break down than other saturated fats. Especially those found in fast food and other artificially created products. This is because there are fundamental differences in the chain composition in these fats which mean
they are harder for your body to breakdown - which in turn means they are more likely to accumulate in your arteries and in your skin tissue. 

Further, the saturated fats in coconut oil - especially the Lauric acid actually increase the body's metabolism and promote optimal health of the thyroid and enzymes systems. Having a high metabolism means that the body burns calories at an increased rate. This is due to the acidity of your stomach acid and how effectively it can convert food to energy. Having a healthy gut will greatly
increase your chances of having a high metabolism and help you start shedding weight.

The enzymes contained within coconut oil actually act as catalysts to your stomach acid and help you break down fat at an increased rate- and as your metabolism is also increased you can burn a higher proportion of the calories you take in. They also help to promote a healthy gut by fighting bacteria and strengthening the stomach lining. Hence coconut oil actually is much better for you to use in cooking and food than other alternatives as it has added benefits not found in vegetable and olive oil.

Virgin coconut oil as it contains 50% Lauric acid is definitely well worth including in your diet. The easiest ways to do this are to replace your cooking oil with coconut oil - which incidentally is much more complimentary to the tastes of many foods, especially curries and stir-fry’s. Alternatively you can also use coconut milk more regularly in your cooking as it can be a key ingredient in
a variety of delicious curries.

Damian@FitnHealthy

10 Steps on Improving Your Metabolism

Get 10 tips on how you can increase your metabolism, naturally. You'll be surprised at how little things can affect your metabolism in a big way.

Are you sluggish and low on energy?

Do you feel like you work and work toward your weight loss goal and never seem to make any dramatic improvement?

You could be suffering from a slow metabolism. Even though you may have a slow metabolism, it does not have to destroy your weight loss efforts. You can dramatically improve your metabolism, and boost your energy levels without taking supplements.

Your metabolism simply refers to the conversion of food to usable energy by the body. It is the biological process, by which energy is extracted from food, and the net result is how fast or slowly the body burns those calories.

A few steps you can take to improve your metabolism naturally are:

Drink Water – Water is great to drink and you should be drinking a minimum of 8 to 10, glasses daily, of course, more is better. It will help increase your metabolism and flush out sodium, toxins, and fat. Drinking water before meals will fill your stomach so you feel full and prevent overeating. Avoid excess colas, coffee, teas, and sugary juices. Caffeine will dehydrate you, and the sugar will do more damage than good in the long-run.
  

 Eat Every Three Hours – Eat a small balanced meal every three hours, including snacks. Meals and snacks should be balanced, meaning they should contain a complete protein, carbohydrates, as well as natural fat. Failure to eat consistently can lead to a slower metabolism and fat storage. Also, skipping meals slows down your metabolism. To ignite fat loss you need to be consuming the right foods in a balanced manner throughout the day.

Don't Skip Breakfast – Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it gets your metabolism running in high gear. You wouldn't drive your car to work on an empty tank, and you shouldn't start your day without adequate nourishment. Your first meal sets your metabolism for the day and keeps it going, as long as you eat every three hours. If you get up early and eat a late breakfast, you miss out on several hours of burning calories.

Don't Fear Fat – Fat has developed a bad reputation. Many people think fat makes you fat. This is false. The type of fat and how much fat you eat impacts your body fat composition. Fat is needed by the body. Those who follow a very low-fat diet have a harder time ridding their body of fat. Choose natural healthy fats such as olive oil, avocados, various nuts, flax, and natural peanut butter to receive your necessary fats.

Omit Trans Fat – Trans fat is the bad fat, the cause of weight gain, low energy, depression, cancer, and heart disease. You will never get the body you desire by eating "healthy" fast food, frozen dinners, and other processed choices. If it's man-made, it's not the best choice, and will halt fat loss endeavors. Eat the foods Mother Nature has provided to meet your fat loss goals.

Be Active Daily – Stay active at least six days a week. Take the stairs when possible or park further out to get that little bit of extra movement to keep the heart and lungs working optimally. The more movement you get daily, the better you will feel overall.

Do Cardiovascular Exercise – Cardio exercise is necessary for heart and lung health. It also burns calories. Doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach can tap into fat stores, and keep your body burning calories at a high rate for about an hour after cardio is finished. If you fail to eat adequately daily, first morning cardio on an empty stomach can work against you. Doing morning cardio on very low calorie diet can burn muscle. Another good time to incorporate cardio is in the evening after your last meal. This allows you to burn calories so you are not sleeping on them. You do not have to implement a morning and evening session, choose one or the other or cycle between the two to prevent staleness and boredom.

HIIT It – Blend some High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) into your cardiovascular program from time to time to give your body and metabolism a good shock. The body is programmed for adaptation. Therefore, doing the same cardio format day in and day out can become stale really fast. Take one or two days a week and implement some HIIT to give the body an added shock.

 

HIIT is basically alternating low intensity and moderate to high intensity cardio training.  For example, a 20 minute HIIT session would look similar to this:

Minute 1 and 2 – Low Intensity (Walking) Minute 3 and 4 – High Intensity (Light jogging or running) Minute 5 and 6 – Low Intensity Minute 7 and 8 – High Intensity and so on…

 

Weight Train – Resistance training builds muscle, which is metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you acquire, the faster your metabolism will be.  Adding more lean muscle tissue to your body will put curves in the right places and allow you to eat more calories a day.

Listen to Your Body – Killing yourself with workouts is just as dangerous as not working out at all. Listen to your body and get proper rest. Don't train if you are ill, still sore from the previous workout, or just simply too tired. Training in such a state can cause more problems than it solves.

If any of the above fails to prove results in 4 to 6 weeks, there could be an underlying problem, such as a food allergy, sluggish thyroid, hormonal imbalance, toxins, parasites, etc. If so, I recommend searching for a natural healer in your area to determine the cause. and work from there. For the most part, proper diet, detoxifying, and herbs can correct any ailments.

Damian@FitnHealthy

6 Benefits Of Kettleball Workouts For Women

Kettleball workout is a type of training which is not only designed for men. Women can also have benefits from this workout when it comes to training each part of their body, losing more weight and maximize fitness. Here are some of the major benefits of the kettleball workouts for women: 

 

  1. Improved Strength and Health of Bones and Joints.

The exercises are guaranteed to help in terms of regaining and maintaining the strength of your bones. You can also expect these exercises to be gentle on your joints so you do not need to worry about damaging any of these.

2. Instability.

Kettleballs are more beneficial than dumbbells, resistance bands, bodyweight exercises and free weights because the placement of their handles does not result to a more uniform weight pattern, thereby ensuring that your muscles undergo frequent adjustments. Because of the frequent adjustments of your muscles, you get the chance to balance your entire body after each kettleball exercise. The instability of kettleballs are also useful in allowing your muscles especially those found in your core section to get more contractions and this is a huge help in giving your muscles a better workout.

3. Perfect Solution for Busy Individuals.

If you have a busy schedule, then rest assured that the kettleball workouts for women will never disrupt all your daily activities. It will be easier for you to squeeze the strength, flexibility and cardio training using the kettleballs in your somewhat overbooked schedule. Because of the intensity of the workout, you can expect to complete the exercises within a shorter duration. Aside from that, the kettleball is small and portable so you can bring it with you anywhere even in your bedroom so you can perform your workout there. 

 

4. Greater Weight Loss.

This benefit means that you can expect the different kettleball exercises for women to promote the loss of more weight. You can expect the training to be effective in improving your metabolism so losing a substantial amount of weight will never become impossible. Kettleball workouts also involve strength training which is guaranteed to work in developing more dense muscle mass while also burning the calories from your stored fats. You can expect to obtain a skinnier figure after just a short period of doing the exercises. 

 

5. Promotes Muscle Balance and Function.

The kettleball training forces the different parts of your body to work out as one unit. This will result to revealing and fixing the weak links in any part of your body. The ability of the training to let your different body parts to work as a unit is also a major help in regaining the proper balance of your muscles while also improving their functionality. 

 

6. Affordability.

Kettleball workouts for women allow you to achieve all your weight loss goals without spending too much. Unlike other exercise equipment that cost either hundreds or thousands of dollars, the kettleball is proven to be relatively inexpensive. The kettleball exercises are indeed among the most inexpensive ways to build your cardiovascular stamina and muscles and enhance your muscular endurance. After just some time of trying out the exercises, you will notice a huge improvement on the physical structure of your body.

 

 

 

 Damian@FitnHealthy

Getting Motivated With Physical Fitness

Most people would spend money to enroll in gym memberships or buy those fitness equipments only to quit as soon as they start. Either they are too busy that they couldn't find time to keep it going or they quickly lose their interest due to lack of motivation. It's easy to start a lifestyle of fitness.  What's difficult is how to be consistent with it.

Studies reveal that most Americans engage in physical fitness only once in a while.  Others don't even exercise at all. And yet, about a quarter are able to find time to go the gym and sweat it out to their heart's delight.  

How could they?
It's easy to start a lifestyle of fitness.  What's difficult is how to be consistent with it.  Most people would spend money to enroll in gym memberships or buy those fitness equipment only to quit as soon as they start. Either they are too busy that they could no longer find time to keep it going or they quickly lose their interest due to lack of motivation.

In order to stay motivated, try to set some fitness goals and write them on paper. Putting them down on paper gives them more weight than just saying things to yourself.  be specific and realistic with your goals.  Instead of telling yourself that “I will start working out in a gym next week and build some muscles,” try writing it down in paper as “I will start working out in a gym next week, 3 times a week, Monday...Wednesday...and Friday, after work.” Setting unrealistic goals may lead to disappointment and frustration.  Exercise can give you a healthier body and add a certain glow, but it won't catch you a lover or turn you into a celebrity or supermodel.

 Setting aside a specific regular time for your fitness regimen is important to keep your enthusiasm going. The number one reason why most people, especially women, don't exercise is because they're too busy doing things for other people: their spouse, their kids, their boss. 

Make a plan or schedule for all the little stumbling blocks that usually get in the way and incorporate your time for exercise into your daily routine. Be sure to follow it and stick to it. Biking to work or taking a walk to do errands make a great deal in adding physical activity to your lifestyle.

Treat exercise as a social event by joining a group or being with a workout buddy.  Camaraderie helps in keeping the spirits up. Make family time a lot of fun by playing catch or kick with your kids, or swimming together in a lake or pool. Routine variations help, such as working on several activities during the week will help develop different sets of muscles and skills. 

While athletes do this for cross-training, one doesn't have to be in training to enjoy the benefits of mixing different sports, such as running, biking, and swimming.

 When fatigue interferes with your desire to workout, something may be wrong with your eating habits. Eating small meals frequently throughout the day is much better than skipping a meal, say lunch, and  then eat a big dinner.  Starving yourself affects your brain and leads to fatigue.  

However, eating too much at once slows your metabolism and makes you feel sloppy. On the other hand, eating frequently keeps your blood sugar level constant and maintains your energy level up. High-protein and high-fiber foods such as nuts and fruit are a good snack to give yourself a boost.

Treat yourself with rewards whenever you complete a cycle of your schedule, say every month, buy yourself something to encourage you for your effort. Some experts suggest putting a small amount of money in a jar every time you work out. At the end of the year, use your collected cash to buy something just for you.

Being consistent helps you become motivated. And the more you exercise, the easier it gets. Building more strength helps muscles develop more mitochondria, the cell parts that turn sugar into energy. The more mitochondria you have, the harder you can exert yourself. You also increase the number of capillaries which helps the oxygen flow to your muscles to provide more energy.

As you continue being faithful with your schedule and goals, the changes may not be visible at once.  Most of these bodily changes are invisible but they are happening and are important in laying the groundwork for a strong, healthy physique. As the cliche goes, “no pain, no gain.” Stick to it and you will soon realize that everything will fall into its proper places.

Damian@ufitnhealthy

Metabolism for the Fit Individual

The dictionary defines metabolism as the sum of all biochemical processes involved in life, or the sustaining of life.  In application concerning our health, metabolism is related to the intake and use of food.  In reference to the case in point it is our ability

The dictionary defines metabolism as the sum of all biochemical processes involved in life, or the sustaining of life.  In application concerning our health, metabolism is related to the intake and use of food.  In reference to the case in point it is our ability to utilize our food to the fullest extent.

Right now, the greatest results in raising our metabolism come from exercise and building our muscle mass, while reducing our body fat.  Adding more muscle to the body, in turn causes us to burn more calories, and this helps to elevate our metabolic rate.

Our metabolism functions also depend on how well we have taken care of our nutritional needs. Some people have really high rates of metabolism.  In other words, when they consume food, their bodies burn it up almost as fast as then consume it.  Then there are those of use who use our food intake so slowly, as to not even notice that we’re burning calories.  These people who burn quickly are often slim and trim, the people who burn more slowly are the people with a tendency toward obesity.

The body’s metabolism is a unique process for each individual person.  No two people metabolize food at the same rate therefore no two people have the metabolism.  We all use our calories at different rates, with different results.  Our metabolism, like our fingerprints is unique to each of us.  But the need to understand and accommodate this metabolism is an issue that we all face.

All of this metabolic process is related to our calorie intake, our vitamin and nutrition needs, our thyroid and endocrine production, and how well all of these processes come together.  For years, people have sought ways to raise the metabolic rate.  If you can raise someone’s metabolic rate, you are then better able to control the burn of calories, especially for overweight or obese people.  This would make the goal of better or improved health a much easier reality for those people.  Efforts to date have produced very little results.  There are foods that we can consume that naturally raise our metabolic rate, but not to a great extent.  What we need is a way to directly alter the rate.  We need to be able to raise our metabolism to a point where we can actually see a benefit.

 This is where the effort to stay physically fit and active provides tremendous payoff. Over the course of your life, if you stay active, exercise, and maintain optimal health for your muscles, you will see a tremendous difference in the rate that your body metabolizes food.  As people age, their metabolism quite naturally slows down.  The greatest way to prevent this from happening is through exercise and staying fit.

I believe through careful analysis, exercise, and attention to each person’s unique needs, we could bring about a more natural balance of the metabolic burn vs. the calorie intake. To a level where optimal health and weight control are in equilibrium.  

Damian @ufitnhealthy

The Food Lies We Tell Ourselves

Straight from our Community registered dietitian nutritionists, we get a firsthand look at some of the lies clients tell themselves when it comes to rationalizing what they eat. Unfortunately, these little untruths can quickly sabotage a healthy diet. Could you also unknowingly be ruining your healthy eating plan by telling yourself these little white lies? Read on to learn the truth.

 

Food Lie #1: I need to snack frequently to keep my metabolism up.

You may have heard that you shouldn’t wait too long between meals to prevent your body from going into “starvation mode”—a time when your body conserves calories to prevent depleting its energy stores. Think back to the caveman days when humans wouldn’t eat for days; their bodies would become efficient at holding on to what they ate so they could survive until the next time they were able to have a successful hunt. The theory is that this may be happening on a smaller scale when you wait too long to eat.

So you try to prevent this scenario and overcompensate by making sure you eat something every few hours. The problem is, if you’re attempting to eat several mini-meals throughout the day, the calories add up. Even a couple of energy bars throughout the day can add an extra 500 calories, contributing to a body-fat gain of 1 pound per week! You may think that bar is keeping your metabolism revved up—but even if it is, the additional caloric burn won’t contribute 500 calories (or anything even close to that!) each day.

Solution: If there is more than four to five hours between your lunch and dinner, allow yourself one small fiber- and protein-filled, mid-afternoon snack—but no more. A hardboiled egg and a piece of fruit, for example, would be a great choice.

Food Lie #2: I can eat whatever I want because I just burned off a lot of calories during my workout.

Although the treadmill or the elliptical (or your spin teacher) may all tell you that you burned 800 calories, this is usually not true. Unless you weigh 200 pounds and run for an hour, you won’t burn close to that many calories. If you are eating without much restraint after a workout, this is likely having a negative effect on your waistline. For many people, not only do they rationalize that they can eat a lot of food after a workout, they also feel hungrier after working out and tell themselves it’s because they burned a lot of calories. Unfortunately, appetite after a workout tends to increase to a much greater degree than the amount of calories you actually burned.

Solution: Eat to fuel your workout and refuel, not to replace the calories you think you burned. If you notice that your hunger increases a lot after you exercise be sure to drink extra water and fill up on veggies to help to satisfy your appetite without consuming too many calories.

Food Lie #3: It was just a few bites.

Just because you didn’t order it and it wasn’t on your plate, doesn’t mean those bites of your significant other’s burger, fries or dessert won’t add up. Ditto for the small piece of cake in the break room. A few daily extra bites may seem forgettable, but they can easily set you back 100 calories (or more!) each day. Although that may not seem like much, over the year that will set you back ten pounds!

Solution: If you find yourself having those little bites here and there, cut them out completely for two weeks and track your weight. If you are like our clients, you’ll notice a difference on the scale.

Food Lie #4: The bag (carton, box, or whatever you just finished off) was almost empty.

Plow through an already opened bag of chips, box of cookies or carton of ice cream and it’s easy to believe there wasn’t much in there. If you don’t portion food out on a plate first so that you can see how much food you truly are eating, it’s easy to tell yourself you didn’t eat much.

Solution: Easy! Simply portion your food on a plate and eat from that—you won’t be able to trick yourself into thinking you ate less than you did!

Food Lie #5. You need that electrolyte drink.

Sure, that brightly colored, sweetened drink filled with electrolytes might seem necessary, but unless you’re exercising intensely for more than an hour (and most people aren’t) you really don’t need it. It just adds extra calories.

Solution: Stick to water, seltzer or another calorie-free fluid, unless you are exercising for more than an hour.

Food Lie #6. You ate it because it gives you extra nutrients.

Every food seems to be fortified these days. Even if it has extra calcium, additional B vitamins or added fiber, it’s still not reason enough to eat it. After all, cookies with added calcium are still cookies. Don’t justify eating the chips because the label claims they have added fiber.

Solution: Get your nutrients from your food. If you want a small indulgence, choose it because it’s an indulgence and not because it’s providing you with nutrients.

 Source : Tammy Lakatos Shames and Elysse (“Lyssie”) Lakatos