July 30th, 2011 admin
Europeans eat much more slowly than most Americans. In Europe, the meal is a time to share friendship, thoughts, ideas. During a meal, the food is savored. What is the American approach to meals? I think the expression “beat the clock” sums it up pretty well. Let’s face it, we originated the concept of fast food. Anything to get that food in a hurry, eat it in a hurry, rush, rush, rush, eat, eat, eat.The European approach to eating contributes to a lower body weight. Why? The human body takes approximately twenty to thirty minutes to register that it is full. Americans eat so quickly that we are not allowing this mechanism to kick in and are subsequently consuming more calories than our bodies require. We are overriding the body’s natural satiety mechanism. We feel stuffed after we eat because we did not give our bodies the opportunity to signal us that they were full. Had we listened to our bodies, we would have felt a gradual cessation of our hunger and would have consumed considerably fewer calories. American meals don’t need to be five-course, two-hour events in order for us to lose weight. But, by slowing down at any meal, even a little bit, you can allow your body to help you with weight loss.*63/280/5*
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March 12th, 2009 admin
Many of my patients who have been chronic dieters are completely out of touch with their body’s signals. This probably occurs because they learn to ignore hunger when dieting rigorously, and soon they learn to ignore satiety (the feeling of fullness) too. They get so tied up in the psychological side of eating (“I have to have this!” and “I can’t have this!”) that their bodily responses become secondary.
Start listening to your body’s signals again. Try to determine whether or not you’re really hungry. When you feel the urge to eat, if it’s not mealtime, wait 10 minutes. Perhaps the pang you felt wasn’t really a signal that you need to eat. If, after 10 minutes you’re still hungry, snack from your Chitosan bag. If your hunger persists after that, eat. When you do eat, enjoy something that’s part of the plan. Eat the food, then wait 20 minutes. Chances are the hunger will be gone. When eating a meal, chew slowly and try to concentrate on the sensations in your mouth, throat, and stomach. The minute you feel a hint of fullness, stop! You can always come back to the meal later, but right now you’re trying to train yourself to pick up cues. Leave the table for 20 minutes; go get involved in another activity. Then, if you’re still hungry, come back and eat some more. The goal is to be able to rely on your body to tell you when and how much to eat. We were all born with this ability, but many of us have lost it somewhere along the way.
*96\29\2*
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March 12th, 2009 admin
Dr. Alan Hirsch, author of this diet, argues that we suffer from an overabundance of food, a condition that’s become common only during the last century or so. We must fight our
evolutionary tendency to gain and store weight during the winter and times of plenty, just in case the food runs out and we’re faced with famine. Indeed, the evolutionary chain was able to produce us only because our ancestors were good at storing fat that could be used when the food ran out. But changing our inborn patterns is difficult to do in the modern world when we have consistent access to so much food. So far, so good. He is right that this is the genesis of our problem.
The solution to this problem can be found right in our own noses, according to Hirsch. Simply sniffing certain odors is often all it takes to satisfy hunger cravings. Hirsch recommends that we carry little tubes that contain the scents of bananas, apples, or other foods, and that we sniff them throughout the day. Each time you sniff, he says, inhale 3 times in each nostril. Hirsch suggests that you use different scents during the day so that you don’t tire of the same one. If you like, you can work the program with a smell buddy.
You don’t have to carry the tubes if you’d rather not. You can simply smell your food before you eat it to start stimulating the satiety center in your brain as soon as possible. If you do rely on sniffing your food, rather than using the tubes, you are supposed to eat hot foods whenever possible, for they release more odor than cold dishes. Eat fresh foods, and pour on those herbs and spices. It also helps to blow bubbles with your food in order to release the scent of the food into the air, which you then inhale.
Hirsch feels that sniffing to stimulate the satiety center is all it takes to trigger less eating and weight loss. “You won’t be given a list of foods you must eat at breakfast or lunch,” he says. “You will not be weighing your foods or counting calories.”
Sniffing away the pounds is an enticing idea but I’d like to see some more scientific studies to back this theory up. Even if it really does work, which seems intuitively unlikely, this diet is not a good idea because it teaches nothing about how to balance your diet correctly or achieve anything approaching a lifelong path for good health.
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March 12th, 2009 admin
This “groundbreaking” approach promises that you’ll be able to eat plenty of delicious foods and keep your metabolism humming by having you discard the poor fueling that has been harming you. But first comes the inspirational step of learning to think of food as fuel, not the enemy. Developing the proper mindset and proper goals will help you fuel your future rather than concentrating on dieting to lose weight. Although author Robyn Landis recommends a low-fat diet, she also insists that calories don’t count, so you can eat as much as you like as long as you exercise and use the right kind of mental and dietary fuel. This confusing, unfounded program is best left on the shelf.
Fad Diets, front Atkins to the Zone-I’ve selected these diets for discussion because millions of dieters are using them right at this very moment. You can find many of the books that promote these diets on the shelves of your local bookstore, either in their original forms or in a slightly altered version.
*137\29\2*
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March 12th, 2009 admin
Your success on the Fat Blocker Program with Chitosan is, of course, ultimately dependent on your attitude toward yourself, toward building healthful eating habits that will last a lifetime, and toward the measured use of Chitosan. If you think that this supplement is a sort of license to overeat, you’ll be very disappointed in the results. What it is, rather, is a license to eat correctly, a license to maintain your appropriate weight, a license to be healthy. If you abuse your body by taking handfuls of Chitosan and then gorging on high-calorie treats, you will end up gaining weight. (Remember: Chitosan only blocks fat, not calories from carbohydrates or protein. And also remember that there is a limit to how much Chitosan you can take, and how much fat you can block.) If you do not eat sensibly, the fat will overwhelm the Chitosan and it will do you little good. Indeed, the whole point of this approach is to cut down on your food consumption a little—an amount you can manage permanently—and let the Chitosan add its effect to your efforts. So, if you use the Fat Blocker Program as a guide for building lifelong eating and exercise habits—using the Chitosan to add to the effectiveness of your program—you will succeed.
Chitosan can help us accomplish a world of good. But, like most powerful substances, it must be used carefully and prudently. By following these rules, you can make Chitosan work for you, not against you.
♦ Use Chitosan to help you get started. Start gradually. Don’t try to do more than you know
you can manage in the long run.
♦ Follow the Fat Blocker Eating Program for good nutrition and good health.
♦ Recognize that an occasional splurge will occur. But do not substitute splurge foods for the
nutritious foods outlined in the Fat Blocker Eating Program, and keep your splurging as
modest as you can (i.e., one piece of cake, not the whole cake).
♦ Do not use Chitosan as an excuse to binge or engage in other unhealthy eating practices. If
you do binge in spite of your best efforts, Chitosan can partially mitigate the effect of your
transgression. But if you use Chitosan to permit yourself to binge, you will have allowed it to
do you a lot of harm.
♦ Do not take fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, or E) at the same time that you take
Chitosan. (They may be less available for your body’s use.)
♦ Do not overuse Chitosan.
♦ Do drink 8 glasses of water a day.
♦ Remember: There is no substitute for nutritious eating and a regular exercise program.
Chitosan can help you stay with your eating plan but it can’t nourish your body, increase your
physical fitness, or cause you to lose weight.
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March 12th, 2009 admin
Caution: Before you begin any new exercise program, see your physician to discuss any health concerns you may have, especially if you are over 35 or have heart trouble, high blood pressure, any other health problems, concerns, or risk factors. And consider these tips:
♦ Don’t overdo it, especially at the beginning. Start slowly, increasing the intensity, time, or
number of repetitions gradually over a period of weeks or months. Overdoing it can lead to
injuries. If you injure yourself, you’ll be more likely to abandon the program for good. Less
dramatically, but just as bad for your long-term health, overexertion at the start can teach you
that exercise is painful and unpleasant (which it doesn’t have to be) and can convince you not
to do any.
♦ Expect to feel a little tired, out of breath, or slightly sore at first. But again I emphasize that
these symptoms should be minor. Remember, your initial objective is to do a little more
exercise, partly to make absolutely certain that you are not falling into the trap of doing less
(perhaps because you have less weight to cart around), and partly because even a little bit of
extra exercise will speed up your BMR and help you lose weight and get into shape faster. In
any case, even if you inadvertently overdo it slightly at the start, don’t worry. That’s normal.
Soon, your body will respond to the exercise, quickly learning to tolerate greater amounts
of exercise. It’s amazing what the human body can do in a brief period of time.
♦ Stay with it. Try to exercise at least 4 days a week. Frequency and consistency are more
important than quantity when it comes to exercise—especially if you are just starting out.
As the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle pointed out, “We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Your consistent effort will pay off, sooner than
you think. Gradually, if you remain steady, the amount of exercise you do will increase.
Within a few months, people will say to you, “I don’t know how you do it. I certainly
couldn’t.” Take the compliment, even though you and I both know that, with just a little
effort—and Chitosan—your admirer could do just as well.
♦ Keep breathing as you exercise. You need plenty of oxygen, especially during aerobic
exercise. Holding your breath can defeat your purpose, raise your blood pressure, and prompt
increased muscle soreness.
♦ Tune in to your body’s signals. Learn to distinguish between the mild pain of exerting
unused muscles and the true pain of injury. If you feel dizzy, short of breath, tight-chested,
or nauseated, stop and immediately see your doctor. In fact, if you occasionally reach the
point where you just don’t feel like continuing, pack up and go home. Better to miss one day
of exercise than to put yourself into such a negative frame of mind about the whole thing that
you give up exercising altogether.
*109\29\2*
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