Natural Weight Loss Plan

Researchers have recently reported that waist circumference is associated with higher risk of mortality among all women—but interestingly, mortality rates were especially high in those women who had a normal body mass index, or BMI (and therefore, were not considered overweight or obese). 

BMI is not always a clear indicator of whether or not your weight is in the healthy range. For instance, many athletes who have a great deal of muscle mass (and therefore weigh more because of that muscle mass) would be considered overweight by BMI standards. Therefore, I do believe that BMI is only one tool to assess health risk. Waist circumference is a great indicator of health because women with thicker waistlines (usually more than 35 inches around) have a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, and many other conditions.

Eating a healthy diet (which includes natural appetite control measures) and exercising regularly are the best ways to whittle down your waistline and achieve natural weightloss. Try walking, cycling, jogging, tennis, yoga, dancing, or any other exercise that appeals to you and keeps you motivated. In time, your waistline—and your weight overall—will decrease and you’ll be in much better health.

For more great tips on achieving your weight loss goals, visit my Web site.

• Add more fiber. Begin each meal with a high-nutrient, high-fiber foodósuch as a salad or an appetizer like 1/3 cup of hummus with baby carrots. This will give you a feeling of fullness before you begin your main course.
• Breakfast like a king.  Eat your heavier meals during the day (breakfast and lunch) and a lighter meal for dinner. This gives your body time to digest the heavier meals long before bed.
• Calm down when you eat. Research shows it takes at least 20 minutes from the time food hits your stomach until your brain receives signals of fullness. If you eat too fast, you’ll eat past your “full” point, taking in too much food.
• Don’t quit. If you do eat something that you know you shouldn’t, or that isn’t right for your type, don’t beat yourself up or feel guilty. This is not a short-term program, but a lifetime approach. Work to make these recommendations the norm in your life, with foods like refined sugar, white flour, alcohol, and red meats the exception.
• Eat a wide variety of foods. Otherwise, you may begin to feel bored and deprived. Plus, you need a wide variety of nutrients for good health.
• Fifteen-minute meal preparation. You’ll be less likely to give in to temptation and hit the fast-food chains if you know you can throw a healthy dinner together in 15 minutes.
• Go with small portions first. We seem to be programmed from childhood to leave a clean plate. It’s much better to take a little more if you’re still hungry than to feel stuffed because you felt compelled to finish everything on your plate.
• Honor mealtimes. Light candles, play soft music, and consider mealtimes an opportunity for reflection, planning, and community, whether you’re eating alone or with others.

• Hot peppers. Capsaicin is the “hot” ingredient in hot peppers. Studies show that, in spite of being fed a high-fat diet, laboratory rats given supplemental capsaicin actually lost body fat and 8 percent of their starting body weight, while the rats not given capsaicin gained both weight and fat. I recommend Nature’s Way Cayenne 40,000 H.U. Take 450 mg three times daily with food.
• Turmeric. A well-known antioxidant and anti-cancer agent, turmeric is also a traditional Ayurvedic weight-loss agent. Its active ingredient is curcumin, which studies show suppresses fat deposition in mice fed a high-fat diet. I recommend a turmeric extract standardized to 95 percent curcuminoids, which you can find at any health food store or vitamin retailer. Take 500 mg three times daily. Or, simply add this wonderful spice to your recipes! You can find many recipes that include turmeric online.

In my most recent newsletter issue, I shared some exciting new discoveries in the world of natural weightloss. I'd like to share some of them with you this week. Let's start with a vitamin I have discussed many times in conjunction with bone health, immunity, and even female hormone balance, that now also has been shown to play a critical role in maintaining a healthy weight--vitamin D!

In one very recent study, overweight or obese individuals in a diet and exercise weight-loss program, who concomitantly took supplemental vitamin D, lost significantly more weight than those who were not taking vitamin D. Here’s the twist: Those who had ample blood levels of vitamin D at the start of the weight-loss program did not benefit weight-loss wise from those ample levels. It was when vitamin D levels in the blood increased over the first six months of the two-year study that their weight-loss success blossomed.

I recommend taking 1,000 to 4,000 IU vitamin D3 daily (D3 is more effective than D2). This dose will get your serum levels increasing towards that target level and give your natural weight loss plan a boost. 

For more tips on improving your natural weigtloss efforts, visit my Web site.

• 4 oz. fish/poultry—a deck of cards
• 1 cup—a softball
• ½ cup—a handful
• 1/4 cup—a golf ball

• Plan for your indulgence and be extra vigilant the day before.
• Limit the number of indulgences you take in any given month.
• Exercise for 60 minutes rather than 30 minutes the day after.
• Always remember, indulgences are the exception, not the rule.
• Substitute a shake for breakfast and another for lunch the day after.
• Enjoy! You’ve worked hard and deserve an occasional treat!

• eliminating toxins from your body;
• cleansing and invigorating your cells and tissues;
• improving your ability to lose weight and gain appetite control;
• promoting radiant skin and lustrous hair;
• protecting your nervous system and brain from unmetabolized toxins;
• reducing your risk of heart disease, PMS, fibroid tumors, endometriosis, and breast cancer;
• enhancing libido;
• fighting fatigue; and
• balancing estrogen levels by supporting estrogen metabolism.

The final step in controlling emotional eating and kick-starting your natural weightloss is to take the following supplements, which have been proven to help curb the cravings associated with emotional eating:

• Saffron has long been used as a seasoning and coloring agent by gourmet cooks. But saffron also has amazing medicinal value that is beginning to turn heads, including benefits that can help free you from the clutches of emotional eating. Scientists have identified at least two of its active ingredients: safranal, which has been found to promote levels of the well-being neurotransmitter serotonin, and crocin-1, which inhibits the neurotransmitters dopamine (believed to condition you to expect “rewards” from comfort food), and the acute stress hormone norepinephrine. Saffron’s effects on these brain chemicals is believed to be one mechanism by which it combats mild to moderate depression; increases a sense of fullness and satisfaction; helps blunt the triggers of emotional eating; and promotes not just weight loss, but reduction of fat mass. A new, patent-pending, clinically proven optimized saffron extract, developed in France from Mediterranean saffron and used in the study above, is available as a supplement called Satiereal. I recommend one capsule, twice daily.
• Sublingual 5-HTP. Your brain is a major source for the production of the appetite control neurotransmitter called serotonin, and 5-HTP (5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan) is serotonin’s main ingredient. In a placebo-controlled study of overweight women, eight weeks of treatment with an under-the-tongue form of 5-HTP resulted in a significantly greater sense of fullness and satisfaction, and reduced body mass index, skinfold thickness, and hip measurement. I recommend Life Link’s 5 HTP lozenges .

To  learn more about appetite control techniques and ways to aid in your natural weight loss plan, visit my Web site.
 

• turkey;
• seafood;
• whole grains such as quinoa;
• brown rice;
• legumes;
• eggs;
• almonds; and
• sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds.

One of the biggest obstacles in any woman's natural weight loss plan is emotional eating.  Emotional eating—craving then consuming foods you are addicted to—occurs when you cannot or will not allow yourself to feel, express, or deal with your negative feelings. 
If you cannot deal with them as they arise, a common protective mechanism is to avoid experiencing them on an emotional level and instead shut them away or bury them in your body. Emotional eating is a common way of doing this. Instead of feeling sad, worthless, angry, or resentful, you anesthetize yourself by bingeing on foods like potato chips, pizza, or ice cream. In other words, you eat instead of feel.

Today and over the next several days, I will give you techniques and supplements that have been scientifically proven to curb emotional eating, provide appetite control, and help aid in natural weightloss. The first step is in this journey is to use a method called relaxation training.

Anxiety causes cortisol elevations that can quickly sabotage any natural weight loss plan. Relaxation training can help you deal with anxiety and reduce emotional eating that can sabotage your weight and health. In a recent study, three months after completing 12 weekly relaxation training sessions, obese women had fewer depression and anxiety symptoms, fewer episodes of emotional eating, and significant weight loss.
 
A great way to start is to use brain wave entrainment, which uses a preprogrammed session of flickering lights and/or rhythmic sounds that pulsate at the alpha brainwave frequency (the brainwave associated with deep relaxation and a meditative state). The therapy coaxes brainwaves into that target alpha frequency to bring about a relaxed state. My favorite BWE device is the MindSpa. 

Other relaxation techniques that I use and recommend include yoga, deep breathing, T’ai Chi, Qigong, grounding, and aerobic exercise like walking or hiking. Whatever method(s) you choose, please commit to having at least a 15-minute relaxation session every day to ease your mind.

To learn more about natural weightloss and appetite control methods, visit my Web site.
 

• Use cinnamon sticks to make tea.
• Add cinnamon powder to coffee beans before grinding to give your morning java a blood sugar boost.
• Add ½ to 1 teaspoon to oatmeal or any hot cereal.
• Add ½ to 1 teaspoon to your favorite smoothie.
• Make sweet potato cinnamon “fries.”  Cut a sweet potato into “disks.”  Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil and place potato disks in single layer on the cookie sheet. Spray the potatoes with the olive oil. Sprinkle potatoes with cinnamon and bake at 425°F for 20–25 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time.
• Core an apple, then cut in half from top to bottom. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes or until the apple is soft.

• Rowing machine. Rowing provides an all-over body workout, conditioning the quads, butt, abs, lower back, and upper body.
• Stationary bike. Biking works the leg muscles, particularly the quads, while providing needed relief from the pounding on knees and ankles.
• Stair climber. Stair climbing is a good substitute for running. Like cross-country skiing, climbing stairs utilizes the same range of motion and muscle groups as running.
• Elliptical. Elliptical trainers mimic the motion of running, but provide a great low impact workout.
• Classes. Enjoy the company of others by taking part in an aerobics class, work off your aggression through kickboxing, or see why everyone is raving about Pilates.

• Invest in a good pair of comfortable shoes. Make sure you go to an actual running store to be fit for running/walking shoes that fit your particular feet.
• Stretch before and after each walk. Take 10 to 15 minutes to loosen up your legs, arms, back, and shoulders before and after each workout.
• Exercise outside if weather allows. Take time to rejoice in nature and the change of the seasons. Listen for the crunch of snow underfoot and the crispness of the winter air. If the weather in your area simply doesn’t allow for outside activity, move your routine to a nearby mall or try the treadmill at a nearby gym.
• Never rest on your laurels. In order to avoid plateauing, be sure to build upon each success. If you start off walking for 10 to 15 minutes a day three days a week, try building to 20 to 30 minutes a day 4 or 5 days a week; work towards a goal of walking for one hour a day, 6 to 7 days a week. You can also include more hills in your walk, or gradually increase your rate of speed.
• Build a community around exercise. Find a walking partner or join a running club. It is easy to find excuses for not taking your morning walk, but it becomes more difficult if someone is waiting for you on the corner or at the gym.