Care Points – An Ultimate resource for In-depth Health Information and articles

Does obesity rhyme with Body Mass Index (BMI). Yes, a person is considered obese if the BMI is 30 (kg/m2) and above. BMI determines the ratio of the body mass to the height of an individual. The high rises, better life-style and improved food habits have led to the nourishment of overweight and obesity symptoms.

Recent studies on genetic components have shown increase in inheritance of weight regulating genes which poses a grave threat to the alarming rise of obesity cases. Also, an obese or an overweight person is prone to life-threatening diseases compared to a healthy person. Life style diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, cancer, osteoarthritis, hypertension, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and liver malfunction are some of the risks confronting obesity.

In addition, the official stats released by Federal Health Department and various Non Governmental Organization shows that 750 million people worldwide are overweight, of which 300 million are obese.

Measures to curb the repercussions of obesity can only be found through a strict dietary regime and a sincere approach towards weight loss exercises or activities.

A general overview indicates the tendency of fat deposits around flaps and paunches around the triceps, upper thighs, hips and buttocks in women. In case of men, the worry lies around belly, the lower abdomen, lower back and the waistline. Weight loss with the help of exercises means a minimal strain on the harms of side-effects in comparison to the intake of unbranded weight-loss pills.

One of the least strenuous and most effective exercises which a doctor can offer to an obese person to combat ‘fatty war’ is to ‘Walk.’ Striding up religiously for 15-30 minutes daily helps to burn down excessive with time without the fear of being sprained or injured. Depending on the adaptability, the duration of the walk may be added up to 10 more minutes.

Fats located around the abdomen are hardest to get rid of. So, a combined fusion of low calories diet and cardiovascular exercise (aerobics fives times a week for at 20 minutes, swimming, jogging, bicycling namely) may be the answer to all the woes of weight loss.

Twenty first century is said to be a millennium that is tremendously advanced in many fields that were mere dreams of our ancestors. Yes, we do deserve a pat on our back for achieving it. But do we really care that this advancement in all areas of life is affecting our health adversely? In an attempt to work harder and harder, we are neglecting our health to a great extent. The end result is so many diseases cropping up, which are aptly called as “new-age” diseases. One of the major diseases is obesity, which pioneers the onset of many other diseases. Why is our population succumbing to obesity menace so rampantly?

Just have a look at the lifestyles of our ancestors and the reason will be clearly visible to you. There was extra load of manual work during old times and also a degree of satisfaction prevailed in their lives. We are running behind our duties endlessly, forgetting to enjoy smaller moments and achievements in day to day life. In this vicious cycle, we are eating more to counter our stress and strain. Numerous food stalls and restaurants are opened up that guarantee multi-cuisine treat to all of us. We have little extra money to buy whatever and whenever we want and this all sums up in our unsightly bulges!

What can be done to achieve a balanced body with balanced thoughts?

Well, it is also true that we are unable to come out of the vicious cycle that we have created for ourselves. We have deadlines to meet and workload to finish. But, we can start motivating ourselves by imbibing the healthy lifestyle patterns that can keep us going for long time to come. One of the major areas is our eating. If you want to achieve a harmonized body, you have to have good healthy meals. You cannot eat anything and everything if you want to keep your weight in check. And there is no better alternative than preparing your own food for having all benefits of natural home-made food.

What are the benefits of home-made food?

•    Possibility to count the calories that we are consuming
•    Possibility of choosing only those ingredients that do not make us fat
•    A sense of satisfaction that comes after successfully preparing a health-recipe
•    Ability to inculcate good eating habits among our children
•    Learning new cooking styles is always fun
•    You save lot of money by preparing food at home, a fact that also contributes to reducing your stress level
•    A dinner or lunch together with family members over home made food enhances human bonds

What we should keep in mind while preparing weight loss recipes?

1)    Seek advice from experts online or otherwise to make sure you are on right track and are not consuming some empty calories.
2)    Try to integrate many diet plans on different week days to avoid being stereotyped.
3)    Do not neglect the nutritional value of different food items.
4)    Indulge in green veggies, nuts, sprouts, fresh fruits, and fat-free yoghurt while preparing your dishes.
5)    As far as possible try to eat the food freshly prepared rather than refrigerator stored.
6)    Keep a chart of your recipes that will enable you to assess your weight loss with particular food items.

Some delicious home-made weight loss recipes-

Well, eating healthy food at home doesn’t mean that you have to curb the desires of your tongue to great extent. You can satiate your appetite whims by preparing healthy food that can aid in weight loss. As we said earlier, it is better to indulge in low-fat diet and snacks that you can prepare at home. Include salads with each serving and you will get enough fiber to boost your bowels. If you are a fitness enthusiast who likes to indulge in deserts and beverages, it is good to indulge in following recipes-

1)    Cranberry spritzer- Refrigerate the cranberry juice, lemon juice until cold. Mix the ingredients with carbonated water and sherbet. Serve immediately in tall glasses after garnishing with lemon or lime wedge.
2)    Green tea with ginger- The green tea is a great companion for sports persons, which keeps up their energy levels. Add ginger for weight loss effects.
3)    Veggie wraps with ginger dipping sauce-
Ingredients- 2 tablespoons of fresh grated ginger, 4 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce, 5 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 garlic clove. For wrapping, rice spring role wrappers, 2 medium sized carrots, 1 celery stalk, 1 cup shredded cabbage, and soy sauce.
Procedure- Whisk all sauce ingredients in a bowl. Also mix all the grated veggies and spoon it in the center of wrapper. Wrap it up in the way you desire. Steam the wraps for 5-7 minutes and serve immediately.

Similarly you can search many online sites and books for finding weight loss recipes and cook your own health!

The gravest problem for all people who have crossed the normal hip-waist ratio is lack of time to have sufficient exercise! Well, is it so? When we know that spending time for keeping your weight in check is like investing your time, why can’t we imbibe a good lifestyle regime in our day to day life? We know it’s easier said than done! But with little effort, we all can inculcate regular weight loss regime (it should be called a “healthy life” regime) in our day to day life.

Even latest Mayo Clinic research believes that it’s not your gym but your everyday activity, pacing, fidgetiness, and restlessness that count more while losing weight. The study was centered on coach potatoes and their excess weights resulting due to sedentary habits. And the study reveals that the people if comprised activity regimen while sitting, standing, walking, and talking, they can lose calories faster. As we all know, any good diet regimen has to be coupled with exercise regimen for better and long term results. You use any diet pills or weight loss regimen, there is no alternative to bodily activity while losing those extra pounds.

Is it possible to burn calories without exercising?

Kames Levin, an MD at Mayo Clinic, calls this process as NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis). But over the years, due to technological advancements, our day to day caloric burn is reduced a lot, thanks to the machinery and equipments that help us reduce our work. Therefore, he suggests if we can increase our activity time everyday even by some time, it will help us lose extra pounds with ease.

What activities can be inculcated in our day to day life to burn more calories effectively?

1)    Shopping- Yes, your favorite hobby, shopping can help you burn more calories, especially if you like to shop in a supermarket stylishly while pushing the cart up and down the aisles. Pick up the most nutritious and healthy food items, pack them in cart yourself, and take it to counter. You will burn upto 250 calories without doubt!

2)    Laundry- well, even if you use washing machines, folding your clothes everyday gives you enough exercise if you do it for 15-20 minutes. Yes, you have chance to burn around 100 calories just by folding your clothes.

3)    Wipe and make it shine- have you tried wiping your tables, drawers, shelves etc? If you do this cleaning business for 30 minutes a day, you can lose around 100 calories!

4)    Cleaning around- feeling filthy about dirty neighborhood? Why don’t you take initiative and clean it coming Sunday for 2-3 hours? Yes you have chance to lose whopping 2000 calories!

5)    Use your feet for corner shop instead of driving. If you do this every time you need something, you tend to lose calories. Also good habit to inculcate in children from young days.

6)    Using cycle at least once or twice a week is the best form of habit you can inculcate in your daily routine.

7)    Walk to bus stop- may be this sounds foolish, but walking to catch your bus or train by walking till bus stop or station burns more calories as you always are hurried to do the same.

8)    Parking your car little away from your destination can give you pretty good exercise.

9)    Start loving the stairs instead of lift at workplace or home.

10)    During lunch break, have a brisk walk for about 10-15 minutes.

11)    Do not use phone or email while contacting an office colleague. Go to him and talk. Will strengthen your bonds too while reducing bulges over long period.

12)    At home, play actively with your kids. It can be one of the greatest exercises in day to day life.

13)    Gardening once a week will give you amazing exercise.

14)    And finally, dance around the house while listening to your favorite music!

The list above is definitely not very hard to inculcate in your day to day life. Just you need the motivation to shed those extra kilos that have potential to burden you with life-threatening disorders. If you want to save yourself with the hassles later, start with the day to day activity regimen today and find the difference!

The low-carb diet that was discovered by Dr. Robert Atkins is a well-known weight-reducing recipe for many people today. Though Atkins diet was first described in a journal of American Medical Association, the credit of popularizing it goes to Dr. Robert Atkins who gave the world series of books on Atkins’ diet plan.

A novel approach to look at diet regime:

The times when weight loss was restricted to crash diets, Atkins diet came over as the surprise. The diet regime comprised choosing the right food that suits your body and avoids fat deposits. It never ever recommended crash diets; rather it was totally against the harsh treatment to body. No wonder many food enthusiasts embraced Atkins diet with open arms. When they came to know that use of rich cream, cheddar cheese omelet, and smooth avocado cream soup are not a strict “no” in Atkins diet, they were ready to go for it without any inhibitions!

What is the theory behind Atkins diet or low-carb diet?

1)    It is seen that over-weight people tend to consume lot of carbohydrates in their diet. Though the body burns fats and carbohydrates both for release of energy, the carbohydrates are utilized first. Therefore, when we reduce carbohydrate intake drastically, the body naturally burns the stored fat first and thus the weight is reduced.

2)    When the carbohydrates are restricted to fraction of our usual diet, the body tends to go into a state called ketosis. This is the state in which the body burns its fat stores for getting fuel.

3)    Also ketosis is the stage in which the body feels a false feeling of satiety, thus the person tends to eat less.

4)    However, if you consume high-carb diet (white flour and sugar especially), the sugar from carbohydrates enters the bloodstream and to keep check on it, body tends to secrete more insulin. Because of insulin, the extra sugar gets stored in liver and muscles. But when these are filled to their capacity, the insulin converts sugar to fat.

5)    When the body keeps on making more insulin, obviously over a period of time, it becomes less responsive to insulin, thus resulting in diabetes.

6)    So, Atkins diet recommends reducing carbohydrate consumption drastically and increase fat and protein consumption so that the consequences of high-carb diet over long term can be avoided.

Why Atkins is considered the best weight loss program by weight watchers?

•    Atkins diet turns your body into a fat burning machine

•    It teaches you how to select your food appropriately

•    Lot of dietary options are available with Atkins diet thus making it fun to lose weight

•    Enjoyable, flexible, and affordable diet plan

•    Scientifically backed diet formula that has lot many success stories available

•    Enjoying healthier life for long time to come is possible with Atkins maintenance diet

What can you eat in Atkins diet?

In the initial induction phase of Atkins diet, the beginner should reduce the carbohydrate intake to 20 grams of the net carbs. He can eat-

1.    Proteins- All meats without bread and high-carb sauces are acceptable. However, be sure to know the sugary meats like hams or luncheons. You can also consume sea-food and eggs preferably without egg yolks.

2.    Veggies- you can eat 12-15 grams of vegetables per day. Thus you can consume sprouts, lettuces, spinach, chard, mustard greens, kale, Radicchio, parsley, basil, rosemary, celery, radishes, sea-veggies, mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli, etc.

3.    Fats and oils- for Atkins diet, adequate fat intake is vital according to nutrition experts, though one should go for natural fats and strictly not for trans-fats. Consume plenty of cold water fish with high omega-3 fatty acids, olive oil, peanut or grapeseed oil, full-fat mayonnaise, some portions of butter and saturated fats, 3-4 ounces of cheese per day, etc.

4.    Beverages- Water! Yes, Atkins diet recommends maximum intake of water that keeps you healthy by making you eat less. But beware not to drink sugary beverages. You can also drink herbal teas, coffee without added sugar.

5.    Fiber- Atkins diet also advises to choose food that is high in fiber.

Thus, if you are considering the best option for your weight loss regime after giving up many other regimes, Atkins diet is sure to help you achieve desired results. For beginners as well as weight watchers in long run, Atkins diet furnishes variety of dieting options that are digested well by food enthusiasts too!