Diet dengan Buah Manggis
Percaya atau tidak, menurunkan berat badan sudah menjadi tren akhir-akhir ini. Itulah mengapa sekarang ini kita bisa menemukan banyak orang melakukan program diet, makan lebih sedikit, memperbanyak olahraga, dsb. Banyak juga produk yang menawarkan bahan-bahan alami untuk menurunkan berat badan. Bila Anda termasuk orang yang tidak percaya dengan produk apapun, meskipun memakai bahan alami, Anda bisa mencoba Manggis. Buah ini kaya akan vitamin penting dan juga mineral. Mengandung sedikit lemak dan kalori, dan juga mengandung banyak anti-oksidan. Satu buah manggis mengandung kira-kira 60 kalori, serat 5gm. Buah ini juga tidak mengandung kolesterol sama sekali, itulah mengapa bagus untuk orang-orang yang mengalami kolesterol tinggi. Akhir-akhir ini, buah manggis banyak digandrungi sebagai penurun berat badan karena rasa asam-manisnya.
Bagaimana Buah Manggis bisa membantu menurunkan berat badan?
Buah manggis membantu menurunkan berat badan melalui berbagai cara.
Memudahkan penurunan berat badan karena mengandung bahan alami penekan nafsu makan. Manggis juga meningkatkan glikogen sintesis dalam tubuh. Dengan tingkat produksi dan cadangan glikogen dalam tubuh, otak akan menerima sinyal, yang mana akan menekan nafsu makan secara otomatis.
Buah ini mengandung banyak air, yang bisa meningkatkan metabolisme dalam tubuh dan dapat memecahkan lemak dengan mudah. Sebuah penelitian mengatakan bahwa manggis mempercepat pembakaran lemak dalam tubuh. Tetapi, untuk mendapatkan manfaat ini, Anda harus mengkonsumsi manggis secara rutin.
Manggis diperkaya dengan niasin, folat, tiamin, mangan, kalium, magnesium dan vitamin C. Dengan kandungan xanthones, yang memiliki kandungan antioksidan, melindungi tubuh melawan efek jahat radikal bebas, meningkatkan sistem kekebalan dan memperbaiki pencernaan. Kekebalan tubuh yang kuat memperbaiki kesehatan secara menyeluruh tubuh manusia.
Kandungan serat yang tinggi dalam manggis mempercepat tingkat metabolisme dan membuat pencernaan semakin efektif. Meningkatkan daya serap gizi. Dengan daya serap gizi yang cukup, tubuh akan mendapat energi lebih yang membuat kita lebih aktif dan memulai olahraga. Inilah mengapa mengkonsumsi manggis membantu penurunan berat badan Anda.
Bagaimana Manggis bisa mengurangi berat badan?
Manggis tersedia tidak hanya berupa buah segar, tetapi sekarang dikemas dalam tablet dan kapsul. Kita juga bisa memasukan jus manggis ke dalam pola makan kita untuk mengurangi berat badan. Dibawah ini ada beberapa poin kapan dan bagaiman Anda mengkonsumsi manggis untuk mengurangi berat badan.
- Satu porsi jus manggis kira kira 250 ml. Pertahankan porsi jus mangga Anda, karena jus manggis mengandung gula alami, dan bahkan gula tambahan. Untuk memperketat asupan kalori dalam bentuk gula, usahakan meminum satu porsi sekali minum.
- Bila Anda merasa lapar, minumlah satu gelas jus manggis. Jus mengandung penekan nafsu makan alami, sehingga Anda tidak akan merasa lapar, sekaligus mendapatkan nutrisi yang cukup untuk tubuh.
- Anda bisa minum jus manggis sebelum atau saat makan. Ini akan membuat Anda cepat kenyang, sehingga Anda makan lebih sedikit.
- Jangan hanya bergantung pada jus manggis untuk menurunkan berat badan. Anda harus menggabungkan jus manggis dengan buah yang lain, sayuran, biji-bijian, daging tanpa lemak, dan produk susu rendah lemak. Yang terpenting adalah memperbanyak serat dalam makanan, yang membuat Anda merasa cepat kenyang, batasi makanan Anda dan jangan lupa menyediakan jumpah karbohidrat yang cukup untuk memberi Anda energi yang cukup untuk olahraga dan membakar kalori.
- Meskipun Anda mengkonsumi manggis, Anda tidak boleh melupakan rencana olahraga Anda, paling tidak 30 menit dalam sehari untuk menghindari lemak.
Mengkonsumsi buah manggis adalah cara yang baik untuk mengurangi berat badan. Akan tetapi, Anda harus berkonsultasi dengan dokter Anda sebelum memulai program diet baru. Dengan asupan buah yang rutin bersama dengan olahraga secara teratur, Anda bisa mengurangi berat badan dengan efektif dan sehat.
Losing Weight through Healthy Habits
Today, everybody concerns so much about their weight. Concerning about weight is not always about anorexia or looking like a super model. Instead, it is meant to watch your health and fitness, weather it is decreasing or improving. But, many people have already stereotyped that losing weight is all about strict diets and heavy exercises, though they are actually the main keys of losing weight.
However, not many people understand that the importance of losing weight booster is healthy habits. Once you create the healthy habits in your daily life, you will be able to make a significant change. If you are interested in healthy habits, you may want to check out some easy and simple ways below:
Losing weight through Healthy Eating Habits
- Many people drastically change the way they see food. Food can become the worst enemy of ours, therefore, in many cases we are afraid to eat, and it leads us to starving. You have to remember that this is not helping at all. What you have to do is you set up a certain portion for certain kinds of food. You can create a comparison of the portion of certain types of food day to day. Starving and skipping your meal time will make your digestive system weaker.
- Drinking a lot of water. This may be very cliché, but very important. You are highly recommended to drink at least 2 liter of water a day. It helps you a lot because it regulates your metabolism and cleans your body. Hence, you can stay away from accumulated fat in some sensitive areas. Besides, it secretly makes you stuffed from food and snacks faster.
- It is related to water. When you drink a lot of water, you will need to go to bathroom more often. This unwittingly will encourage you distract you from your monotone activities, so you can do more physical activities in which you will end up burning more calories.
- Avoid smoking and drinking too much alcohol, because smoking can ruin your digestive system as you will have less appetite and alcohol can accumulate fat faster in your belly.
- Eat your food slowly; the bottom line is to enjoy it. It is recommended to chew 32 times before you can swallow. This habit is more than getting proper digestion, but it will make you eat less.
Losing weight through Simple Exercises
- If you have a sedentary job, you need to make little movements, such as a common stair instead of escalator or elevator, walking to your office and the like. The little movements will not only burn more fat, but also reduce your stress.
- Take an hour or less to do light exercises every day or few days in a week. It is important to know that mostly we forget to do exercise just because we have too much work. Short but regular exercises will make you fit and stronger.
- This is important for women to know, namely shopping. Use this opportunity to lose your weight as well. You may not realize that you spend hours to go around a mall which means you walk a lot and burn more calories per shopping trip.
- You may find this funny, but you can do little exercises while watching TV, like crunches, push-ups, squats, and the like. You can do exercise while enjoying your favorite program on TV.
If you commit to your healthy habits for losing weight, you should not make any excuse not to do the points above. They are easy and simple; you just need to create the habit every day. Keep your motivation to go with those healthy habits, and then you’ll see the results.
Kenyang, tapi tidak Berlebihan
Bila Anda memiliki tendensi untuk makan terlalu banyak, Anda juga punya tendensi menambah berat badan. Satu poin penting tentang kegemukan adalah makan makanan yang Anda suka (bukan yang Anda butuhkan) sampai puas. Hal ini bisa mengantar Anda ke satu masalah yaitu makan terlalu banyak.
Orang yang punya masalah dengan berat badan berawal dari masalah mengontrol apa yang mereka makan. Bila Anda adalah salah satu dari orang tersebut, Anda harus belajar untuk mengontrol nafsu makan. Hal ini memang sulit, tapi bila Anda tahu bagaimana caranya, hal ini tidak akan menjadi masalah lagi.
- Yakinkan diri Anda untuk mengatur jumlah makanan yang benar-benar ingin Anda makan. Ini akan memberi gambaran jelas tentang jumlah makanan yang harus Anda konsumsi pada waktu-waktu tertentu
- Jangan makan terlalu banyak hanya karena Anda takut menyisakan makanan. Anda bisa menyimpan sisa makanan di dalam kulkas, dan memakannya lagi nanti.
- Jangan makan dengan tergesa-gesa. Nikmati makan Anda pelan-pelan, karena bila Anda makan secara perlahan-lahan, Anda bisa merasa kenyang lebih cepat.
- Untuk mengetahui apakah Anda sudah kenyang apa belum saat makan, bernafaslah dalam-dalam. Mengambil nafas dalam-dalam bisa membuat pikiran Anda fokus terhadap perut Anda, sehingga Anda bisa membaca bahasa perut Anda apakah ia sudah kenyang apa belum.
- Jangan makan sambil menonton TV karena menonton TV akan mengurangi kenikmatan makan Anda.
- Ciptakan suasana yang menyenangkan di tempat makan, karena suasana tersebut akan membuat nafsu makan Anda terkendali.
- Duduklah dengan nyaman ketika Anda makan, sehingga Anda bisa fokus terhadap waktu makan dan makanan itu sendiri
- Nikmati aroma, bentuk dan rasa makanan Anda. Dengan cara ini, Anda bisa mendapat kepuasan makan sejak Anda mengawali makan, tanpa menunggu sampai selesai
- Fokuslah pada makanan yang paling Anda sukai, dan batasi diri dengan meninggalkan makanan yang tidak terlalu Anda inginkan. Memakan makanan yang paling Anda sukai akan memberikan kepuasan lebih awal.
- Segera tinggalkan meja makan saat Anda sudah merasa memenuhi rasa lapar Anda. Duduk berlama-lama di meja makan akan memberi Anda kesempatan lagi untuk mengambil atau sekedar mencicipi makanan lain. Meskipun tidak sebanyak makanan utama, mencicipi makanan bisa menambah kalori juga.
- Bila Anda ingin menambah jumlah makanan, pikirkan baik-baik sebelum Anda memutuskannya. Kalau memang masih lapar, tambahkan sedikit makanan tidak masalah, tapi berhentilah setelah Anda merasa kenyang.
- Buatlah jurnal makan. Tulislah makanan apa saja yang sudah Anda konsumsi setiap hari. Anda bisa membuat tabel makan dan perbandingan antara hari ini dan hari esok. Dengan membandingkan tabel makanan, Anda bisa melihat apakah Anda bisa mempertahankan makanan rendah kalori atau tidak.
- Makanlah bila Anda merasa lapar, dan jangan menunda makan bila Anda sudah merasa lapar.
- Jangan pula lupa minum banyak air putih, karena air putih mengurangi porsi makan tanpa menambah kalori apapun ke dalam tubuh Anda.
Banyak sekali yang bisa Anda bisa lakukan untuk menutup rasa lapar tanpa mengkonsumsi terlalu banyak makanan. Bila Anda mulai tidak bisa mengkontrol rasa lapar atau keinginan nyemil yang berlebihan, Anda bisa membaca tips-tips yang sudah dijelaskan di atas. Makanlah untuk hidup.
Keeping Your Body Fit and Healthy in Your Sedentary Job
Have you thought that working in an office in front of computer is really cool? Yes, this is a type of job that has been popular lately. As you work day by day, you will be able to count how many hours you sit every single day for this sedentary job. Every day, you may just spend 8 hours, but it will be 40 hours in a week, and so on. During these hours, you just have very few movements, and each movement just spends very little energy. You have less real communication with your family, friends, and coworkers, as you can do that through internet, such as email, Facebook, and the like. You do not even realize that your body starts creating flab in some very sensitive areas. Besides, commonly this kind of lifestyle will create some serious diseases related to cardiovascular. If you are one of the people and do not want to have such health issues with your body while you do your sedentary job, you may want to read some tips below:
1. When you start our day…
- - Start your day by drinking a glass of warm water with a teaspoon full of honey and lemon juice. They will not burn your fat, but they will boost your energy fast in the morning.
- - You should do some physical activities at least 30 up to 40 minutes before you start working. It can be a heavy exercise, such as running and swimming. But, you can also do a lighter one. You can do the lighter one by walking on a flat road as far as 4 km. Biking, yoga session, taking an aerobic class, working out at a gym will also be great options for you.
- - Do not skip your breakfast, as it is the main source of your energy booster to start your day. If you skip your breakfast, you will become hungrier later, and you may not realize that you will eat more foods at lunch because you do not have adequate energy. Breakfast can be very simple, such as fruits, eggs, cereals, and the like. You can even make your breakfast as the largest meal in a day.
2. When you are at work
- - If your office is not that far, you should walk, instead of driving. Or you can even bike to your office.
- - Once you arrive at your office, if your office is the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd floor, you should take the common stair instead of lift or escalator.
- - You might want to talk with your coworkers or friends; you should avoid internet or cell phone. You can take few minutes to get up and walk to them.
- - You can also do very a light exercise when you’re sitting on your chair, like moving your legs little bit.
- - You might also want to eat some small snacks while you’re doing your work. You can bring healthy snacks, such as fruit with assorted fruits, veggies salad, and also juice and the like.
- - Avoid fried food, sugary food, and too spicy food and drink a lot of water. Eat proper amount of foods that contain protein, fiber and carbohydrate.
- - Manage your lunch time, and follow the schedule routinely. So, if you usually eat your lunch at 2 pm, you should do it every day. Lunch will boost your metabolism and make your digestion process work better. It is also a good decision to eat less food in your lunch, and put more in your breakfast.
- - After lunch, you should try to do any physical activity, as light as walking a short distance like 10-15 minutes. Avoid starting your work immediately after you finish your meal. Take short a break between the two.
- - You can even do this very little thing like standing up when you talk on the phone, instead of sitting in a particular place.
3. When you are home
- - As you walk to your office, you can also walk on your way back home, if you bring a bike, you can ride your bike home. You can stop by at a grocery store to pick up some things, like your veggies and fruits. Remember, one small thing such as going shopping can burn your calorie.
- - Eventually, take a small dinner and do not sleep right after you have your dinner, take a gap at least one hour.
In order to do all of the things elaborated above, you need to create a mental state that you cannot always follow strictly to all the ‘rules’ that you have set up for your diet and physical activities. Sometimes, your body gets lazy and does need to eat some sweets when craving for it, but not too much. This is totally OK as long as you can go to your regular schedule again after your craving and laziness are served.
10 Factors that contribute to weight gain and obesity
The problem of increasing and amongst adults and children in Malaysia has been highlighted for more than a decade. The increase in diet- related diseases during the last few decades in Malaysia has prompted the government to recognize the important role that nutrition plays in promotion of health. Overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of dying from Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Kidney isease, Liver Disease, Cholesterol and Cardiovascular Diseases CVD) such as High Blood Pressure, Angina, Heart Attack, Congestive Heart Failure, and Stroke.
Factor 1: Skipping Meals
Especially breakfast, can actually lead to weight gain. Some dieters choose to skip meals to save calories, thinking this a quick weight loss plan. It's important to keep your metabolism fired up with the right foods at certain times of the day. The proper way to lose weight is to find a sensible weight loss plan that includes making healthier eating choices, exercising, and eating throughout the day to keep your metabolism up. Metabolism plays a key role in how quickly you burn fat and lose weight; therefore, meal skipping cannot be overlooked as part of your plan for weight loss. Apparently, skipping meals also make people hungrier later in the day; therefore people tend to overeat when they are extremely hungry. Besides this, for those who skipped meals in day time or breakfast possible to consume supper within a couple of hours before going to bed. The meal skippers or only eat one meal per day had elevated fasting glucose levels and a delayed insulin response – conditions that, if they persisted long term, could lead to Diabetes. The health risks associated with skipping meals are not worth it. If you are the type of dieter who believes that skipping meals is a healthy weight loss plan and is a quick weight loss tactic, it's time to re-examine the eating habits and make health a high priority in your life.
Factor 1: Snacking
Snacking, especially unhealthy snacking is likely to play an important role in the development of overweight and obesity. Nowadays, the smaller packages of snacks such as 100 or 150 calories packs are very popular in the market. But many people who eat the 100-calorie packs are likely to gain more weight by eating them simply because of the portion size. Since they’re in such small packages, consumers may eat more packs or tempted to eat more without remorse because they look like a diet-food product. So for those people dieting should be a little more careful about the 100-calorie pack marketing strategy. Besides this, television watching has also become a problem in the home, especially in the youth. People is tend to eat more snacks during watching television; and experts found that the snacks that were consumed during this time had higher fat calories, or were higher in carbohydrates, which can lead to this weight gain.
Factor 3: Late Dinner
This is a bad eating habit. Everybody has their own schedule, and with that schedule comes individual eating habits as well. While some people will eat their dinner at 6pm on the nose every single night, others will eat at 10pm or later. The researchers found that the time of day you eat is a powerful predictor for weight gain. Experts also warn that late dinner can signal the start of a vicious cycle of weight gain due to total calories intake per day increased. As diet experts explain it, weight loss, gain, or stabilization is based on total calories consumed per day versus the amount of energy burned. Therefore, try not to finish dinner later than 7.30PM.
Factor 4: Water
Water plays an important role in promoting weight loss. People are used to drink water with fast speed or in hourly proportions. In fact, throughout the day, you should drink water little by little. Sips of water throughout the day are better than drinking three glasses in one minute. Doing this may provide your body an ample time to absorb it. It is highly discouraged to drink an immense amount of water all at once because the heart may be stressed out and that will be detrimental most especially to individuals with cardiac cases. Besides this, people are used to drink water when they are thirsty. But the fact is you need to drink water, even if you are not thirsty. In order not to be left behind by the required number of glasses of water per day, it is wise to have a sip of water even if you are not parched. Keep this in mind, by the time that you will feel thirsty; you are already behind by two glasses. However, don’t make it up by drinking two glasses all at once because that will give your heart so much work.
Factor 5: Healthy balance diet
It is essential for everyone to obtain a healthy life as well as loss of weight. Most of the people might think that by minimizing their dietary intake vigorously or even not eating for the whole day can reduce their body weights. Some have unbalanced diet due to they are picky or choosy in foodstuff. They will only choose the foods they like such as meat and fried foods because it is more delicious. For those who have this habit, please just stop it as they will lack of nutrients which needed to maintain certain functions and metabolisms in the body. In order to lose weight successfully, you should eat your breakfast which is the most important meal in a day to provide energy and support your body, eat more vegetables and fruits, moderate in meats and poultry but cut down the intake of foods that are rich in sugar, salt and fats.
Factor 6: Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol is one of the causes that can bring drinkers in the higher BMI situation especially for those people who are like to drink frequently and without restriction. As the BMIs are high which means there are increased in gaining weight. Alcohol is a source of calories gaining which usually people will ignore or do not know about it. In fact, it can lead to weight gain due to its calories contained almost twice as much as proteins and carbohydrates. It may also fail to yield the feeling of fullness and hence make you to eat more. Furthermore, alcohol is absolutely no nutritional value results in there are no nutrients given to initiate body metabolisms. Thus, fat storage within our body cells and tissues is being initiated.
Factor 7: Lack of Physical Activity
Are you active enought? Your level of activity plays an important role in promoting weight loss and to maintain the body health. Nowadays, most of the people are lack of exercise or physically inactive due to packed schedule in their daily life. For those who are working at office, they seldom have the chance to move around since they only do their work by sitting at the same position. People will rely on vehicles instead of walking, spending hours in front of television and computers rather than exercise for few minutes. This results in the imbalance of caloric balance status. Caloric balance is a scale usually used to measure body weight status. The calories intake from food consumption is equals to the calories used up or burns up by normal body function and physical activities, is said in balance status. If the calories intake is more than the calories burn up, the person is in caloric excess which lead to weight gain.
McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza, A&W, Marrybrown, Nando’s, Kenny Rogers Roaster and others are one of the factors which lead to overweight and obesity.
Factor 8: Are you a fast food hogger?
McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza, A&W, Marrybrown, Nando’s, Kenny Rogers Roaster and others are one of the factors which lead to overweight and obesity. It is because fast foods are more convenient, cheaper, prepared in faster rate and more delicious in terms of aroma and taste compared to home cooked meals. In fact, these foods may lead to obesity as the portion size is large and high in calorie. Deep frying and roasting is the two main methods to cook the food with the addition of unhealthy spices, for instance, MSG, salt and sugar. Generally, fast foods contain a lot of saturated fats and sodium as well as the trans-fat, which is an unhealthy type of fats. Regular consumption of fast foods will have a greater chance to become obese if he or she is less consuming on vegetables and fruits, lack of physical activity to burn up the excessive fats and the basal metabolic rate is low. Vitamins and minerals content are comparably lower than healthier foods. Other than that, it may link to heart disease, diabetes, and atherosclerosis.
Factor 9: How you cook and prepare your food.
Cooking methods are the important techniques you should learn to convert the raw food ingredients into healthy and delicious foods especially for those who like to cook. Just remember that, deep-frying is not necessary because you will waste a large amount of oil to fry, and then consume the oily foods which burden up our stomach and the excess fats will be accumulated and stored in our body. Boiling, steaming, broiling, baking, grilling and stir-frying are the best cooking techniques which use little or no oil to cook your food. This is a healthy way to retain the original flavour and taste of the food. You can also add some healthy spices and herbs such as basil, cloves, cumin seeds, dill, ginger, oregano, parsley, peppermint, rosemary and turmeric in the food to enhance the aroma. It will definitely taste better even though there is no deep-frying involved.
Factor 8: Family History and Genetics
Your genetics and family background is another factor which leads to overweight and obesity. Studies have shown that a child who’s his or her family with obesity background will have a higher chance develop into an obese adult even though it is not predetermine. Genetic inheritance is also another factor which leads to obesity. Genetic influence can be said that it has a great effect on the amount of body fats stored and its distribution in the body. Parents who are obese or overweight will probably bring up an obese child in 25-30% as they share a similar lifestyle and eating habit.
Simple Ways to Get a Slimmer Waistline
The concept of beauty for women from different cultures is not the same. But, one thing that has always been ingrained within any kind of society is having an hourglass waist is extremely beautiful and attractive. Many women argued that having a small waist is the matter of genes. You are naturally born with a certain body structure. But, this is not an absolute rule in which you cannot change anything, because you can actually do a regular exercise in order to reach this hourglass waist, like a model. You can even add a daily diet program to have a faster result from your exercise. Besides, you might not know that eating wrong foods can ruin your dream of having a small waist; therefore, you need to have an eye on your food. So the bottom line is you have to eat the right foods and do regular exercises in order to get a slim waistline.
You do not necessarily need to do tough stuff in order to get the skinny dream waistline, since there are some simple ways that you can take.
1. Control Your Food
Controlling your food is the first key. It sounds so easy, but it is not. What you really need to do is eating the right sort of food. You should make a list of food that you have to eat, and what you have to avoid. There are a couple of food examples that you have to stay away, like foods with high unsaturated fat. This kind of fat will accumulate in the midsection and stay there. There are also foods that you are highly recommended to eat, such as foods contain fibers. Fiber is a great booster of body metabolism system. It is able to define your waist and make your stomach flatter. Stay away from canned and junk food, replace them by eating more organic and fresh foo
2. Drink more Water
It is said that we can make a big change through a very small step. In order to make your waist smaller, the small step is drinking water more and more. Naturally, water can make your metabolism system go faster and detoxify your body. Therefore, water can help your digestion system and reduce the amount of fat in your body. In addition, if you drink a lot of water, your body can absorb more vitamins and minerals. Replace your alcohol and soft drinks with water or fruit juices. This can be a small step to get a big result of a smaller waistline.
3. Focusing on Abdomen when Doing Exercise
Because you are about to make your waistline slimmer, you should do exercises that focus on your abdomen. There are some great options, such as crunches, sit ups, power yoga, crunches, and the like. Do not take your abdominal exercise as a burden; instead, you need to enjoy it. If you need to, you can also get a personal instructor to assist you.
4. Exercise is the best, but not the only way
Exercise is the best way to create your slim waistline. But, sometimes, what happens is people get bored easily because they do a kind of exercise they do not like. So, they will just do it as a must, not as an enjoyment. After a time, they will find it tedious, and end up not wanting it anymore. In order to solve this, you have to find the types of exercise that you will love and enjoy in your life. It could be dancing, rollerblading, skateboarding, basketball, swimming, biking and etc.
5. Motivation and Commitment
This point is indeed required in any goal in your life. Hence, this does apply for your getting-a-slimmer-waist dream. When you have this dream, you need to make a commitment, then a motivation to make the commitment stay. It happens very often in which we plan and do everything in a month, but in the next one month, we lose the enthusiasm to implement all the plans that we have set up. Therefore, you need to get the self motivation to keep on going with your plan. You can write your primary aims, and create a target plan. And, do not forget to remind yourself that you are getting closer to your aim.
Getting an exotic hourglass waist may take time and commitment. But, once you do it, your dream will come true. However, last but not least, you should also think about how to maintain your slim waistline once you achieve it.
Protein: How Much Do You Need ?
Is there such thing as too much protein? If you ask most people, the answers would range from "I don't know" to "no". The reason for this is because of how protein is presented to us in our everyday lives. There are many products and diet trends that emphasis protein, pushed through various mediums relentlessly. So, for the sake of clarity let's take a closer look at protein.
What is PROTEIN?
Amino acid is a subunit of the protein. There are 20 different amino acids bond together to form a long chain structure molecule in our body which is known as PROTEIN. Thus, amino acids are called as the building block of protein. Generally, protein is used to build muscle, make new cells and repair the damage tissue cells as well as organs in our body. Protein also serves as an important transporter of materials and is used in the production of antibodies, enzymes and hormones. Protein, in other words, is very important to the body but over-consumption can have detrimental effects.
Increased Acidity
When one is practiced with high protein and low carbohydrate diet, if once over consumed of protein, this will increases the uric acid level and urea in blood which cause the acidity in blood to increase. Uric acid and urea are the break down byproducts of protein.
Excess amount of uric acid in blood will lead to loss of essential minerals and inflammation as well. These essential minerals such as calcium, potassium, iron and magnesium are act as the neutralizers to keep our body maintain its alkaline blood pH of 7.4. In this situation, calcium from bones will tend to bind with the uric acid before excess uric acid excretes from kidney. Calcium loss is lead to osteoporosis as it functions mainly for the development of bones in body.
Digestion
Protein, especially animal protein, is notoriously difficult to digest. The primary cause of this difficulty is based on our nutrient deficient diets. Without the proper amount of vitamins and zinc the body is heavily taxed to breakdown proteins to amino acid components and utilise them efficiently.
Building Muscle
If you have been to a gym or health food store, you undoubtedly would have seen many protein products, most of which aimed at people who want to build muscles. You know the ones in huge containers just waiting for pre and post workout consumption. Athletes and body builders have chased protein dreams of greatness mostly unaware of basic biological facts.
Burden up Kidney
Too much of protein concentration in the blood causes extra burden for the kidney to filter it. Kidney stones can form when there is too high protein level in blood for a long duration.
The recommended amount of protein consumption is approximately 10-35% of total calories consumed during the day.
How Much Protein is NEEDED?
The recommended amount of protein consumption is approximately 10-35% of total calories consumed during the day. Another point to consider is the quality of the protein. Quality proteins are more easily digested and assimilated into the body. Typically, protein of higher quality can be found in vegetables, nuts, and legumes. Besides that you can get protein from meat, fish, eggs and dairy products but animal products are not an ideal source of protein due to heart disease and stroke. Most of the protein from animal sources are meats and poultry which high in bad cholesterol. When cholesterol level is increased, the risk of getting cardiovascular diseases is greater. Furthermore, protein required each day is different from gender and age.
Lastly, kindly think twice before consuming excess volume of protein. Excess protein level will indirectly affect uric acid inflammation, osteoporosis, indigestion and burden up your kidney.
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5 Reasons You are NOT Losing Weight
Have you tried losing weight but failed half way through your diet? Trust me, you are not alone. Following are some of the most common reasons you are NOT losing weight.
1. You don't know how!
Sad but true. Over 90% of you want to lose weight but desire alone won't get the job done. Most of you lack the know-how to really control your food intake and output. There is more to weight loss than eat less and do more. Its about having control - this comes from know-how.
2. Unrealistic goal setting.
Have you gained 20kg over 10 years but now you want to lose it all over 10 weeks? Sure its possible but unrealistic. Especially if you lack the proper know-how and are merely following a diet or weight loss plan you saw in a magazine. This brings us to the 3rd reason.
3. You are waiting for the new breakthrough diet.
Every year, dozens or authors try to create that new breakthrough Hollywood diet that will spurn into a global phenomenon. Now there is nothing wrong with most of these diets BUT:
- They don't work for everyone.
- Not all are sustainable
- If you merely following without proper understanding, success is very slim.
4. Fat burners anyone?
There are 1000s of weight loss supplements out there. Do they work? Yes but most of you don't know how and simply buy into the "Before and After" images these companies sell. If you surrender your weight loss success over to a commercial 3rd party, changes are very slim that you will succeed in the long term.
5. You blame everything else but yourself.
Work, aging, food, culture and the list goes on and on. Its is easy to blame others for your weight gain.
- Is the fast food to blame? NO its you to blame for choosing it.
- Should you blame the slimming center or personal trainer? NO. You should blame yourself for surrendering your health and weight loss success 100% to a third party.
- Should you blame your age? YES it gets harder to lose weight as you age BUT you should blame yourself for not knowing how age plays a factor and what you need to do to combat aging.
- Blame the workplace? Stressed at work? Are you overworked? I don't blame your job or boss. I blame you for not knowing how to balance your life. Health and fitness is not about hitting the gym every day! Its about quality over quantity. But to get quality you need know-how and who is to blame for lack of know-how? You!
So whats the solution?
In order for you to successfully manage your weight, you must possess the following:
- Know-how. You must full understand how weight loss or gain happens in the first place. You must know your calorie needs and how exercise plays a role but if in fact, optional.
- Plan and execute. Based on your know-how, build and execute a realistic weight loss plan.
- Experience and experiment. Just like a new job, theory alone does not guarantee results. Here is where experience is useful but on top of that, do experiment with different foods, exercise regimes and perhaps even supplements.
'Fitness' untuk Anak Anak
Mari kita perhatikan iklan makanan cepat saji, atau bahkan softdrink alias minuman bersoda di televisi. Suhu Indonesia yang lumayan panas, iklan yang memperlihatkan sebotol minuman berkarbonasi dituangkan ke dalam gelas yang berisi es batu, dan diteguk akan membuat siapa saja tergiur oleh ‘segarnya’ minuman berkarbonasi di iklan-iklan tersebut. Memang tidak salah minum minuman berkarbonasi, tetapi lama kelamaan kita tidak bisa mencegah diri kita sendiri dan bahkan anak-anak kita untuk sering minum minumannya. Di sekolah pun, anak-anak lebih memilih minuman tersebut daripada air putih, es teh, susu dan lain lain, yang notabene harganya juga relatif lebih murah. Inilah mengapa, sekarang ini sudah cukup lazim melihat anak-anak kecil yang sepertinya terserang obesitas.
Selain itu, dalam jangka waktu panjang, obesitas bisa menyebabkan berbagai macam penyakit berbahaya, seperti kolesterol, tekanan darah tinggi, dan serangan jantung. Dan lagi, bila berat badan sudan jauh melebihi normal, asma akan dengan mudah menyerang, kekuatan tulang berkurang karena harus menopang berat badan yang berlebih, bahkan untuk anak wanita, ini juga menjadi salah satu penyebab kanker payudara.
Hal di atas memang terdengar mengerikan untuk anak-anak kita. Tapi, sebenarnya mudah untuk diatasi, bila belum terlambat. Kuncinya hanyalah, memilih makanan bergizi dan banyak menggerakkan tubuh. Ketika tubuh mereka aktif, sejak usia dini, tubuh mereka akan menyeimbangkan diri untuk membakar kalori. Akan tetapi, satu masalah muncul lagi, yakni anak-anak zaman sekarang lebih memilih video game, playstation, Xbox, daripada bermain berlari di lapangan dengan teman-temannya. Bila Anda mengalami hal demikian, jangan menyerah. Ada beberapa tips yang bisa Anda pakai untuk membuat anak-anak Anda lebih aktif.
- Carilah olahraga yang mudah diingat dan menyenangkan untuk anak-anak. Bila Anda berhasil mencari olahraga yang menyenangkan untuk anak-anak Anda, mereka akan menganggapnya seperti bermain, misalnya seperti bersepeda, bersepatu roda, berenang, naik gunung, dan sebagainya. Akan lebih baik lagi bila Anda menanyakan kepada anak Anda tentang olahraga yang ingin mereka lakukan. Bila mereka sudah lebih besar, mereka tentunya akan memilih olahraga yang menarik minat mereka sendiri, seperti sepak bola, ilmu bela diri
- Berilah contoh kepada mereka, sehingga lambat laun, Anda bisa membiasakan olahraga bersama keluarga. Anak akan mencontoh orangtuanya. Dan bila ini sudah mendarah daging, tanpa Anda suruh, anak-anak akan berolahraga dengan sendirinya.
- Hargai usaha anak Anda. Bila mereka sudah bisa melakukan olahraga secara rutin, tidak ada salahnya bila Anda memberikan ‘hadiah kecil’ seperti misalnya mengajak mereka membeli sepatu, atau sederhana saja, mengajak mereka menonton film terbaru dibioskop. Tapi ingat, hindari menjanjikan mereka hadiah-hadiah ini.
- Ajaklah anak-anak melakukan aktifitas yang sebenarnya bukan olahraga, tapi bisa membakar banyak kalori secara efektif. Misalnya, sekarang ini karaoke sangat digemari di Indonesia. Anda bisa mengajak anak-anak berkaraoke, biasanya mereka akan melompat, menari dan sebagainya. Aktifitas ini bisa benar-benar membakar kalori tanpa mereka menyadarinya.
Mulai biasakan fitness untuk anak-anak sejak dini. Kebiasaan ini akan dengan sendirinya terbentuk dan mereka akan membawanya sampai dewasa. Tidak hanya memperat tali keluarga Anda, tapi juga membuat keluarga Anda lebih sehat, diri Anda dan suami, serta anak-anak Anda.
Olahraga untuk Kesehatan Jasmani dan Rohani
Banyak diantara kita berpikir bahwa olahraga itu hanya untuk memenuhi kebutuhan jasmani. Hal ini tidak salah, tetapi tidak sepenuhnya benar. Tidak banyak yang tahu bahwa olahraga juga memiliki fungsi sebagai penstabil mood Anda, sehingga olahraga bisa mengurangi bahkan menghilangkan stres dan depresi. Jadi, bila Anda bisa melakukan olahraga ringan selama kira-kira 30 menit, 3 sampai 4 kali dalam seminggu, Anda bisa menstabilkan tekanan darah, yang bisa membuat mood Anda mejadi baik pula. Olahraga ringan ini bisa berupa berenang, berjalan, angkat barbel kecil, bersepeda, dan lain lain.
Selain itu, sudah terbukti bahwa orang yang biasa melakukan olahraga ringan secara rutin, akan lebih fleksible. Fleksibilitas tubuh terjadi karena olahraga mampu menguragi stress yang terjadi pada otot dan persendian Anda.
Akan tetapi, bisa berolahraga rutin itu tidak semudah yang kita dengar. Banyak dari kita sering mengaku terlalu sibuk untuk berolahraga, karena jam 7 pagi, Anda sudah harus berada di kantor. Sedangkan pulang, sekitar jam 3 atau bahkan jam 5 sore. Sudah terlalu lelah untuk berolahraga. Asumsi ‘tidak ada waktu untuk olahraga’ muncul karena kita berpikir bahwa olahraga itu harus pergi ke fitness center, atau harus berlari selama 2 jam, dan sebagainya. Padahal olahraga bisa dimulai dengan hal sesederhana menarik nafas dalam-dalam untuk membuat tubuh Anda rileks. Mungkin kita bisa merasakan bahwa reaksi tubuh kita terhadap stress dan depresi begitu cepat. Dan bernafas secara perlahan dan dalam menjadi olahraga paling ringan untuk menurunkan reaksi stress Anda, dan menciptakan mood baik.
Setelah Anda mengambil nafas dalam-dalam, Anda bisa meneruskan olahraga ringan ini dengan menenangkan pikiran Anda. Mungkin ini adalah ide klasik yang sering Anda dengar, tapi banyak dari kita lupa begitu saja karena kita sudah terlalu lama terbawa stress. Stres sendiri menyerang dua bagian tubuh kita, yaitu jasmani dan rohani. Jadi menenangkan pikiran dan konsentrasi bisa mempercepat hilangnya stress. Untuk menenangkan pikiran, Anda bisa melakukan hal-hal yang Anda sukai, seperti menggambar, berkaraoke, membaca dan sebagainya. Akan tetapi beralih ke olahraga ringan, seperti yang sudah dijelaskan di atas, akan sangat membantu. Anda bisa berjalan di tempat yang tenang, untuk itu mencari tempat yang tenang sangat dianjurkan, dan carilah momen yang tepat, seperti pagi hari, sekitar jam 5-6.
Selain itu, Anda juga perlu mengingat bahwa stres tidak hanya muncul karena pikiran Anda, seperti misalnya banyak beban, sedih dan sebagainya, tapi juga karena aktifitas Anda yang monoton dan memaksa Anda untuk duduk di depankcomputer selama berjam-jam. Dan akhirnya tubuh Anda menjadi korban. Anda sering mengeluh punggung Anda sakit, sering pusing, badan terasa pegal semua dan sebagainya. Keluhan-keluhan tersebut muncul karena tubuh Anda tidak aktif yang membuat otot Anda semakin lemah dari hari ke hari.
Sekali lagi, bila Anda berkonsultasi dengan dokter Anda dan menyampaikan keluhan-keluhan seperti di atas, mereka pasti akan menyarankan Anda untuk sering jalan atau lari pagi. Olahraga ringan tersebut sangat baik untuk memperlancar aliran darah ke seluruh tubuh. Dan aliran tubuh yang lancar akan membuat tubuh sehat dan menstabilkan mood.
Tambah Buah dan Sayur: Pola Makan Sehat Rendah Kalori
Era sekarang, banyak sekali diantara kita yang tanpa sadar melalaikan kebutuhan vitamin yang terkandung di dalam buah dan sayur. Tanpa terasa tubuh kita mengalami defisiensi vitamin yang mengakibatkan beberapa gangguan tubuh, seperti misalnya kekebalan tubuh menurun, energi tubuh berkurang, mengalami sakit tertentu, dan sebagainya. Selain itu, banyak dari kita yang lupa bahwa sayur dan buah adalah makanan rendah kalori yang bisa sangat membantu diet kita.
Mungkin banyak di antara Anda yang heran mengapa hal ini bisa terjadi? Bukan karena kelaparan dan sebagainya, tapi karena gaya hidup kita yang ‘Maaf saya tidak ada waktu untuk mengkonsumsi makanan 4 sehat 5 sempurna setiap hari!’, dan akhirnya tubuh kita menjadi korban. Sehingga yang terjadi adalah Anda mencari makanan yang mudah didapat dan dibawa kemana-kemana, bahkan di atas meja kerja Anda, di depan komputer. Mungkin ketika Anda sekarang berusia muda, efek buruknya tidak terlalu terasa.
Akan tetapi ketika Anda sudah memasuki usia kepala 4, Anda akan mulai mengeluhkan akibat buruk tersebut. Itulah mengapa mengkonsumsi buah dan sayur setiap hari sangat dianjurkan. Memang tidak terlalu bisa disalahkan bila Anda kesulitan menyiapkan buah dan sayur, karena jam kerja Anda yang padat.
Akan tetapi, itu bukan akhir dari segalanya, berikut ini ada beberapa tips yang bisa Anda pakai untuk membantu Anda memenuhi buah dan sayur setiap hari:
- Ketika Anda tidak bekerja, mungkin sepulang kerja, atau akhir minggu; sempatkan pergi ke supermarket atau toko buah yang menyediakan buah dalam kemasan. Anda bisa menyimpannya di lemari es, dan ketika Anda berangkat bekerja, buah dalam kemasan tersebut bisa dibawa ke tempat kerja atau kemana saja sesuai dengan aktifitas Anda. Dalam poin ini, buah bisa juga berfungsi sebagai camilan sehat Anda.
- Buah segar itu yang terbaik untuk kesehatan, tetapi tidak tahan lama. Jadi, bila Anda tidak mengkonsumsinya dalam secara cepat, buah tersebut bisa membusuk. Bila Anda tahu bahwa Anda tidak akan bisa mengkonsumsi buah segara secara cepat, buah kering juga menjadi pilihan yang bagus. Tetapi, ingat, bacalah kandungan vitamin dan kalorinya untuk menyesuaikan dengan kebutuhan harian Anda.
- Bila Anda tidak bisa membeli buah setiap hari, pilihan lain adalah dengan meminum jus buah asli. Jus buah sangat mudah didapatkan dimana-mana, tidak hanya di supermarket, tetapi juga di warung makan biasa; dan harganya relatif murah. Jus sangat baik untuk tubuh Anda, daripada mengkonsumsi soft drink, atau minuman yang mengandung soda.
- Tambahkan sayur dimenu Anda. Jadi, misalnya, Anda pergi makan gado-gado atau lalapan. Mintalah kepada penjual nasi untuk menambahkan jumlah sayurnya. Mungkin harganya akan naik sedikit, tetapi tidak akan banyak
Sekilas, tips di atas terlihat mudah, tetapi pada kenyataanya, tidak banyak orang yang membiasakan diri untuk menambah jumlah konsumsi buah dan sayur. Itulah mengapa, Anda harus membiasakan diri, mulailah dari sekarang. Ingatlah, bahwa program diet yang sehat selalu menganjurkan Anda untuk mengkonsumsi banyak buah dan sayur. Jika Anda sudah berkeluarga dan punya anak, pola makan sehat ini bisa Anda ajarkan kepada anak Anda. Biasakan mereka membawa buah di dalam kotak makanan mereka sejak mereka berusia muda. Dengan begitu Anda membantu anak-anak Anda membentuk pola makan sehat rendah kalori sejak dini.