Why America's Are Overweight

It's easier to make a change in your life if you understand how overweight happens to us. If you feel guilty about your weight get over it. It's not all your fault.

What contributes to America's overweight problem?

The food industry creates foods that hijack our brains. They have fat, sugar and salt, which are highly stimulating. They condition us so that even the sights and smells associated with them activate your brain [in ways that make you want food]. In controlled individuals or controlled studies, the brain activity stops when they start ingesting the food, but in some people, it doesn’t shut off when the food is gone. Also, when your body craves food it's not just telling you to eat something, it's telling you that you need something. Maybe it's protein or maybe it's carbs, whatever, somewhere through evolution we lost the ability to understand what are body's telling us. 

How can we break this cycle?                                                                                   

 Changing how people look at food is essential. Look at the public-health success with tobacco. We didn’t change the product. But we changed how people perceive it. Now people look at tobacco and say, “That’s really disgusting.” Tobacco is easy because you can live without it, but you can’t live without food. So you have to cool down the stimulus. You have to retrain yourself to respond to food differently. 

I talked about this in another post, in Europe people did have a weight problem back in the 50's and 60's but this next generation has changed, even the generation in their 40's today are much healthier than we are. Education is the way you change people's minds. In other countries, they do look at food differently. I have personally been in 15 European countries, 4 Caribbean countries and 3 Latin-American countries. In Europe, they eat differently than we do. I gained 10 pounds in the 5 weeks touring Europe. I couldn't help myself, it was like I was tasting food for the first time. I told my wife, this is real food. No fast food, no low-fat food or low-cal, it was all real food. I loved it, all of it.

 Actually, that was in the 90's and I did go to Great Britain last year, for the first time since that trip to Europe,  and the food scene has changed, but in defense of America, we've changed I little too. Today, if you can effort it, we have many more good restaurants that do have healthy food and stores like Whole Foods that sell healthy foods.  But like I wrote about in a previous post, restaurants don't have many items on the menu that can be called healthy. They want you to enjoy the food and have a large enough portion to satisfy anyone. There lies the difference between the U.S. and other countries. In other countries the customers expectations are different.  The customer wants good quality food and isn't really concerned with the quantity. They also pay more for food in stores and in restaurants. 

The idea of being able to buy food cheap anytime or anywhere doesn't help people control their weight. Cheap food is also a problem. Cheap food doesn't have enough nutritional value. The manufacturer can't put nutrition in a low-cost item. They have to substitute many of the ingredients with something cheaper so they can sell the product for a competitive price. Now this is the good part when you are not getting the nutrition your body is craving, then in a short period of time your craving food again. 

You see if your body didn't get what it was craving then the cravings will come back again and again. You keep eating and your liver will just turn the food into fat and store it. When your body can't use what you just ate, then it will store it and the only way your body can store excess food is to turn it into fat. So now you get it, the whole cycle, the body will store any food it doesn't need.  That's how you put on weight. The body will only pass through waste matter that can't be processed. All other food will either be processed for immediate use or stored in case of emergency. The bad part is your body doesn't know when to stop storing.

So hopefully you learned a little about your body and why you gain weight. And with this info I hope losing weight will be easier.

 

 

Are You Embarrassed About Your Weight?

Being overweight creates a lot of new problems for your body. If you're the typical office worker and has gained too much extra fat around the middle, your probably having to deal with extra physical problems that others don't. That beer belly can keep you from buttoning your suit coat. It will also cause a sloppy appearance. The extra big waistline also causes Belching, heartburn, and acid reflux.

Other problems your extra weight can cause are things like Sweating and Body Odor, Bad Breath, and Gas.

So many of us go to the doctor and hope he has a pill to fix all your problems and yes, he will probably make suggestions and give you a list of some things to take, but the answer to all your health problems is your diet.

You're eating the wrong foods.   You don't have to cut back on your food or cut out meals, you need to change what you eat.  Whatever you're eating today just stop eating all of it. Go home and get rid of everything that has a label.

For the next few weeks until you get use to eating fresh; shop for food every day. Plan on eating 6 small meals a day. You want to eat about     2 1/2   hours apart, three hours at most. The object is to eat before you get hungry.  Only eat about 300 calories at one time. You want to give your system time to process the food you eat. So, small quantities, several times a day.

Now, how do you eat fresh? For someone who never has, eating fresh will take some work. You will have to make your own meals. But it's not like you have to learn to cook. Most of the meals I eat are cold meals that I put together in 5 minutes. And yes that's not easy when you work all day, but you will get good at this, and you will lose fat. As you lose fat you'll feel better and feel healthier and have more energy.

Tomorrow I'll port a good diet to follow.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Is Your Diet Aging You?

This is a great post that we could all take advice from.

Simple strategies to keep you young, inside and out.

WebMD Feature

What you put on your plate might affect what you see in the mirror. But a few tweaks to your dining habits can go a long way to keeping your skin youthful and your body healthy.

The key approach? Eat better.

"Poor-quality foods, like trans fats, cause inflammation -- and aging is basically a chronic inflammatory state," says Timothy Harlan, MD. He's assistant professor of medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine. "Can you look older because you're eating crap? Absolutely."

For example, eating too much sugar and processed carbohydrates (like pasta, bread, and baked goods) can lead to damage in your skin's collagen, which keeps your skin springy and resists wrinkles, says Andrea Giancoli, MPH, RD. She's a policy analyst for Beach Cities Health District.

What's more, these foods put your overall health on the line. They are tied to diseases like heart disease and diabetes, she says.

Other foods, like fruits and vegetables, are good for your skin.

Foods to try and cut-out

Potato chips and french fries. Anything that's deep-fried in oil can add to inflammation throughout your body. Especially avoid trans fats. It can raise your LDL "bad" cholesterol and lower HDL "good" cholesterol, which increases your risk for heart disease.

Check food labels on baked goods and crackers, and avoid "partially hydrogenated oils" and "vegetable shortening."

Donuts and sugary pastries. They're packed with sugar, which Giancoli says may be linked to the development of wrinkles.

Hot dogs, bacon, and pepperoni. Processed meats are usually high in saturated fats and have nitrates in them. Both of those can lead to inflammation.

Fatty meats. These are also high in saturated fats. The key with meat is to keep it lean. Tenderloin cuts tend to be leaner. Look for ground beef that is at least 95% lean. Ground turkey breast and chicken breast are other lean options.

Alcohol. Moderate drinking may be good for your heart, but heavy drinking can rev up the aging process. "Moderate" is one drink per day for women (such as a 5-ounce glass of wine or 12-ounce glass of beer) and two drinks for men.

Foods to Favor

Go for a Mediterranean-style diet, Harlan says. Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean protein can help fight inflammation and keep you looking your best, he says.

Eat whole foods that are closest to their natural state as possible, says Giancoli. For example, instead of apple sauce, try a fresh whole apple.

Try eating more of these foods:

Romaine lettuce. It's high in vitamins A and C, which curb inflammation. Also try broccoli, spinach, arugula, watercress, escarole, kale and endive.

Tomatoes. They're rich in a nutrient called lycopene. So are watermelon, grapefruit, guavas, asparagus, and red cabbage.

Salmon. It's high in omega-3 fats, which fight inflammation. Tuna is another good choice.

Lentils and beans. These are good sources of protein and are loaded with fiber and nutrients. Try black beans, split peas, limas, pintos, chickpeas, and cannellini beans.

"Your skin is essentially made of protein, so if you don't get enough healthy protein in your diet, your skin will reflect that," Giancoli says. "Along with fish, beans are a great way to get it."

Oatmeal. Whole grains such as oatmeal, whole wheat breads and pastas, brown rice, and quinoa help curb inflammation.

"These also have B vitamins in them, like thiamine and riboflavin, which are important for your skin as well," Giancoli says. If you don't get enough. Go for a variety and make this way of eating a habit. Look at your food when you're buying and think about what you'll get out of it. Your paying for the food, you want to get something back.

"If you're not getting enough of the good stuff on a regular basis, you won't be able to produce healthy new skin cells in the way that you should," Giancoli says. Eating the good stuff will give you the nutrition to stay healthy. If you're not feeling healthy or you're tired all the time, we often blame a cold or virus but the first thing we need to look at is our diet. 

I know this post talks a lot about your skin, and what most people don't realize is that your skin and your eyes will tell the story of your bodies health. Skin problems like acne or any sores or rashes can all be caused by your diet. Your eyes should be clear and white around the pupil. And if you're using an eye wash every day, maybe you should see a doctor, you might have a bigger problem.

Weigh Yourself Every Day, It Can Help You Lose Weight

After I read this article I knew I had to reblog it. The whole idea is "by weighing yourself every day, you're keeping your eye on the ball". That's a term that guy's understand. It means to stay focused. I think we need to do that sometimes. That's why people wear fitness trackers, to stay focused on your goal. And some trainers and Doctors think by weighing yourself every day you'll stay focused on your goal. Take a minute and read this, I think you'll see the science in his plan.

HealthDay Reporter (HealthDay News) -- Checking your weight every day could help you slim down, researchers report.

A two-year Cornell University study found that tracking the results of daily weight checks on a chart helped people lose weight and keep it off.

"You just need a bathroom scale and an Excel spreadsheet, or even a piece of graph paper," study senior author David Levitsky, a professor of nutrition and psychology, said in a university news release.

People who lost weight with this approach in the first year maintained that weight loss throughout the second year, the researcher said. That result is significant because previous studies have shown that about 40 percent of weight loss is regained within a year, and nearly 100 percent is regained within five years, according to the study.

This approach "forces you to be aware of the connection between your eating and your weight," Levitsky explained. "It used to be taught that you shouldn't weigh yourself daily, and this is just the reverse."

While daily weight checks did help women, they had a much greater effect in men.

"It seems to work better for men than women, for reasons we cannot figure out yet," Levitsky said.

The study was published recently in the Journal of Obesity.

WebMD News from HealthDay                        By Robert Preidt

Can We Stop Aging

Science tells us that what we call “aging” occurs with age, but not simply because of age. 
The stiffening of the blood vessels and the decline of brain function associated with getting older are affected by what we eat and how much we exercise. If we follow the lifestyle habits associated with slower cardiovascular and brain aging, can we extend lifespan and healthspan? Advances in nutritional science have taught us that eating the right foods enables weight loss and helps to prevent heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Consider  what happened to a friend of mine  when he made radical changes to the way he eats.
When he was 60 years old, he could not walk a city block without feeling pressure in his chest. Yet, as a gift to himself for his 68th birthday, he celebrated with a brisk run-up and down the rolling hills of Central Park in New York City. 

  What enabled him to achieve such a feat?  As I like to say, the road to good health is as close as the end of your fork.

He began eating primarily nutrient-rich, whole foods:  greens and other colorful vegetables, beans, fresh fruits, nuts, seeds and whole grains. He minimized meat, eggs and dairy and eliminated added sugars, oils, white flour, white rice and processed foods.  In doing so, he reduced the number of calories he consumed while simultaneously increasing the amount of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals) and fiber he ingests. I coined the word Nutritarian to describe this longevity-promoting style of eating, that is nutrient-dense and plant rich.

Paul usually ate a huge salad with raw onions and shredded cruciferous vegetables for lunch with a great tasting  nut-based dressing. He also ate beans or lentils in a vegetable-based soup or stew each day. He included three fruits each day, making especially sure to eat berries, pomegranate, cherries, plums, and oranges.

He ate raw nuts and seeds between meals, with a special emphasis on walnuts, hemp, flax and chia seeds, all of which are high in omega-3 fatty acids. And he also made sure to eat a double-size serving of steamed greens at dinner, often adding  mushrooms and onions.

Though eating  nutrient-rich food is critically important, it is not the only factor that determines good health. For example, Vitamin D, vitamin B12, and proper omega-3 intake are important for optimal health, as well as  limiting sodium and high glycemic carbohydrates.

You may be surprised by how your body can heal itself  by simply eating right and getting exercise. 
You may also be amazed that your taste improves as you start to eat healthier, that you actually get more pleasure from eating and you can eat generous portions of great tasting healthy dishes.  Some people would say that they could never give up the processed food they crave. But you need to know that rejecting these foods is a mere temporary loss. What you gain is the highest level of energy and good health you ever had. If you were searching for the Fountain of Youth, you certainly found it. As he told people who asked him how he felt on his 68th birthday, “I honestly feel – no joking, no exaggeration – that I am only at the halfway point of my life.”  The facts are the same dietary portfolio that protects your heart also protects your brain from aging and prevents cancer.

We now know a lot about the factors associated with longevity. 

Studies of calorie restriction in animals have given us information about the cellular signaling pathways associated with longevity, and we can turn on those same genes and signaling pathways with our dietary and lifestyle habits.  

Losing body fat should be your goal. Read up on weight loss and losing body fat. It doesn’t cost money to lose weight. The internet is full of free information.

But the quickest way and cheapest way is to buy an ebook online and get everything you need in one short read. I have two ebooks on Amazon:

How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight

Getting To A Healthy Weight

Check out one of them, I think you can find all the info you need and plenty of tips on how I lost my body fat. 

Look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find these e-books. These books give you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my books at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com,

 iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

How Does My Body Work?

This is the one question you have to know the answer to. Knowing the answer to this question will make the difference between losing or not losing weight.

The mistake most people make when it comes to their body; is they think or take for granted that it works the same way it always did. Not really, everything that you do and everything you eat and drink will affect the way your body works. So tomorrow your body will react differently than it did today.

I've used this term before, but your body works in real time. If you're not eating properly or drinking enough water you're going to feel sluggish. You run out of energy. Of course, many of us are doing very little physical work that we don't realize that our energy level is low. Because we don't have any instincts that tell us what food are body needs, we usually end up eating something high in sugar to give us a sugar jolt and hope that it gets us through the afternoon.

You will always have enough energy if you understand what your body needs. After a night's sleep, your body is deprived of food and water. The past 8 or even 12 hours is the longest time in the day when your body has been deprived of all nutrition. First thing after you wake, you need a big glass of water. Then, that first hour, you need a big breakfast. Not necessarily a lot of food but a lot of nutrition.  Some people will go for ham and eggs or a big veggie omelette.  Others will make a protein shake with greek yogurt, low-fat milk and protein powder.  Some nutritionists will tell you to get 12 grams of protein for breakfast and some will say 25 grams of protein for breakfast.  After breakfast eat some protein like a greek yogurt or a protein shake or protein bar but try and eat some protein each time you eat. Eating protein will keep you from getting hungry.

The whole idea is to feed your body the right food all day and you won't get hungry. Eat something every few hours; don't wait until your hungry. I eat something every 2 to 3 hours and then stop eating about 3 hours before bed.  Feed your body fresh food even if you have to bring it from home. If you have to buy food with a label, read the label. Know what you're eating. Eat fresh food, that's where the nutrition is.

How Much Protein is Enough?

"Too much animal protein tied to higher diabetes risk". That's a true statement. Doctors and Scientists have known for some time that Americans over-dose on animal protein, hence the over-weight population. One out of four over-weight seniors have diabetes. The problem with animal protein is that you have to take everything that goes with it. The animal protein in dairy has hormones and chemicals like fertilizer and pesticides from the grass. Animal protein from red meat has traces of the same chemicals and growth hormones and animal fat which your body can't process and will immediately turn it into fat around your waist, hips, and thighs. Read this article from Reuters about the damaging effects of animal fat and what they recommend as a proper amount of protein.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who eat the most protein, especially from animal sources, are more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, according to a study of European adults.

The new study did not randomly assign participants to eat different amounts of protein, which would have yielded the strongest evidence. Instead, it compared the diets of people who went on to develop diabetes and those who did not get the disease.
But the findings do align with other studies.
"Several previous studies have found that higher intake of total protein, especially animal protein, are associated with long-term risk of developing diabetes," said Dr. Frank Hu, from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. Dr. Hu, who was not involved in the new study researches prevention of diabetes through diet and lifestyle.
"Substantial amounts of animal protein come from red meat and processed meat, which have been consistently associated with increased risk of diabetes," he told Reuters Health in an email.
For the new report, researchers examined data from a large previous study of adults in eight European countries spanning 12 years. The study collected data on participants' diet, physical activity, height, weight, and waist circumference, then followed them to see who developed diabetes.
A team of researchers led by Monique van Nielen of Wageningen University in the Netherlands selected 11,000 people who developed type 2 diabetes from the data and 15,000 people without diabetes for comparison.
Overall, the adults in the study commonly ate about 90 grams of protein per day. Those who ate more tended to have a higher weight-to-height ratio and to eat more fiber and cholesterol than people who ate less protein.
After accounting for other diabetes risk factors, every additional 10 grams of protein people consumed each day was tied to a six percent higher chance that they would develop diabetes.
Dividing participants into five groups based on how much protein they ate, the researchers found those who ate the most, or around 111 grams per day, were 17 percent more likely to develop diabetes than those who ate the least, or around 72 grams per day.
Specifically, those who ate the most animal protein, or 78 grams per day, were 22 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than those who ate the least, around 36 grams per day, according to results published in Diabetes Care.
That's only a modest increase on an individual level, Hu said.
People who ate the most protein got about 15 percent of their calories from red meat, processed meat, poultry, fish, and dairy, which appears to be too much, Hu said.
"More importantly, higher intake of animal protein often comes along with other undesirable nutrients such as saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium," he said.
The association between animal protein and diabetes risk appeared to be strongest among obese women.
Plant protein, on the other hand, was not linked to diabetes.
"In other studies, plant protein sources such as nuts, legumes, and whole grains have been associated with lower risk of diabetes," Hu said. "Therefore, replacing red meat and processed meat with plant sources of protein is important for diabetes prevention."
Generally, people associate high-fat and high-carbohydrate diets with diabetes risk, but this study underscores that protein is an important nutrient to consider as well, Paolo Magni said. Magni, from the Institute of Endocrinology at the University of Milan in Italy, was not involved in the new study.
"As a general rule, I would suggest to eat normal portions ( 3 Oz.) of red meat not more than two times per week, poultry and fish three to four times per week, skimmed milk or yogurt maybe not every day," Magni told Reuters Health in an email.
Cheese, preserved meats, and cold cuts should be minimized, he said.
"Pay attention to both quantity and food sources of protein," Hu said. It's probably a good idea for people with a family history of diabetes to replace at least some red meat with nuts, legumes or whole grains, he said.

In general, a high-protein diet is good for weight loss, but most of your daily protein should be plant protein. If you have wondered why these protein powers have become so popular it's because most of them use plant protein like soy. Protein powers are the main ingredient in protein shakes which seems to be the new breakfast meal. If you're serious about losing weight, I suggest you read up on plant protein and the sources. I'm not suggesting you become vegan or vegetarian but plant protein has no health downside.

Losing body fat should be your goal. Read up on weight loss and losing body fat. It doesn’t cost money to lose weight. The internet is full of free information.

But the quickest way and cheapest way is to buy an ebook online and get everything you need in one short read. I have two ebooks on Amazon:

How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight

Getting To A Healthy Weight

Check out one of them, I think you can find all the info you need and plenty of tips on how I lost my body fat. 

Look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find these e-books. These books give you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my books at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com,

 iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Reverse Middle Age Weight Gain

I saw this post on WebMD and thought it was important enough to reblog. This might be the perfect time to change your life and get health. After all we will be stuck in our homes for several more weeks.

Middle age, those years between 30 and 50, are the years we all seem to add body fat. So what's going on, why does this seem to happen to everyone? The answer is that we slow down and as the slowdown occurs we burn fewer calories but it seems we never stop eating, we don't  slow down your food intake, actually as you gain weight you seem to consume more calories a day and that puts on even more weight. It's so gradual though you don't realize what's happening. The slowdown is real. It's not a mental slowdown it's a physical slowdown caused by your life getting more complicated and that you have more demand on your life to make more money. When you become mentally overloaded with work and that work is more mental than physical you can slowing your metabolism. By spending on time on your feet doing manual work you will boost your calorie burn and stop gaining weight.

The weight gain on average is only about 1 to 3 pounds a year. They even have a name for it now because it's so common. It's called "creeping obesity", that 1 to 3 pounds you seem to gain every year and don't even notice. In most cases people don't wake-up to the weight gain until they have to buy new clothes. It might not sound like a lot of weight but over a 20 year period, it can amount to 50 or 60 pounds. The following post from WebMD.com addresses this problem and give you some solutions.

You have a couple of things working against you. You're probably not burning calories as efficiently as you did when you were younger. That's because your metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn in a day) dips about 1% per year beginning around age 30, says Carolyn Brown, RD, a nutritionist at Food trainers in New York.

You can outsmart that. Shift a few habits so you can rev your body back up.

Start with these five strategies.

1. Eat More Protein

Protein is the building block of muscle, and since muscle mass diminishes as you age, you need even more protein.

“Starting at middle age, you need 10% more protein than you did during your younger years,” says Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD, author of Doctor’s Detox Diet: The Ultimate Weight Loss Prescription.

A bonus: Foods that are high in protein pack a greater metabolic boost than fat or carbohydrates. Biting, chewing, swallowing, and digesting protein-rich foods can burn up to 30% of the calories on your plate, compared to 5% for fat and carbs.

2. Tame Your Stress

The stress hormone cortisol is tied to an accumulation of fat around your midriff. And midlife can be a stressful time, says Florence Comite, MD, an endocrinologist in New York.

Chronic stress can also affect how well your body responds to insulin, which controls your blood sugar, Comite says.

Eliminating as much stress as possible from your daily routine will help cut the amount of cortisol your body makes. 

Do this: Meditate. Just 10 minutes of mindful meditation can make a difference, Comite says. I do Yoga or Tai-Chi to relieve stress and it works for me.

3. Don’t Skimp on Sleep

When you're short on sleep, your appetite kicks into higher gear. In one study of some 68,000 women, those who slept for 5 or fewer hours each night gained 2.5 pounds more than those sleeping 7 hours a night.

Do this: Set a soothing bedtime routine that includes turning off all screens at least one hour before bed. It works for me. That's the time I do some Yoga poses to release the tension from tense muscles. Your not exercising you're just stretching muscles.

4. Get Stronger

The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even when you’re at rest. But you start losing muscle mass around age 40, Gerbstadt says.

Resistance training helps. Keeping your muscles strong makes it easier to maintain your weight.  It's muscle mass that burns body fat. Increase muscle mass and you burn more fat. When  you reach middle age and start losing your muscle mass your also losing strength, but it does happen very gradual and you don't realize what's happening. It's like that one to three pounds most people add every year and don't realize they are gaining body fat.  As you gain body fat you lose energy and you burn fewer calories. It's a downward spiral that's hard to reverse.

Do this: Use weights that are heavy enough to exhaust your muscles with 12 repetitions, yet light enough to complete at least eight repetitions. Do lunges, squats, dead lifts, and pushups (12-15 repetitions per set). Or, if you're not into weightlifting, do yoga or other exercises that use your own body weight for resistance.

5. Clean Up Your Diet

It's true: You can't eat the way you used to, without some consequences. Even exercise can't compensate for a bad diet. If you're eating too much fat your body can't process all of it. Your liver has to allow the excess fat to go straight into your blood stream.  That's what clogs your arteries and keep you on medication.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate the most refined foods (like sugar, white bread, cookies, and cakes) developed significantly more belly fat than those who consumed the same number of calories from less processed foods.

Do this: Always have healthy snacks on hand. Keep almonds in your pocketbook, trail mix in your desk drawer, and hard-boiled eggs in the fridge.

WebMD Feature

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Benefits of Losing Weight

I write posts about weight loss because so many people want to lose weight. Mostly because they want to look better and feel better. Do you know that only about 10% of dieters lose weight and keep it off. As a senior, I want to tell you that until you’re over 50 your don’t realize how that extra weight affects you. 

I lost most of my body fat after 50, but for a lot of people, that’s almost too late. Today I have knee pain because I waited too long to lose weight. The damage was done. I had one operation on my left knee, but the truth about any joint surgery is that you never totally get rid of the pain. Oh, sure after the surgery you’ll feel great but as time goes by you start to feel the pain again. And after any joint damage, you always end up with Arthritis. 

If I would have exercised  and watched my diet more and lost the weight before I damaged my joints, maybe this wouldn't have happened. For most of us, gaining weight is no biggy. "Everyone gains weight when they get older, don’t they?”  No, the truth is that as you get older, life gets more complicated. We have less time and we spend less time taking care of ourselves. Hence, the older you get the more you go to the doctor. We are causing our own health problems. 

The key approach? Eat better. "Poor-quality foods, like trans fats, cause inflammation -- and aging is basically a chronic inflammatory state," says Timothy Harlan, MD. 

And because of our busy lifestyle, we have less time to stay active. If you already have the body fat you need to change what you eat. That’s for sure, but you also need to add more activity to your daily schedule. Okay, I know we all don’t have time for the gym, but that’s not really necessary. Walking can provide the extra activity you need. I grew up with my parents and grandparents. During the 1940’s and 1950’s life was different. People didn’t have a lot of money and most city people lived in apartments. If you wanted to own your own home or your parents didn’t have enough money to live alone, then families would go together and buy a home. 

The sandwich generation is nothing new. Families have had to do this for several generations. Anyway getting to the point, my grandparents never really watched TV. Oh sure, at night they would sit in front of the TV with the rest of us, but they usually would fall asleep. What I do remember is that after dinner my grandparents would take a walk, they walked for about an hour and then usually when to bed. 

So what I’m getting at is that they were healthier people then my parents and my parents were probably healthier than people in my generation. Why might you ask? When we were all living under the same roof our diets were all about the same. We all ate the same food, some ate more than others, but the food was all nutritious and we were all healthy. My dad was the heaviest, he had more body fat and he was less active. He had an office job, stayed at his desk and stayed on the phone most of the day. I would say it was probably his diet and his love of Golf that helped keep him healthy, in those days you walked the Golf Course.

Today life is much different. The average family eats out three or four times a day. Restaurant food will put weight on you. Most low price restaurant food has little nutrition and is basically comfort food that adds weight almost immediately. Plus the fact we are not as active as past generations, so it’s a combination of the food we eat today and the lack of exercise which is producing a generation of people with serious health problems. 

You can do something to break the cycle you're in, by doing things today to take better care of yourself. To eat better, more quality food and to get more exercise even if that means walking the dog. 

Why Do We Have Fat?

Good question. Some body fat is necessary; we need it to cushion the organs in our body. Also, our body burns good fats as fuel to create energy.  Approximately  30% of all the calories burned every day to create energy come from fat that you eat or stored fat that you body keeps in reserve.

So why is fat bad? you might ask. There is good fat and bad fat, I'll explain. Your body will try and process all the food and drink you consume, but some things that we eat can't be processed; it has no value to the body, so it's stored in fat cells. When your body processes food it separates it into food it can use and the waste it can't use, but if your body can't process something or you over eat and the body hasn't the time to process it, then it gets sent to fat storage cells before the body can process it.

Our ancestors needed this system of fat storage because Man  never knew when he would find food again. Because of the active lifestyle of our ancestors, always doing physical work, always walking about, there was never any thought about Man storing too much fat. Man was not designed to deal with excess body fat. Man was designed to store fat whenever possible for the purpose of survival. And yes we were given brains to deal with our evolution because over time we would evolve. But in spite of the brains we were given, we haven't done a very good job of maintaining our bodies. The body has no mechanism  to control our weight. We have no way of knowing that we are eating too much.

Our activity level is much lower than our grandparents even. Today we do most of our work with our mind's. Yes, we do small things to keep us active, but the average office worker is only on their foot about 4 hours a day.  So we do have to be more active all day long whenever possible. But that's not our only problem; American are in the habit of eating whatever and whenever they want. We have food available 24/7 and on average we consume twice the calories we should.

Her lies the problem. To stay healthy and keep a healthy weight you have to burn the calories you eat. Simply right? Not really. If man had a fresh food diet and only fresh food like vegetables, fruits and lean meat and some whole grain like brown rice and there was no other food; than Man wouldn't have a weight problem. As long as you were moderately active you couldn't eat enough to gain weight. But today we eat all types of food that give us no nutrition; the body can't process this type food and stores it as fat. We consume too much fatty foods that overload the Liver, so if the Liver can't process all the fat  it passes through into the blood stream and clog up the arteries.

To be healthy and stay healthy you have to stick to a fresh food diet. Look up "The Mediterranean diet" and look for the food pyramid that shows all the choices. If you eat healthy you will lose body fat over time. By walking more, and I recommend the 10,000 step a day program for beginners that don't exercise regularly,  you can lose the weight quicker. But losing weight does take time. Don't get discouraged, stick to the program and don't cheat. Cheat days only ruin all the good that you've done.

The Atkins Diet is an alternative. It's a little more restrictive, but it works. Check out both those, they are the best one I know.

The Diet

This is part three of my story. I hope this helps you.

When I was looking for a diet I learned how many different diets there was. It was mind-numbing. I was looking through dozens of different diet plans almost every day. I think most of them wouldn't have worked for me; like the cabbage soup diet. I thought, after all the research I did, I would  create my own diet. At first, I thought I would just cut back. Cut out the ice cream, snacks at night, beer and pizza. And I did lose some weight, but only a few pounds. I was still eating the wrong way. I'm ashamed to same it was a few years before I finally got serious about my weight. I guess it was my doctor and my wife that convinced me that I would be on a cholesterol medication.

At first, I thought I would just cut back. Cut out the ice cream, snacks at night, beer and pizza. And I did lose some weight, but only a few pounds. I was still eating the wrong way. I'm ashamed to same it was a few years before I finally got serious about my weight. I guess it was my doctor and my wife that convinced me that I would be on a cholesterol medication.

My cholesterol was about 180 so I was getting close to the top of the range. Now I know some of you probably don't think that's high, but as you age a high number is more dangerous. So I have to really get radical. I started to eat like a rabbit with a small amount of meat 3 times a week. No processed foods like bacon and just in case you haven't heard, chicken is on the list of processed foods because of all the chemicals the manufacturers pump into poultry to avoid Salmonella poisoning.

I learned through trial and error that I had to cut out dairy. So at the end what worked for me was vegetables, some fruits, and fish. I did eat poultry about twice a week. That was before Chicken became a processed food. Later I found the Mediterranean diet. When you do a search on the internet for The

Mediterranean diet you'll find a long story of the Mediterranean people and the food they ate and how healthy they were. Cancer was almost non-existent. You'll also find a food pyramid that shows what to eat and how often to eat the different choices.

If you follow that diet you don't have to count calories, just follow the food choices, drink mostly water and do the walking. The more you walk the faster you will lose those inches.

The Plan

You need to make a plan when you have a serious amount of weight to lose. I found, after months of research, that I had several bad habits I had to break. I didn't really eat anything before lunch. If I had anything it might be a pastry and coffee. I was eating fast food like fried chicken or burgers for lunch and in the afternoon snacking on candy bars or an energy drink. At night, I would eat a regular meal and later start snacking until bed.

After I had to buy bigger pants, I decided to make some changes and try to lose that belly fat. Losing belly fat is different from doing exercises to strengthen your core. This is a common mistake that everyone makes and me included. I was doing crunches twice a day, leg lifts, and anything else I heard about, but nothing was helping me lose the belly fat. Months went by and I tried everything I could think of until I read a post about belly fat.

Here is what I had to do. Losing belly fat is just part of losing body fat in general. So I was walking until I learned you have to speed walk in intervals, very fast for a short time and than slower for a short time and than keep doing that for more than 30 minutes. The idea is to increase your heart beats. If you want to burn fat you have to exercise at an elevated heart rate. If you have a doctor, you should talk to him about exercising and what would be a good heart rate for you. Everyone will be different because of your age and physical condition. Interval speed walking is what I found to be the best for losing body fat. The more walking you do the more fat you will lose and the quicker you'll drop the weight.

But that's only part of the plan. I had to change my diet. I had to start eating fresh and making my own food. I found out that if I was going to become a healthier person, I had to learn how to eat the right foods. If I tried to avoid this part, I would only have temporary weight loss.

I decided to try the Mediterranean diet, it's really a different way to eat.

If you follow the pyramid you will be eating all fresh foods, some foods every day, some weekly, some monthly. When you follow this type of diet you don't have to count calories, just don't cheat. Except for that one glass of wine everyday you should never drink any calories. I will take the body a couple weeks to adjust to the diet but after that you will begin losing weight.

Why can't I Lose Weight?

It's a common problem. Most diets and weight loss plans are designed to give you quick results, but after a couple of weeks you stop losing weight.

What worked for me was to use my method. I did the research, read the newsletters and looked for the good websites and made my own decisions. I found that there are no short-cuts. Forget about diet pills, surgery, starvation diets, and expensive gym equipment. It doesn't cost money to lose weight. It's about your food and activity level.

Some of us only want to lose 10 or 20 pounds and for those people, I would tell you to exercise. It good that you noticed the weight gain early and you want to nip it in the bud and that's great. So the answer for you is to do strength training. What you need is to lose body fat and you do that by strength training or running and changing your diet. It should only take a couple of months, you have little to lose. Get started as soon as possible before it gets worse.

For those like me, that had to lose more than 50 pounds, You'll have to do some planning. You will need to come to the realization that this will take work on your part. I'm not just talking about physical work, There will be some homework involved. No everyone loses weight the same way so I can tell you how I did it, but that doesn't mean it will work for you. I can give you some encouragement, everyone can get healthier and slimmer and be more active and, in general, be a happier person with more energy.

You start by making a plan. If you haven't done this before, look on the internet for some ideas. The plan is important, "how will you lose this weight". As you research this you'll find that it's not about your weight, it's about body fat. If you're going to be healthy, you have to get rid of the body fat. Don't obsess over the scale waiting for the number to go down. It's not about the number, it's about the inches around your waist. Lose 2 or 3 inches around your waist and you'll feel great.

Tomorrow I'll write more about the Plan. Be thinking about your plan. It has to be a diet plan and an exercise plan.

Ask Questions Before You Start Exercising

Good post by HealthDay and this author.

Beginners who want to start an exercise program read all this hype about weight loss; buy what I'm selling or use the machine for an hour a day and you to can lose 20 pounds a month. Don't believe all the hype; remember they are trying to make money off of you. 

If you don't do the right exercise for you, you won't lose weight. And if you're doing too much that can cause different problems. If you don't have a doctor to talk with, try a physical therapist. You want to talk with someone who has no financial gain either way.

Anyone who is starting to exercise for the first time in a long time and has 20 pounds or more to lose needs to talk to a doctor first. Strenuous training can injure your heart and that would be permanent. Read the post below and be prepared when you see a doctor.

So you're ready to get fit. Now what? Start by discussing some important issues with your doctor.

The American Council on Exercise advises that you discuss:

• How active do you want to be and how vigorously do you want to exercise?
• Have you been diagnosed with a heart condition?
• Have you fallen or lost your balance at least twice within the last year?
• Do you ever have chest pain during exercise or have irregular or slow heartbeat at rest?
• Do you take any medication for a heart condition or blood pressure problems?
• Do you have pain during exercise or problems with your bones or joints that are affected by exercise?
• Do you have wounds on your feet that don't heal?
• Have you had unexplained weight loss in the last six months?

-- Diana Kohnle

There are different ways to exercise and some ways are good for weight loss and others are good for your heart. Cardio is great for the heart and blood pressure but it doesn't burn much fat.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

Gettingtoahealthyweight.wordpress.com

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of websites looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com.  Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

The Governments New Dietary Guidelines

I had to look this up on the internet after I saw a reporter on Fox Network Morning Show talking about this brief two sentence report that's usually two pages. 

Jan. 7, 2016 -- Watch your sugar, use caution with the salt shaker, and limit those saturated fats.

That's the advice from the updated U.S. nutritional guidelines, released Thursday by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services. The guidelines are published every 5 years and aim to reflect the latest science-based evidence about what we eat.

 Wow, I wonder how much taxpayer money was spent generating this one sentence report. All I get out of that report is not to eat processed foods. After all, if you take those three things out of processed foods there wouldn't be much left. Processed foods are loaded with salt, it's not the salt shaker that gives you high blood pressure, it the processed foods and restaurant food. I have to believe they will revise that report pretty quick after they start getting a lot of hate mail.

"Diet is one of the most powerful tools we have to take control of our own health," Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell told reporters at a briefing Thursday. "There are many ways to stay healthy, but nutrition will always be at the foundation of good health."

While some groups like the American Medical Association praise and support the guidelines, critics say the recommendations don't go far enough -- and they've accused the government of playing politics with Americans' health.

"It really is a betrayal of science to politics," says David Katz, MD, founding director of the Yale Prevention Research Center, a federally funded program that studies how changes to lifestyle can prevent disease. "Public health, which means the lives of real people, is being thrown under the political bus."

Some of the biggest controversies centered on what wasn't in the guidelines -- a recommendation to eat less red and processed meat. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a panel of independent experts, called eating large amounts of red and processed meat "detrimental."

The guidance does recommend we eat lean meats and poultry, and it notes that eating less meat, including processed meat and processed poultry, has been linked to a lower risk of heart disease. But it doesn't offer specific instructions or limits around red and processed meats. Choices can include processed meats and processed poultry, as long as eating patterns stay within the limits for sodium, saturated fats, added sugar, and calories recommended by the new guidelines.

"The science on the link between cancer and diet is extensive," says Richard Wender, MD, chief cancer control officer for the American Cancer Society. "By omitting specific diet recommendations, such as eating less red and processed meat, these guidelines miss a critical and significant opportunity to reduce suffering and death from cancer."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest says in a statement that after the advisory committee made that recommendation, "the scientific report was attacked by the meat industry and its allies in Congress."

But the CSPI says the recommendation in the guidelines to eat less meat indicates the Agriculture and Health & Human Services departments "partially resisted the political pressure."

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association praised the guidelines, though.

"Lean beef is a wholesome, nutrient-rich food that helps us get back to the basics of healthy eating, providing many essential nutrients such as zinc, iron, protein, and B vitamins, with fewer calories than many plant-based sources of protein," says Richard Thorpe, identified as a physician and Texas cattle producer, in a statement issued by the association.

At Thursday's news briefing, officials from the agencies defended the meat guideline as it stands, saying the recommendations reflect the best evidence, although men and teen boys still eat too much meat, poultry, and eggs.

Katz doesn't agree. In a social media post, he calls the guidelines "a national embarrassment."

"This is a sad day for nutrition policy in America," he writes. "It is a sad day for public health. It is a day of shame."

Compared to the advisory committee's report, Katz says, the guidelines "represent a disgraceful replacement of specific guidance with the vaguest possible language.

"A term that recurs often, clearly intended to say something while saying next to nothing, is 'nutrient dense foods," he writes. "That replaces reference to specific foods that populate the original document. It might mean broccoli ... I guess it might even mean pepperoni. We can't tell, and that is clearly by design."