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Theoretically, you could get adequate protein from a strictly vegetarian diet, but practically it would be extremely difficult. For one thing, it would require the eating of huge amounts of food. Most vegetarian diets make excellent use of eggs, milk, and cheese, and to that extent are only partly vegetarian.

Animal proteins are stressed in your reducing diet for another reason. Recent knowledge indicates that Vitamin A is not always well absorbed in the form in which it occurs in green plants. Such plants, normally rated as excellent sources of the vitamin, contain it in yellow pigments of which the chief is carotene.

This does not become the vitamin until it is altered in your liver. It has been found that some persons absorb as little as 5% of available carotene; hence, though their food contains plenty of Vitamin A units, they derive no benefit from it.
Animal foods, however—eggs, butter, liver, milk, cheese —contain the true vitamin. The animal has done all the work of converting the carotene into Vitamin A, saving you the trouble. Read the rest of this entry »

Source: WikipediaWhy Acupuncture is a Great Alternative Therapy

Whether you want to believe it or not, there are literally millions of people located all around the world that engage in the practice of the alternative therapy of acupuncture each and every day. There are many reasons to practicing this alternative therapy that the Chinese instituted, too, but the best reason of all is that it actually has been found to work. On the same side of the coin, though, there are many reasons why acupuncture is a great alternative therapy to deal with. Here are some of the arguments for why acupuncture is so great throughout the whole world:

The Mystery of Acupuncture

One of the reasons that many people consider acupuncture therapy to be such a great and revolutionary therapy is because of the mystery behind the whole concept. Let’s face it: the idea that ancient civilizations in the Far East used this type of therapy to be able to cure the sick, help with many different illnesses across the board, and use it as a trade item is just downright weird and mysterious. Furthermore, why would the civilization who started it all want to take this alternative therapy to other lands, including the United States? There could have been great profits by allowing only the Chinese to experience the benefits of acupuncture, but now everyone throughout the world is able to experience them. Indeed, the mystery behind some of the questions and origins of acupuncture therapy truly contribute to how amazing and great the therapy of acupuncture really is. Read the rest of this entry »

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Anne Alexander is the writer of a book called Win the Fat War. I am still trying to track her down but it looks like she is a writer for Prevention magazine. As you probably remember from last weeks Biggest Loser Couples Prevention magazine does all sorts of weight loss articles and also has great news otherwise.

Anyway Anne, If you get a chance to read this post, I have posted all of these tips that Anne Alexander wrote in a Prevention magazine article and they are fantastic. This is a list that can help anyone lose weight and gain muscle and take control of your eating and health.

Read these and comment on what you think. I will try to find an email address for Anne so we can email and thank her as well for these great tips.

Believe in Yourself

1. Ditch all-or-nothing thinking. Every time that Sandra Wadsworth, 41, attempted weight loss, she’d quit at the first slipup. “But I finally lost 20 pounds when Weight Watchers helped me see that I wasn’t a bad person. Everyone makes mistakes. The key is to learn from them.” Read the rest of this entry »

If you look deep in all of the US Government info on the internet you can find gems of information. I am not exactly where I found this first but a couple of weeks ago I found the Small Steps site that is targeted at adults and teens to get them in better shape and to improve their fitness. Here is just a few of the tips

1.     Add lettuce, tomato, onion, and cucumber to sandwiches
2.     Add vegetables like bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms or tomatoes to your egg or egg white omelet
3.     Ask a friend to exercise with you
4.     Ask for more vegetable toppings (like mushrooms, peppers, and onions and less cheese on your pizza
5.     Ask for salad dressing on the side
6.     At sandwich shops, ask for leaner cuts and smaller amounts of roast beef, turkey, or ham; extra lettuce and tomato; and whole-wheat, oatmeal, or rye bread Read the rest of this entry »

Research has proven that if we’ve a single objective as our goal, and if we direct all our energies and resources towards the achievement of that objective, we can’t but win the goal. It is really true, and when it comes to weight loss, it is no different either! The very first thing you need to do is to make your weight loss goal your priority, and then enlist all the available resources and time towards achieving it. That is the only way you can lose weight.

I am not telling you to neglect things that are more important than weight loss, but I am pretty sure that the number of such ‘very important things’ is fewer than what you think, and I am also sure that you can, if you want, accommodate your weight loss program in this short list of ‘very important things’.

You see, nothing is more important than your health. If your health goes for a downhill, everything else that you set as ‘important tasks’ will have to stop. Now, how does this relate to weight loss? Well, you might not be aware of the fact that obesity is the forerunner of several harmful diseases such as diabetes, heart related diseases, hypertension, etc. Therefore, the main reason why you should lose weight is not just to look and feel good, but to make sure you live a healthy and long life. There are some ways you can ensure that you always find time for your weight loss program. Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone that does not see scams in the weight loss industry has to be looking the other way all of the time. There are commercials, ads, radio spots and lots of internet based companies selling a dream that can not be possible. I see these everyday and just saw a very complete and well thought out article that exposes Lipozene, a product that makes huge promises and of course only delivers on the TV commercial.

ABC News has an expose type article about how they tested some popular diet pills by themselves to see if they would help people lose weight.

The test was done with a product called Lipozene that costs $81 per month. Lipozene is popular and expensive and according to the commercials it is a miracle that works even when you do not change your diet or get any exercise. This sounds like crap to me already. If this is really true then why wouldn’t somone have found it years ago?

The article is really worth reading, read it now and just skim even through the three pages and see what you think.

The real fact is that no matter what you do to lose weight whether it is diet or exercise or a combination of both the byproduct is that you will become more healthy as a result, if a pill could even lose you the weight it would not make you any healthier which would defeat the purpose of getting in shape in the first place.

OK one more thing. There have been a lot of products in the 90’s and even earlier that would crank up your metabolism and help you lose weight. These products did in fact work but just like in the way that Anabolic steroids will help a bodybuilder gain muscles, a ephedrine based pill will create a substute in your body and in the end will weaken your body by forcing. In the case of Anabolic steroids you pump up the testosterone in your system which will cause your body to stop creating it on it’s own and in the case of Ephedrine it will stop your body from naturally raising it’s own metabolism and also raises the chances of a heart attack.

Stay away from the scam of diet pills

I have recently started taking more B vitamins. As you probably know Vitamin B is important as an antioxidant as well as a great stress reliever. Most “Stress Buster” pills are a compination of B and C vitamins.

This article by B. Smithers really gives us a good idea why we needVitamin B supplemented in our diet.

Why does your body need B12 and where can you find natural sources of B12?

A person needs two micrograms of Vitamin B12 every day for the following purposes:

Red blood cells synthesis- Vitamin B12 is an important factor in red blood cell formation (particularly in the production of DNA). Failure to meet the B12 requirement can result to anemia. However, folic acid can remedy this problem (although excessive intake of folic acid can trigger the effects of such deficiency).

Development and maintenance of the Nervous system- Myelin is an important component and protecting sheath of the nerves and Vitamin B12 helps in myelin maintenance through the sustenance of fatty acids.

Growth and development- Lack of Vitamin B12 can impede the development not only of the nerves but also the whole bodies systems.

Regulating Sleep Cycles- B12 is used in regulating the cycles and sleeping and waking up through a substance called melatonin so a B12 deficiency can possibly affect sleeping patterns.

Avoidance of Alzheimer’s dementia- the most damaging effects of B12 deficiency is damage to the brain and the nervous system.

Vitamin B12 is primarily found in dairy products, meat and eggs. Here are some more foods that contain Vitamin B12 - Liver - Mollusks - Salmon, Tuna and Trout - Beef (the sirloin part) - Tacos and Cheeseburger - Yogurt

Research shows that there is a possibility of sourcing Vitamin B12 from plants, seaweeds and soya products. However, a closer study showed that there is no significant B12 content from these sources. Nori (the same green seaweed used in wrapping sushi) showed significant levels of B12 but it was attributed to compounds that are similar to B12 in terms of structure.

Incidentally, vegetarians lack the necessary daily Vitamin B12 requirement because they don’t eat meat products. Thus, they can meet their B12 requirement from supplements.

For more articles and information on Vitamin B12 go to http://vitaminb12orderonline.com

I remember a few years ago as my wife was pregnant with our first child she qot the requisite baby viatmins ande we never questioned them again. Everyone we knew that was pregnant would take the popular vitamins so that they would get all the nutrients they could while trying not to truly be “eating for two”.

Times have noty changed and Health Canada today announced that pregnant women should take an even larger supplementation of Vitamin D to protect against any possible deficiency and then some.

Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should consider increasing their vitamin D intake to 2,000 international units a day to reduce the chances their children will develop such ailments as multiple sclerosis, diabetes and cancer later in life, the Canadian Pediatric Society says.

That amount of vitamin D is 10 times higher than what is currently recommended by Health Canada for women in their childbearing years, and the advice is believed to be the first time a medical group has called for healthy people to take such elevated amounts of the sunshine vitamin.

But it is the second time in recent months that a major Canadian public health advocacy group has decided the evidence for taking vitamin D has become so compelling that it is overstepping the government’s recommendations.

The pediatric society, representing doctors who specialize in children’s health, is issuing the vitamin D advice in a position statement being released today in its journal, Pediatrics & Child Health. The statement said aboriginal people in particular are at higher risk of deficiencies of the vitamin.

“New findings suggest that adequate vitamin D status in mothers during pregnancy and in their infants may have lifetime implications,” the statement said.

As a precaution against being exposed to too much of the nutrient, the statement also recommended that women periodically have their doctors monitor their blood levels of the vitamin.