Teenage obesity is something we cannot ignore, for it is as much disastrous, perhaps even more disastrous, than adult obesity. For one, people who have been obese as teenagers are less likely to live a long life than those who live a healthy life as teens. For another, unlike adults who can control obesity with the help of diets, diet pills, and intense workouts, teenagers cannot do the same because of the following three reasons:

a) The teenage period is the period of growth for a human being. This is the time when our body needs more nutrition than at any other period. On the other hand, a lot of fad diets restrict your food intake in such a way that you are virtually cut off from eating most of the nutritious foods available. Obviously, teenagers cannot be prescribed such diets which would negatively affect their growth.

b) So far as diet pills are concerned, many of them come with harmful side effects. There are pills which have side effects such as nausea, vertigo, headache, indigestion, etc. Since teenagers tend to have weaker immune system compared adults, these side effects would cause great damage in their bodies.

c) Intense workouts are truly intense, in that they put a lot of stress on your body, particularly bone and muscles. As teenagers, we develop new muscles and our bones become stronger. However, since this is a period of bodily growth, a teenager’s body is not as strong as that of an adult. Consequently, if a teenager performs such intense workouts, he is very likely to injure himself seriously.

That said, all is not lost. There are several easy ways to keep your teenage kid fit and healthy. But it all depends on you. If parents are unwilling to cooperate, teenage obesity cannot be controlled. It is a fact that a child is more influenced by the lifestyle habits of his parents than that of strangers.

Don’t ever think that obese parents have obese kids solely because of genetic reasons. While genetic factors may have a key role to play regarding a person’s body weight, they are only as much powerful as one’s destiny. If a human wants, he can easily control his body weight just like he can master his density.
Okay so here are two tips to fight teenage obesity:

1) Weight loss experts often tout food as the biggest reason behind obesity. However, it is not food, but rather “bad food”, which causes weight gain. If a person keeps eating burgers, pizzas, cookies, cakes, soft drinks, soda, alcohol, processed fruit juices, etc., it is only natural that he would become overweight in the long run.

Remember that when it comes to eating, there is no healthier substitute than organic fruits and vegetables. Nature has plenty of healthy foods to offer us and if we wish to stay healthy and fit, we must eat only those foods and nothing else.

That doesn’t however mean that these natural foods need to be eaten raw. Get out of your laziness and start cooking meals at home using low fat oil. Remember that unless you become proactive about it, the health of your teenage kid would only get worse over time.

2. Today’s teenagers prefer to remain glued to television and video games instead of engaging in outdoor sports. Once again, parents have a key role to play here. If you watch television or remain glued to your computer screen for hours, it is natural that your kid would do the same.

Now, if you or your kid doesn’t want to workout, then don’t. But walking, running and jogging are some of the easy activities both of you could do to keep obesity at bay.

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: bad food, fat oil, food, food intake, headache, indigestion, nausea, obesity, outdoor sports, vertigo

Michelle Kwon wrote this article about the history and benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar. I thought you may be interested in this as well.

In addition to being a tasty, low-calorie dressing, apple cider vinegar could be a miracle elixir for melting away fat, boosting the immune system and even restoring arthritic joints.

What is Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is an old folk remedy claimed to be beneficial in treating . a list of ailments. It’s thought to guard against osteoporosis, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, heal infection, assist in digestion, and relieve everything from headaches to heartburn and hay fever.

It is still not known why apple cider vinegar provides benefits. Some proponents say it is due to its enzymes, minerals such as potassium, phosphorus, fluorine, silicon, trace minerals and pectin. Yet research shows that it actually only contains very slight amounts of these. Others say its natural malic and tartaric acids help fight body toxins and inhibit unfriendly bacteria.

Though nothing has been clinically proven, researchers can’t discount the myriad of accounts of healing that have been collected throughout history. The qualities of apple cider vinegar have been known for thousands of years. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, used it as an antibiotic and antiseptic in 400 BC. It was used in Biblical times as a healing agent and is mentioned in the Bible. In Paris in the Middle Ages it was sold from barrels by street vendors as a body deodorant and health drink.

Even Christopher Columbus had it on his voyage to discover America in 1492 in order to prevent scurvy. In 1820, poet Lord Byron made the vinegar and water diet popular. During the US Civil War, soldiers used it as a treatment for pneumonia and indigestion. It was also used to treat wounds during World War 1. For centuries in Japan, Samurai warriors drank it for strength. The vinegar is now officially recognized in Japan as functional food because it is said to stimulate bifidus bacteria in the bowel, contributing to gastrointestinal health.

This conclusion was also reached by popular 1950s author DC Jarvis, who advised those with GI problems to consume a tonic with each meal to destroy harmful bacteria in the gut. His book Folk Medicine praised apple cider vinegar as the solution for ailments including chronic fatigue and fat reduction. He declared that cider vinegar tonic would reduce body fat because it caused fat to be burned instead of stored.

But what about the Apple Cider Vinegar science?

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Tags: acetic acid, America, apple cider vinegar, Arizona State University, Author, benefits of apple cider vinegar, body deodorant, body toxins, British Columbia, Byron, Carol Johnston, Christopher Columbus, digestive disorders, fatigue, Folk Medicine, folk remedy, food trends, functional food, Hay fever, headaches, health food pioneer, indigestion, Japan, Michelle Kwon, Newsweek, nutrition professor, obesity, osteoporosis, Paris, Patricia Bragg, pneumonia, poet, scurvy, treatment for pneumonia

If you are a woman and struggling to lose weight fast, this article would help you achieve your goal. Believe it or not, weight loss is pretty simple and straightforward; so if you have been struggling to lose weight for years and still haven’t been able to get anywhere near your target, stop following conventional weight loss techniques and just do what I say here.

1. Don’t drink anything with your meals: Do you know that you have digestive enzymes not only in your digestive system but also your mouth and esophagus? Do you know that when you eat your food, these powerful enzymes help in ‘pre-digesting’ your foods even before they reach your stomach. This means that you would be able to digest foods very quickly, which would naturally discourage your body from absorbing any more calories. Voila. You have just learned of a natural way to block fat storage.

Now consider this scenario: you drink some liquids with your meals. Those digestive enzymes which were present in your mouth and esophagus got washed away. Therefore, food will reach your stomach in totally undigested form. Your body will take more time to digest the food, which is not at all good news for you, especially when you are looking forward to losing weight. This is also the reason why people suffer from stomach aches and other indigestion problems.

Remember that you can always drink liquids a couple of minutes after finishing your meals-usually at least 5-10 minutes after meal; but definitely don’t drink anything WITH your meal.

2. Don’t ever skip your breakfast: I am sure you have heard of it countless number of times, but let me repeat it here again. When you sleep at night, your body usually slows down your metabolic rate so that it could save energy by turning it into fat. When you wake up in the morning, your body is craving for new nutrients and fresh energy. So you shouldn’t skip breakfast even if you don’t feel hungry, because your body has been FASTING throughout the night before, and breakfast is the only way to break this fast.

It is not at all good to keep your body hungry, because if you do, your body will start hording energy in the form of fat deposits. Your body would slow down your metabolism and stop the fat burning process because it would feel that it is in danger of being killed through starvation. So skipping breakfast would either keep your body weight as is, or move it up by a few more pounds.

It is also important that you eat only protein-rich foods such as eggs, lean chicken meat, etc., for breakfast. Protein helps in boosting your metabolic rate which in turn, helps you burn fat. Plus protein also builds strong lean muscles for you; remember that the more lean muscles you have, the faster you would burn fat and lose weight.

Tags: energy, food, fresh energy, indigestion, starvation

The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. I was so impressed when I started researching the benefits of Green tea that I started a Chinese Green Tea website.

In fact Chinese Green tea has been researched and linked to help all of the following conditions.

* rheumatoid arthritis
* high cholesterol levels
* cariovascular disease
* infection
* impaired immune function
* Cognition
* Stopping certain neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimers
* Treating Arthritis
* Treating MS
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Tags: allergy, arthritis, Asia, beriberi, cancer, cardiovascular disease, cariovascular disease, chemical, CVD, depression, Eisai, energy source, esophageal cancer, fatigue, food, headaches, heart disease, high blood pressure, HIV, hyperthyroidism, indigestion, insomnia, Japan, kidney disease, light processing, National Cancer Institute, nervous disorder, nutraceuticals, rheumatoid arthritis, skin cancer, skin disorders, Switzerland, Tea Increases, Tea Work, the American Journal, the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, tumor, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, University of Geneva in Switzerland, University of Purdue, Zen priest

I just ran into a couple of great articles on Hoodia and thought it would be great to share them. Why do I care about Hoodia? Well I keep getting spam about the “Greatest weight loss product ever” and man do I hate unfounded hype.

It seems that Hoodia may be a good product but if there is ever a wonder drug that will stop people from eating and help them lose weight than the lack of exercise will surely kill people. I t is very important to remember that even if Hoodia does a great job in helping you lose weight that you still need to exercise regularly to stay or regain health. I have made my own notations here in bold from this great article at about.com written by Cathy Wong

Introduction to Hoodia

Each year, people spend more than $40 billion on products designed to help them slim down. None of them seem to be working very well.

Now along comes hoodia. Never heard of it? Soon it’ll be tripping off your tongue, because hoodia is a natural substance that literally takes your appetite away. It’s very different from diet stimulants like Ephedra and Phenfen that are now banned because of dangerous side effects. Hoodia doesn’t stimulate at all. Scientists say it fools the brain by making you think you’re full, even if you’ve eaten just a morsel.

Hoodia is a cactus that’s causing a stir for its ability to suppress appetite and promote weight loss. 60 Minutes, ABC, and the BBC have all done stories on hoodia. Hoodia is sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form in health food stores and on the Internet. Hoodia is also found in the popular diet pill Trimspa.

Hoodia gordonii can be found in the semi-deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Much like a cactus it has recently been turned into a cash crop in Namibia where there are hundreds of acres of it being grown to meet the demand in North America.

It takes about 5 years before hoodia’s pale purple flowers appear and the cactus can be harvested. Although there are 20 types of hoodia, only the hoodia gordonii variety is believed to contain the natural appetite suppressant.

Although hoodia was only marketed recently, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have been eating it for a very long time. The Bushmen, who live off the land, would cut off part of the hoodia stem and eat it to ward off hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips. They also used hoodia for severe abdominal cramps, haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes.

In 1937, a Dutch anthropologist studying the San Bushmen noted that they used hoodia to suppress appetite. But it wasn’t until 1963 when scientists at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa’s national laboratory, began studying hoodia. Initial results were promising — lab animals lost weight after taking hoodia.
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Tags: 60 Minutes, ABC, Africa, Angola, anthropologist, BBC, Botswana, Brown University in Rhode Island, Cathy Wong Introduction, correspondent, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, cramps, depression, diabetes, energy, health food stores, Hoodia plant, hypertension, indigestion, Kalahari desert, Leslie Stahl, liver disease, Namibia, north America, pfizer, pharmaceutical giant, Rhode Island, South Africa, South Africa's national laboratory, supplement, tough product, Trimspa, tuberculosis, Unilever, USD, weight loss product, weight loss solution