Saturday, January 6, 2007

Effective Weight Loss Measures

In order to successfully reduce weight and get slim, you have to eat healthy food, you have to reduce your consume of fat and carbohydrates and you have to exercise regularly. Here are some practical measures to fulfill this goal:

- Reduce the total amount of food you eat.

- However, do not try to starve yourself. Eat regularly 4 (or 5) moderate meals each day. In this way your blood sugar level will not drop to low amounts that hinder you in doing physical activities, and give you an impulse to over-eat.

- Do not use fast-food or other sorts of pre-made food. Make your meals from pure raw ingredients that you buy yourself. In this way you have full control of what you put into your body.

- Do not eat between the meals.

- Each meal shall include some lean protein-rich element like lean fish, poultry, mushrooms or lean meat.

- Cut away all visible fat from meat, poultry or fish.

- Each meal shall also include some vegetables or fruit. These shall be raw or only gently cooked.

- In each meal there shall also be some whole corn bread or cereals, beans, peas or potatoes as a carbohydrate and energy source. It is important to vary the energy source from meal to meal. Do not only use bread or potatoes.

- Fat fish, nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, olives and the like contain very much fat. But the fat is of a type that is valuable for your health. You shall therefore eat some of these food types every day, but in moderate amounts. You may however choose to increase the amount of these ingredients in your diet if you reduce the amount of bread, and other carbohydrate sources.

- Do not add much extra oil, butter, fat sauces, fat dressings, sugar or sweet sauces to your food.

- The little fat you add to your food should be of natural chemically unaltered types like virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, rape oil / canola oil, soy oil, fish oil or natural butter. Vary the oil type to get all essential fatty acids.

- Ideally you should not consume sweet beverages, except fruit juice in moderate amounts.

- Reduce your alcohol consume. Alcohol is converted to fat in your body.

- Drastically reduce your consume of snacks, ice-cream, cakes, cookies, chocolate and the like.

- Do not consume great amounts of salt. Salt does not make you fat, but it binds water in your body and this excessive water contribute to your weight problem. When you loose fat, the fat also tends to be replaced by water. Reducing the salt consume will help you get rid of excessive water.

- Some people over-eat because of boredom. Find some new hobby activities or some new friends that share some of your interests.

- Do some physical exercise at least every second day. You shall include exercises that give your muscles some resistance in order to increase your muscle mass, for example weight lifting. You shall also include some activities that make you consume energy and build up your condition, like running, swimming and cycling. And you should do some stretching exercises, for example yoga postures.

- A supplement of vitamins and minerals can be useful to make your body able to burn fat effectively or increase your ability to engage in physical activities. When you reduce the amount of food you consume, also the amount of vitamins and minerals you take in will be reduced. This lack can be remanded with an extra supplement.

- On the market you can also find preparations of herbs, vitamins and minerals especially made for people in a slimming process, giving these effects: They replace a lack of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants because of reduced eating. They help your body burn and eliminate fat. They give you a feeling of greater energy and a greater ability to be physically active. They help reduce an abnormal appetite. Some preparations also contain ingredients that reduce the uptake of fat and carbohydrates from the intestines.