Best Weight Loss Questions and Reviews

The Stress Eater Diet written by Robert Posner, M.D. and Linda Hlivka targets women who tend to eat a lot and unhealthily when stressed.

They believe that 78% of overeating is caused by an emotional response to some type of stressor such as relationship problems or financial difficulties. Along with the help of stress hormones being produced these added calories cause women to gain weight fast.

The Stress Eater Diet focuses on helping people reduce and deal with stress more effectively so that they no longer turn to food for comfort. Some of the highlights of the diet include;

• Nutrition
• Stress Relieving Exercises
• Calming Techniques
• Serotonin boosting foods (activating calming mood sensors in the brain)

The books website contains a "stress eaters quiz" which will help potential dieters determine whether or not they fit into this category of overeaters. This book is marketed towards women, but some men could also be classified as emotional eaters, so the concepts of the book could apply to them as well.

The book will be released in January, 2009, but you can pre-order a copy.

Parents, your child's life is at stake and it's time to make a change... Failure to take action NOW will be something you regret forever...

That's a pretty powerful statement - festooned right on the cover of the book no less. It's alarmist, it's convicting and (as scary as it may sound), it's true.

Brian Grasso, founder of the International Youth Conditioning Association is an extremely intelligent, introspective individual. Naturally, I expected a detailed insight into the root causes of childhood obesity - a presentation of a deep psychological model, combined with the latest in cutting edge exercise advice. I was pleasantly disappointed...

This book cuts right to the chase - no sugar-coating, no uncertain terms, no digressions. It's a simple-to-understand, point blank look at the root of the problem and how to fix it. Brian makes no bones about the fact that the only solution of youth obesity lies in good nutrition and exercise - that's it. Here are some of the more powerful points that Grasso addresses within the book.

• We are to blame - not the kids (we meaning adults).
• If you want your child to become healthier, you have to as well
• To be sedentary goes against everything we are built for and doing the bare minimum will not save our children
• The 2 most prominent rules of exercise for children:
1. Make it fun
2. Play, don't exercise
• The message is clear: Activity needs to be interesting - something a child will look forward to and have fun doing.
• Brian is very much about progression - start with very minimal exercise and build
• On the eating end of things, Grasso's first golden rule of nutrition is particularly attention-grabbing: Stop pretending you don't know. Brian contends that no educated person on the planet doesn't know the basics of healthy eating.
• Quite simply: Fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean meats are healthy - candy and fried foods are not - the rest is just details.
• This one is on you, too, mom and dad - start eating healthy yourselves and put healthy food on the table.
• Preparing healthy foods is no harder than preparing pre-packaged foods.
• Counting calories is a no-no for kids

Also Useful

• Grasso has developed a skill/motivation continuum and shows guides parents on how to encourage children who are either low skill, low motivation, high motivation, low skill, etc.
• It's highly important for kids to associate a new, active lifestyle with fun and feeling good.
• The speed at which a child loses weight should not be a concern. Parents need to appreciate that this is a long-term process.
• Kids need to understand that they are kids - fully functional healthy young people who happen to be overweight.

In addition to the wealth of helpful information, Brian fields commonly asked questions such as how to help child who doesn't like healthy food and exercise. There is also a 60 day plan to help kick-start the new habits and some helpful tools such as charts and interviews with industry leaders.

Overall Opinion

This e-book is wonderful in its simplicity. It really cuts through the clutter and gets to the heart of the matter in powerful way. It is an easy-to-read, easy-to-follow guideline that throws down the gauntlet and challenges us as parents. The book may lack a little depth for those who want more detail on things such as healthy cooking and meal planning.

Brian has already established himself as a world authority on youth conditioning and in my opinion; this book has solidified him as a go-to-guy in the realm of childhood obesity as well.

A long December and there's reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last..."

Counting Crows, Long December

Ah, December... The hustle and bustle, the cakes, cookies, chocolates, gingerbread men, gingerbread lattes, gingerbread houses, gingerbread cookie dough, brunches, lunches, dinners, afternoon tea (with shortbread cookies), hot chocolate with a baseball-sized dollop of whipped cram, festive cocktails...

These are just some of the wonderful things that accompany the holiday season. What's not so wonderful, is when those indulgences end up on your belly and hips. Here's how to avoid packing it on this Holiday season.

1. Don't Deprive Yourself! The most sure-fire way to set yourself up for failure is to try and take a hard-lined stance against Christmas treats. To me, there is just too much temptation and tradition to avoid these delicacies altogether. That said...
2. Make a Plan: Outline a "Christmas goodies plan of attack". By deciding beforehand what and how much you what to sample, you can go into any situation with more confidence more immune to random and mindless shoveling. For example: You are face to face with a table full of no less than 10 mouth-watering sweets. Pick 3 different pieces (relatively small).
3. Exercise! Between shopping, social engagements and other festive commitments, scheduled workouts tend to wane. Prioritize your workouts! Knowing that you are putting more high glycemic calories into your body, keeping to your workouts whenever possible becomes a formidable tool in keeping weight gain at bay. Consider higher volume training - increasing the sets and reps of your weight workouts. This will give you a better "sponge" for storing glycogen in the muscle. (Thanks to Lyle McDonald for that tidbit).
4. Load up on veggies and lean meats: In addition to hitting the weights, hitting the cruciferous and otherwise colourful veggies and protein can prove beneficial. Trust me; "cheat meals" have a funny way of showing up at Christmas time. It's a matter of doing what you can, when you can. That means being prepared by taking salads, nuts, baby carrots, mandarin oranges etc. to eat throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas.
5. Stay focused! At some point this month, you may very likely be thinking "Well, I've already blown it, I might as well..." SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! Don't even go there! Do not allow yourself to go down that road. Enjoy all of the wonderful treats that are synonymous with the season. When you eat these treats, enjoy them slowly and savour them. Just go into the battleground that is December with the right amour - knowledge, a positive attitude and restraint.

What are your tried and true strategies for getting through the Holidays?

When you think of "treat" in relation to your diet and exercise habits, what images come to mind? Many of us think of things that are "bad for us" as naughty treats: maybe chocolates, chips with creamy dip, take-out foods...

This is partly the effect of canny marketing. When it comes to chocolate in particular, advertisers are keen to promote the idea of it being a luxurious treat - encouraging us to "treat ourselves" by spending money on their wares. This is just one example of chocolate advertising in action (from The Chocolate Box):

The "Treat Yourself" Box Don't think twice about treating yourself to these delights, even if they're not yours. Should anyone catch you, just give them the tried and tested 'wide-eyed puppy dog stare' and all will be forgiven.

And Hallowe'en, of course, is another culprit - with "trick or treat" usually involving candy as the treat.

Rather than always thinking of a "treat" as something that's inherently bad for you (but enjoyable), how about finding treats that you love and that are healthy?

Foodie Treats

There are loads of delicious foods that we might consider treats (often because they're a little more expensive than everyday foods). These are some of my favorites, all of which I consider a treat!

• King prawns (prawns are low in fat and high in protein)


• Smoked salmon (high in omega-3 and vitamin E)


• Olives and olive oil (rich in monounsaturated fats, which are good for your heart)


• Salads - beyond just a limp lettuce leaf (packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals)

What healthy foods do you love to eat? Which could you incorporate into your diet as a treat, a couple of times a week?

Active Treats

Too many of us think of exercise as a chore, something that we dislike but have to do. Can you change your mindset here and start considering your exercise as something fun and enjoyable? When I worked full-time in an office, I used to go to the gym in my lunch hour - and getting away from my desk and the stress of the office environment really did feel like a treat.

• Go on a long walk with your partner, through beautiful countryside.


• See your exercise as "me time", to take a break from your busy day.


• Get together with friends to do something fun and active at the weekend - the sillier the better!


• Try out a new sport or class that you'd like to have a go at.

What Are Your Treats?

If you're reading this, I know you're keen to live a healthy life. What treats make you healthy and happy? How do you treat your body with the respect and love it deserves?

There is a common thread in many male transformation stories. A guy starts off overweight - he eats poorly and is sedentary. Then he discovers how to eat right, how to lift weights, and before you know it - new words like cardio, metabolism, and HIIT become part of the standard vernacular.

At some point along the journey - fat loss turned into bodybuilding. Is this the answer for every man?

People who undergo a physical transformation using diet and exercise are amazing. It takes courage, dedication, consistency, and plain hard work. It's impressive and worthy of respect. But what makes a man? A ripped physique? Great guns and a shredded six pack?

I would argue that few men would deny wanting a muscular physique. It's not just women that have body image issues. The sculpted models in magazines like Men's Health or Men's Fitness shout out from the magazine racks. They catch your eye and play on your mind.

The basic principles for muscle building include:

• Eating 5-6 meals per day
• More protein (pref. eaten at every meal)
• Intense weight training workouts
• Plenty of sleep.

The supplement industry would love it if you spent hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on shakes, Meal Replacement Powders, whey protein, creatine, glutamine, and anything else you can think of. There is no denying that many of these supplements are effective - but where does it end? When do you stop? Is it sustainable to live like this? Does every man have to be heavily-muscled - or lean and ripped?

I posed some of these questions to author and entrepreneur Jeremy Likness. Jeremy went from fat to fit and then began the routine of 'bulking' and 'cutting' - but nowadays he practices yoga, some running, and biking with his daughter.

"Why the Change?"

"The bodybuilder trend is popular and marketable. Everyone wants abs and muscles and to turn heads. I realized on this journey that my true journey wasn't about impressing people but learning to love myself. It reached a point with bodybuilding that my son was afraid to ask me to play basketball with him because I needed to rest for my muscles to grow."

"But Don't Muscles and Abs Mean Good Health?"
"Because many of us have a shallow level we sometimes get attached to, it's easy to try and fool ourselves into believing the muscles and abs mean good health, but the reality is there are plenty of unhealthy people with big muscles lumbering around."

"So What Have You Learned?"

• Muscles don't matter. They look good, but what I want is strength for a good quality of life (i.e. I want the biceps that are strong to break the shock of an unexpected fall).
• Flexibility is important - you just can't convince me there isn't a benefit from having a large range of motion as opposed to a tight/stiff/limited range of motion.
• Health is important. If I am eating healthy, exercising, focusing not just on cardio but also strength and flexibility, I am in the zone. I don't need to have a ripped six pack to be healthy, and I don't need huge muscles to be strong and flexible.

"Was it What You Really Wanted?"
"I must admit it was a huge battle for me because my ego wanted me to be the ripped, huge person, and the "fans" also wanted this and got really annoyed when I started softening up a bit. However, I realized that phase was also important because if I let myself turn into it just for the attention/ego aspect, it would be no different than any of the other addictions I battled in life, and this time I wanted to be on top and in control, so I fought through the ego to get a balance."

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We must aim to look after our bodies, but the prevailing cult of physical perfection can distract us from simply enjoying life, recreation, and good health.

- FRIDAY, Nov. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Eating a high-fat diet during pregnancy causes permanent changes in the fetal brain that can result in overeating and obesity early in life, according to a study with rats.

The researchers from Rockefeller University in New York City said their finding is an important advance in understanding mechanisms of fetal programming. It also sheds light on the production of new brain cells, helping to explain the dramatic rise of childhood obesity in the United States over the past three decades.

"We've shown that short-term exposure to a high-fat diet in utero produces permanent neurons in the fetal brain that later increase the appetite for fat," study senior author Sarah F. Leibowitz, director of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurobiology at Rockefeller, said in a university news release. "This work provides the first evidence for a fetal program that links high levels of fat circulating in the mother's blood during pregnancy to the overeating and increased weight gain of offspring after weaning."

For the study, pregnant rats were fed either a high-fat or a balanced diet for two weeks. Pups born to mothers that ate the high-fat diet ate more, weighed more throughout life, and began puberty earlier than pups born to mothers that ate a balanced diet. The pups born to the mothers that at the high-fat diet also had higher levels of triglycerides in the blood at birth and as adults, and also had greater production of brain peptides that stimulate eating and weight gain.

The study was published in the Nov. 12 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

The creation of neurons that increase the appetite for fat may also occur in human babies born to mothers who eat a high-fat diet during pregnancy, Leibowitz said.

"We're programming our children to be fat," she believes. "I think it's very clear that there's vulnerability in the developing brain, and we've identified the site of this action where new neurons are being born. We now need to understand how the lipids affect these precursor cells that form these fat-sensitive neurons that live with us throughout life."

More information

The Nemours Foundation has more about overweight and obesity in children.

I'm sure most of us already know that a big waist = bad, but this study caught my eye due to;

a) The sheer size of it (300,000 + participants)
and
b) That these findings were independent of body mass index (BMI). Here are some more details of the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

• The risk of premature death was approximately double for subjects with a larger waist versus those with a smaller waist.
• A larger waist for men was more than 47.2" (120cm) and for women it was more than 39.4" (100cm).
• A smaller waist for men was less than 31.5" (80cm) and for women, it was and less than 25.6" (65cm).
• Each 2.5" (5cm) increase in waist circumference increased the mortality risk by 17% in men and 13% in women.
• The waist to hip ratio was also revealed as an important indicator of health in the study. The smaller the waist relative to the hips, the better.

Why it's not good to have a Big Waist

A fat belly is usually indicative of a fat liver. When the liver has excess fat, it makes it difficult to perform its many functions. The researchers in the study point out that fatty tissue in this area causes the release of hormones and inflammatory markers which can lead to chronic disease.

Waist Measurement: Major Indicator, Minor Expense

A cloth tape measure costs very little and measuring your waist and hips is relatively easy. Here are some quick instructions on how to do it.

Waist:

• Measure the narrowest portion of the waist (usually just below the lowest ribs). This area should be unclothed


• Pull the tape firmly (but not tightly) around the waist, ensuring that there are no "bubbles" in the tape.


• Take a normal breath in and out - take note of number upon exhalation.


• Use a mirror to ensure tape is not crooked.

Women: Measurement should be less than 35"
Men: Less then 40"

Hips:

• With feet together, wrap tape around largest part of buttocks and take note of number. Be sure tape is not crooked.

Calculating waist to hip ratio:

• Example: Waist 38, Hips 41. 38/41 = .93

Women: Waist to hip ratio should be less than .82
Men: Waist to hip ratio should be less than .94

Sources:
Eureka Alerts
ACSM's Guidelines for Testing and Exercise Prescription. 2000