Weight loss and maintenance is no laughing matter. Today, 60% of
American adults need to lose weight, and many of them feel
defeated by their struggles. In addition, for many people,
keeping weight off after weight loss is even more difficult than
losing it in the first place.
These difficulties are the reason that sales of diet aids are so
consistently high. People who are trying to lose weight are
constantly looking for any help they can find to increase their
weight loss and maintenance success.
If you need to lose weight, it's critical that you make changes
to your diet and your physical activity level. The following
suggestions can help you to begin shedding pounds without
resorting to extreme dieting measures:
* Substitute fish and chicken for beef and pork most days of the
week.
* Eliminate white flour from your diet. Eat whole grains, such
as 100% whole wheat bread instead.
* Eliminate refined sugar from your diet. Use artificial
sweeteners and natural sweeteners like honey instead.
* Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits and
vegetables will provide more anti-oxidants and fiber, along with
fewer calories than processed vegetables, particularly those in
sauce.
* Increase your fiber intake - Extra fiber will help you feel
full longer, helping you to reduce the number of calories you're
eating without feeling deprived.
* Watch the fat- Reduce the saturated fat in your diet. Avoid
any food with hydrogenated fats or trans fats. Get your fats from
olive oil, canola oil, fish and nuts.
* Get 30 minutes of aerobic exercise most days of the week.
Walking is a great way to get in your exercise, and it's
convenient because you can do it anywhere. You should also get in
strength training 3 times a week for 30 minutes each session.
Strength training will help you build muscle, which will help you
burn more calories even when resting.
Making these changes should allow you to lose weight gradually
without feeling hungry. Only when you make changes that you can
sustain for the long term will you be able to take off the weight
and keep it off.
However, while it's critical to understand that diet and
exercise will always be the keys to maintaining a healthy weight,
it's always nice to find little tricks that make losing weight
and keeping it off just a bit easier.
One substance that does seem to hold promise in weight loss is
green tea. Many studies have shown that the consumption of green
tea along with a healthy diet can help you lose more weight than
dieting alone.
It is believed that green tea's potent anti-oxidants combined
with the caffeine in the tea help speed up the metabolism and
burn fat. In addition, some studies have even shown that green
tea can inhibit the absorption of dietary fat, meaning that less
of the fat you eat ends up as body fat.
However, one interesting study suggests that green tea's
effectiveness may be negated if you consume too much other
caffeine in your diet. A study conducted by Maastricht University
in The Netherlands attempted to show how green tea would affect
participants attempting to maintain a recent weight loss. It
showed less promising results regarding the consumption of green
tea, particularly when the participants were high consumers of
caffeine overall.
In this study, 104 overweight and moderately obese men and women
were put on a low calorie diet for 4 weeks. During the four week
period, the participants lost an average of 7.5% of their body
weight. During the 13 week maintenance period, the participants
were fed either green tea or a placebo. The participants did not
show statistically different results between the group receiving
green tea and the group receiving the placebo.
However, the study did show that participants who had overall
high caffeine consumption regained more of the weight they lost
than those who had a lower overall caffeine consumption.* When
you consider these results compared with other studies where
additional caffeine consumption was restricted, and a correlation
between the use of green tea and weight loss was observed, it
suggests that excess caffeine use may negate green tea's
possible positive effects.
If you look at the entire body of research on green tea's
ability to enhance weight loss, it seems very promising, in spite
of the results of this particular study. And, the good news is,
that even if green tea doesn't help you lose weight, it's very
healthy for you and has no side effects.
So, you have nothing to lose by trying green tea as a weight loss
supplement. Green tea's anti-oxidants may hold significant power
in helping you avoid diseases like cancer, heart disease and
Alzheimer's. In addition, regular consumption of green tea may
reduce the signs of aging and help you live a longer and
healthier life. And, in addition, you may find your weight loss
efforts easier and more effective than ever.
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Marcus Stout is President of the Golden Moon
Tea Company. For more information about tea,
(http://www.goldenmoontea.com/greentea)
green tea (http://www.goldenmoontea.com/blacktea)
and black tea go to http://www.goldenmoontea.com
