Drinking water is an extremely effective fat-burning and health-promoting practice. This practice has been called by George Blackburn, MD, associate professor at the Harvard Medical School, “by far the number one way to head off food cravings and reduce appetite”. And Wayne C. Miller, PhD, former director of the Indiana University Weight Loss Clinic, has conducted clinical studies linking high daily water intake to successful lasting weight loss.
According to Ellington Darden, PhD, exercise scientist and former director of research for Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries, “If you don’t drink enough water, your body’s reaction is to retain the water it does have. This hampers kidney function and contributes to the accumulation of waste products. Your liver is then called on to flush out impurities, which minimizes one of its main functions – that is, metabolizing stored fat into usable energy”. Increasing your fluid intake not only enhances fat loss. It boosts energy. A German study found that sipping 2 liters of water a day elevated metabolism and calorie burning by 100 calories per day – about the burn you would get from a 15 minute jog.
And, better than sipping water alone, sip it with ice added. Dr. Darden explains that you can “maximize calorie burn by keeping the water ice cold. A gallon of ice cold (40 degree F) water requires over 200 calories of heat energy to warm it to core body temperature (98.6 degrees F)”. (A gallon is equal to sixteen eight-ounce glasses.) You can lose fat fast just sipping iced water.
Tip #2: Avoid coffee. Instead, drink Green Tea to burn fat
Did you know that coffee is one of the most chemically processed products in the world? It's true, and over time, your body will store these toxic molecules in layers of fat which makes it difficult to lose weight - no matter how hard you exercise. You would be better off drinking cold water than drinking coffe.But we can even improve on our 12 eight-ounce glasses of iced water per day. We can drop in bags of green tea (no sweeteners please). Recent research at the University of Geneva indicates that green tea increases metabolism, assists in cleansing and aides fat burning by up to 35 percent. The research team also found that green tea or green tea extract produces this fat burning even without the presence of caffeine. It seems that epigallocatechin gallate (or EGCG), a substance in green tea, makes fat burning last even longer. Green tea not only fights fat, it has other health-promoting qualities. According to the Journal of Medicinal Foods, 9:451-458, 2006, green tea reduces cell death after a heart attack or stroke, and speeds recovery. It also contains antioxidants that protect the cells from free radical damage, thus working against heart disease, cancer and premature aging.
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Tip #3: Avoid Eating or Drinking anything containing HFCS
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a food additive used to sweeten foods like candies, cookies, breakfast cereals, carbonated soda and soft drinks, breads, ketchup and other sauces, and some salad dressings. It is not a naturally occurring sweetener, but a chemical combination of fructose and dextrose, a “designer chemical” which, according to studies by the University of Pennsylvania, impairs your body’s ability to recognize when it is full and eating should stop.
(HFCS) manipulates the same hormones the pharmaceutical companies influence with diet pills, however, in exactly the opposite way. Instead of causing a loss of appetite and weight loss, (HFCS) actually increases appetite and weight gain. This leads to clogged colons and possibly cancer.
(HFCS) is the most consumed sweetener in the United States, providing an estimated 20 percent of our carbohydrates and 10 percent of our total daily calories. Is it any wonder we have a severe problem with obesity and mounting risk of diabetes and heart health issues?
The food companies aren’t about to remove (HFCS) from their products. It is 1.5 times sweeter than sugar, thus calling for less of it in the foods (and therefore a lower cost). It also has a good shelf stability and, most of all, actually encourages you to over-eat the products and come back for more. This is truly a “sweet” deal for the companies and a nightmare for your health and fat loss program. Avoiding HFCS alone can make you lose fat fast!
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Why should I get started to gaining better health and losing weight?
You might have thought stored body fat was unsightly, and of little concern to your health. Recent research is turning up much more troubling insights. A diabetes study in the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that abdominal fat can kill you. These fat cells are a hormone-secreting organ which produces inflammatory proteins that have destructive effects on blood vessels and other cells of the body. The secretions are implicated in the development of coronary artery disease and symptoms such as insulin resistance, high blood pressure, high blood fats, and blood-clotting abnormalities.
Not only are these internal deposits of fat secreting their own dangerous health-attacking agents, they also serve as a depository for the environmental pollutants you take into your body daily. Toxins such as air pollution, water pollution, chemicals, drugs, nicotine, alcohol and preservatives become cumulative in your fat tissue. The more fat you have on your body the greater the capacity to store toxic chemicals. According to Dr. Doris Rapp, M.D. (founder of the Practical Allergy Foundation, and former President of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine), “toxic chemicals are being absorbed through our skin into the body and the brain 3 times faster than water”. The body stores such toxins in fat places such as the breast. Dr. Rapp states that some of the women that have breast cancer “have four times more pesticides in their breast fat than women who do not have breast cancer.”
Study our suggestions and put intot action these ways to reduce stored fat. It is very important to your health to rid your body of it. But what if you're like me, a guy who exercises daily, feels good, but somehow can't seem to avoid gaining weight? Maybe not much weight- gain a few pounds, lose a few pounds, but can't seem to get back to where you want to be?
Me: My name is Bob Boog. I'm 52 years old. Height 5'9". In high school I weighed about 175 lbs but no matter how much I dieted and exercised, my weight kept creeping up. Here I am in July 2007 (without a goatee) - I weighed 228.
In fact, I am embarrassed to admit it, but on May 1, 2008, I weighed a staggering 232! My wife started taking this meal replacement program called Isagenix, so I joined the program too. Two meals per day are replaced with nutrient enriched shakes. We bought a small "bullet" blender at WalMart for $15 bucks and have a shake for breakfast, then every hour and a half a healthy snack, another shake for lunch, a couple of healthy snacks and then a sensible dinner. Interestingly, MEN tend to lose WEIGHT faster than women. Women tend to lose inches - meaning your clothes will fit a little better. But if you are over 35 and want to lose weight, I would recommend trying this program for 30 days. Here is what I looked like on May 30, 2008 - after thirty days on the program. I lost 14lbs and went from 232 to 218.
Using a blender is the key. I put a banana in my morning shake and start my day looking forward to gulping it down!
As the information above mentions, your body traps toxic molecules in fat cells. So to get rid of body fat, release the toxins - otherwise you'll never really lose the weight. It will just come back - or worse - you'll gain additional weight. And if that happens, take a vacation!