What The Supplement Companies Don’t Want You To Know

February 26, 2010 by Katherine Crawford, M.S.  
Filed under Weight Loss

The majority of Americans take some type of dietary supplement to improve their health. Do you take supplements?

You see, as a nation we spend an absurd amount of money on supplements, to the tune of billions per year.

Unfortunately, a lot of what is sold to the public is under the umbrella of deceptive advertising. We are talking about fake pictures and ridiculous testimonials. Even worse, some supplements are extremely unhealthy.

Thus, without further delay, here are common falsehoods the supplement companies don’t want you to know:

1. They don’t have side effects: Look, just because the supplement companies market their products as natural does NOT mean there are 100% safe. In fact, there are many “natural” substances that are lethal. Also, remember that a lot of supplements are super concentrated concoctions of different ingredients. Thus, at this level, the naturalness tends to fade.

2. Dietary supplements are backed by peer reviewed research: Very few supplements actually undergo the rigors of peer reviewed research. In fact, the majority of research you see in the advertisements are fly-by-night studies performed by the companies themselves.

3. Supplement manufacturers are acting in our best interest: The bottom line is that millions and millions of dollars are spent on advertising to get you to buy. And the reality is that when so much money is involved, things can get a little out of control. Ephedra is a perfect example here. So please do not be swayed by the sexy advertising.

4. Word of mouth is reliable: Word of mouth is definitely convincing, but it should not be taken as the end all be all to a supplements efficacy. You see, the placebo effect is extremely strong. In fact, if you gave a sugar pill to 100 people, 40 would claim a noticeable difference!

I recommend staying on the safe side here. And the best way to do this is to only take supplements that have undergone peer reviewed research. You see, peer reviewed research is the closest we can get to the truth. And with the truth you will be better informed as to what decisions are right for your health.

Author Katherine Crawford, a Harvard fitness expert and former arm fat sufferer, instructs women on how to tone arms quickly. Figure out how to get sexy arms by visiting her blog about shrinking bingo wings now!


Eliminate Flabby Upper Arms Without Exercise!

January 7, 2010 by Louis Locke  
Filed under Weight Loss

Could it be possible to lose flabby upper arms without exercising? Yes, because I’ve seen countless women do it.

The secret lies in spontaneous fat loss. This method of losing the flab is the easiest one out there, I promise.

Instead, it focuses on manipulating the tools you eat with (spoons, bowls, glasses), the environment you eat in and the types of foods you eat. And the arm fat melts away without any conscious effort on your part.

So here are 4 awesome tips you should consider so that your flabby upper arms begin to melt away:

1. Buy foods with labels from not-so-cool places. Studies have shown restaurant goers will unconsciously eat up to 500 fewer calories at dinner if they are presented with wine that comes from an undesirable wine-producing area. You have to be creative here, but it’s worth it.

2. Stay away from high glycemic index carbohydrates. It was shown that boys who ate low glycemic index carbs consumed 621 fewer calories in a meal versus boys who ate high glycemic index carbs. Stay away from high glycemic index carbohydrates at all costs.

3. Consume salad before dinner. Have 1.5-3 cups of salad before dinner. Studies have shown that restaurant goers eat 100 fewer calories per meal when given salad beforehand. Be careful with the dressing, though.

4. Avoid saturated fat. But make sure to have unsaturated fat. When given olive oil instead of butter, people ate 200 fewer calories during their meal. In case you were wondering, olive oil is an unsaturated fat and butter is saturated.

With the above steps in mind, you can lose those flabby upper arms without breaking a sweat. There is a body of scientific evidence that backs this up. So make sure to act on this information now!

One more thing: for best results, exercise should be part of the equation. Although you can lose fat without exercise, it will definitely speed up your results.

Writer Katherine Crawford, a Harvard fitness expert and recent arm fat sufferer, teaches women how to tone flabby arms. Unearth how to get sexy and toned arms by exploring her blog about bingo wings now!


Fasting to Lose Weight: Are You Losing Weight or Losing Days Off Your Life?

December 2, 2009 by Melissa Newton  
Filed under Weight Loss

Many Americans struggle with losing weight, and the new trend is fasting to lose weight. Any diet requires commitment and sacrificing the foods you love to get the perfect silhouette you dream of. It is so demanding that people generally search for the plan with the fastest results. There are healthy programs that include exercise, maybe replacement meals and restricted calories. Unfortunately, people sometimes get so desperate they will try anything including fasting to lose weight or synthetic processed supplements that have ingredients they can’t even pronounce.

Do you have the time or patience to sift through all the diet programs on the market to find which one is right for you? Is fasting to lose weight okay? Isn’t there a magic pill that will melt the pounds right off your body? Well, I’m sorry to tell you the answer is no. The best and only way is to diet and exercise.

Please understand that being on a diet is far different that fasting. Dieting is eating healthy foods in small reasonable portions. Fasting is not eating, or trying to starve the weight off. Fasting to lose weight is not only harmful to your health, it will lower your body’s metabolism which will cause you to store fat, not actually lose any weight.

Upon understanding that fasting to lose weight does not work, you should now be looking at several diets that give you all the nutrients and energy that your body needs. You can find several meal plans in books and/or over the Internet. If the existing diets do not work for you, you can always ask a professional nutritionist to work with you and create a customized diet according to your needs. That may be a bit too costly, but it may pay out in the end.

Also remember that dieting is just one of the steps that you can do to lose weight. If you want maximum results the soonest possible time, you can also invest your time in a good exercise routine. Coupled with the proper discipline, you will find that exercising and dieting will not only give you a perfect body but they can also make you much healthier and happier than fasting to lose weight.

For top secret information on how to really lose weight, visit my website where I reveal the world’s top diets.


5 Myths On How To Tone Up Arms

December 1, 2009 by Katherine Crawford, M.S.  
Filed under Weight Loss

Figuring out how to tone up arms can be hard with all the free and subpar information out there. In fact, I believe that many women are utterly lost when it comes to finding the right approach.

I can tell because of all the emails I receive.

Now before you kick yourself in the butt, understand that it’s not all your fault. You see, clever marketing and the endless promotion of bogus products has created a surplus of faulty information.

So here are some common misconceptions on how to tone up arms:

1. Working out every day is best. I strongly recommend NOT working out every day. This will leave you burned out, unable to get sleep and absolutely dreading the whole process. Your muscles and nervous system need rest in order to progress.

2. One arm is stronger than the other, therefore something is wrong. This is completely normal. In fact, I’ve never worked with a client whose arms were equally strong. The good news is that over time this difference will equalize.

3. I should be able to do 15 repetitions for every set. 15 repetitions is not the magic number to tone up your arms. In fact, you should experiment with much lower repetitions to fully work all your muscle fibers. This will bring you accelerated results.

4. You should never get tired when working out. This is not true. And expect to get extra tired whenever you are breaking a personal best. The only time you should stop is if you start feeling queasy or sick. Otherwise keep on pushing through so that you get maximum benefit from your workouts.

5. If you’re sore a couple days after exercising, something is wrong! This simply means that you had an intense workout-just what you need to do to tone up those arms. And keep in mind that this delayed soreness will decrease as you eat better and your body learns to recover faster.

Please steer clear of all the marketing hype out there. Stick to unbiased sources of information and learning how to tone up arms will be that much easier. Only then will you get the sexy arms of your dreams!

About the author: Sought after writer, Katherine Crawford M.S., a Harvard fitness physiologist and former arm fat casualty, teaches women how to lose arm fat. Figure out how to get sexy arms by exploring her blog about arm fat right now!


4 Things You Should Not Be Doing To Get Toned Arms

July 27, 2009 by Katherine Crawford, M.S.  
Filed under Weight Loss

If you are trying to tone up your arms, you may be a little confused by all the contradictions floating around. It may seem as though all the authorities have developed a different approach for getting results.

And there is a grain of truth to this. Why? Because the authorities’ sources of information are never black and white.

After all, even the experts have to go somewhere to get their information. And most information comes from very complex studies done by the brightest of minds. The main problem here is that these studies are almost NEVER clear cut. They are open for interpretation.

So today I plan on clearing up some of the confusion. Here are 4 things to avoid when trying to tone up your arms:

1. Having too much fish oil. Some experts have recommended up to 30 grams of daily fish oil consumption! Unbelievable. Having more than 3 grams a day puts you at risk for atherosclerosis because the omega-3 can oxidize.

2. Allowing nuts and legumes to stay warm. Put them in the refrigerator! Aspergillus, a toxic mold, can grow on nuts and legumes if the conditions are right. What conditions? Warmth and humidity. Now this isn’t very likely unless you’re overdoing it, however, a single case of poisoning has the potential to set your sexy arm mission many steps back.

3. Having trans fat. No amount is healthy, seriously. As proven by Harvard researchers, trans fat kill. And they will do no good for your arms. In fact, they will increase your overall body fat, including arm fat.

4. Avoiding plant-based saturated fat. Not all saturated fat is created equal. In fact, plant saturated fats can be extremely healthy for you. Coconut, for instance, long believed to be unhealthy, should be considered a superfood.

All the advice you hear may change slightly over the years. Why? Because science and research is constantly changing. We never have a clear cut answer as to how things work. A lot of the recommendations are based on projections and extrapolations. Nevertheless, if you want to tone arms, you have to keep on making progress regardless. Never stop!

About the Author:

Top 3 Fun Games For Kids’ Weight Loss!

April 14, 2009 by Frances Norah Smith  
Filed under Weight Loss

Suppose that you’ve never worked out in life, and all of a sudden someone tells you that if you wish to get rid of your fat belly, you would need to hit the gym for two weeks straight and spend an average of six hours there per day! How would you react to that? Your first thought would be that it is better to keep your fat belly intact and watch that cool Hollywood movie instead of working so hard.

Well, that is the exactly the same way your kids think when they are asked to workout like crazy just to lose weight! However, if you ask them to do some fun activities which would keep them cheerful and help them lose weight at the same time, then nothing like it! In this article I prescribe three such fun activities for your kids!

1. Dog walking: Walking is one of the simplest ways to lose weight, but kids won’t want to walk without any incentive. Do you have a pet dog at home? If yes, the incentive could be that of taking the dog for a walk. If your kids are particularly attached to the pets at home, this would become easier! Be a model to your kids and take the dog with you when going out for your regular morning walks, and your kids would soon follow suit!

2. The twister trick: Board games and video games make your kids fat for sure, but not all games are that bad. Consider for example the twister game! Would you call it dull and boring? Definitely not! It is one game which kids of all ages are sure to enjoy, and since they cannot play it sitting on the couch, it would help them lose weight as well!

Again you could take the initiative by playing the game for your kids at first, and since kids like to emulate adults, they would soon mimic you!

3. Let the chair be filled with music: Okay, I mean musical chairs! This is a very well known game but very few people know that it could be used to make your kids lose the fat belly immediately! The game is pretty simple: just get several hula hoops and chairs and put them all close to each other. Let the music begin!

The kids are supposed to walk in a big circle around the hoops or chairs as soon as the music begins. Immediately after music stops, the kids must jump fast into the hula hoops or the chairs; if anyone is unable to jump on the chair in time, he is sent back to the cheering section. Before the start of the next round of the game, you should take away one chair from the group!

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An Absolutely Fantastic Method to Keep Your Kids Slim!

April 13, 2009 by Frances Norah Smith  
Filed under Weight Loss

We all know that the only method to keep our kids from getting any fatter is by making them eat healthy fruits and vegetables as well as forcing them to stay away from junk foods. However, any parent knows that it is easier said than done! After all, which kid would want to give up on the tasty junk foods for the sake of fruits and vegetables! Well, good news is that there is a little trick which works wonders in this case! In this article I will talk about that little-known but useful trick!

The trick is that of hiding healthy foods in the guise of ‘comfort’ foods. How about a spinach burger, or a ’soft drink’ made up of just plain water with a tad of sugar and a pint of natural lemon or mango flavor? How about using margarine instead of butter for the purpose of cooking those delicious and yummy popcorn balls? There are plenty of ingenious ways you can use to make your kids eat healthy foods without much fuss!

Now, there are certain things to remember here:

1. First of all, contrary to what many parents believe, there is nothing unethical about tricking your kids into eating healthy foods; the only ‘bad’ thing which is going to happen as a result of this trick is that your child would be more and more addicted to healthy foods and his addiction towards junk foods would automatically diminish over time!

Most of the organic fruits and vegetables out there are rich in fiber, among other nutrients! Hence these foods help keep your kids full for a long time, and consequently, their appetite for junk foods is killed!

2. Secondly, while it is true that this method only works for young children, it is also true that if you make them accustomed to healthy foods right from their infancy, it would be easier for them to incorporate healthy eating habits later in life, and when that happens, you won’t really need to trick them anymore by offering healthy foods camouflaged as junk foods! Remember that habits, good or bad, are adopted by human beings right from a very young age!

3. Thirdly, in the quest of making our children eat healthy foods, we must not lose sight of the foods they may be allergic too! Milk may be good for the growth of kids, but many kids are lactose intolerant and as such, cannot digest milk properly! The only way is to offer skimmed or ‘fat-free’ milk instead!

Also there are many kids who are allergic even to the innocuous potatoes! If your kid dislikes potatoes no matter how you cook them, then there is more to it than its bland taste. However if your kid seems to prefer potato chips in place of roasted or steamed potatoes, then it is just an unhealthy food choice which needs to be taken care of. Granted that potatoes are high on carbs, but still, steamed potatoes are lower on calorie content than potato chips; plus your kids need carbs anyway!

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3 Palate Training Tips to Ensure Your Kids Avoid Weight Gain!

April 12, 2009 by Frances Norah Smith  
Filed under Weight Loss

If you thought your kids have acquired their junk food eating habits from peers, you may not be wholly true! Habits start quite early in the life of a human, and if your kid is taught the benefits of healthy eating right from infancy, they are less likely to indulge in junk food eating out of peer pressure, if at all, than otherwise! A formula which works very well in this case is palate training.

Contrary to its name, this formula is pretty simple and straightforward, in that it doesn’t require any expert knowledge on your part! It was invented by two members of the Good Food Village Trust, Louise Rutten and Mitzy Wilson! Palate training is all about training the tastebuds of your kids in such a way that they start loving natural and healthy foods much more than those yummy fast foods! So let’s get right on it as to how to start training the palates of your kids!

1. Let them appreciate natural foods: Your kids would eat organic foods only when they love them! From quite an early age, you should teach your children that beets or carrots don’t taste awful! Conventional preaching doesn’t work too well in case of kids for whom, seeing is believing.

So you could go a bit further, peel off a carrot and let your kid lick it with his tongue or chop it off and ask him to put a piece on one side of his mouth and keep it there for a few moments to enjoy the taste. Such small and gradual steps would make your kid addicted to carrots! In fact, you can use this formula for any food you want your kids to eat!

2. Don’t encourage bad habits at home: While it is true that you don’t have absolute control over what your kid eats when he is out of home, you could still control his eating habits in a number of approaches.

Here is an example. When he goes to school, pack his lunch box with healthy fruits and vegetables. If your kid doesn’t eat it at school, make him eat the same at home. It is still possible that your kid may have a bite of pizza or hamburger at school or a sip of soft drink at a friend’s party! However, they won’t get addicted to them if you don’t allow those foods at home, since a kid needs to eat a particular food at least 14-15 for him to get addicted to it!

3. Walk the talk: It is easy to preach the benefits of healthy eating to your kids but do YOU follow your own advice? Remember that kids have a tendency to emulate the adults, particularly their parents, and if they catch you enjoying a packet of chips on a lazy Saturday evening, why would they be contented with a carrot or cabbage? If you wish to inculcate good eating habits in your kids, you need to adopt them yourself first!

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3 Lists of Negative Calorie Foods for Free-Burn Fat Rapidly with Them!

April 11, 2009 by Frances Norah Smith  
Filed under Weight Loss

The concept of losing weight by consuming negative calorie foods might stump you, but trust me, it is not as complicated as you think! Truth is, with any food your body needs to expend its stored energy to digest it before it can give back some energy to the body! Compared to ordinary foods, the so-called ‘negative calorie foods’ consume more energy from your body to digest themselves than what they supply to the body.

As a result, a calorie deficit occurs which in turn forces your body to burn your existing fat deposits so as to make up for this deficit, thereby helping you lose weight! It is really a simple concept, but the tough part is identifying the negative calorie foods.

Fortunately, you won’t have to import negative calorie foods from Mars; in fact, you may already be eating negative calorie foods without being aware of it. In order to help you decide the best negative calorie foods for fast weight loss, I would offer you a free list of the negative calorie foods I highly recommend to all my clients.

1. The A-List: Those good old red apples maybe high on calorie, but they won’t make you fat as long as you consume them in moderate quantities. You would notice that regular apple consumption is recommended by doctors and nutritionists alike, and there is a good reason behind it!

Other foods in this category are asparagus and apricots. For your information, apricots taste great when eaten together with cereals; as a matter of fact, I consume them both for my daily breakfast!

2. The B-List:

My lunch is never complete without a can of blackberries. Blackberries are rich in antioxidants as well as fiber. Don’t forget beets too; they are not only rich in fiber but also Vitamin A. Thus, beets are extremely good for your eyesight! Broccoli is yet another of my favorite foods; I usually have steamed broccoli for dinner, but you can have it whenever way you wish!

Though relatively unknown, buffalo fish is yet another negative calorie food that I highly suggest!

3. The C-List: Whenever I have beets, I also make sure to include carrots in it. You would notice that eating either beets or carrots alone could be a bit boring, but combine the two and the result is fantastic! Beets and carrots are ideal mates for each other; you can have them either in raw or steamed form.

Crabs are eaten by many people but not many are aware of the fact it is also a negative calorie food! You can also add cabbage and cauliflowers to this list!

I could go on and on as there are many more negative calories foods than what I have mentioned here, but if I want to keep this article from turning into a boring novel, I need to stop right now. If you require more food suggestions, they are already available online for free!

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3 Step-by-Step Meal Plans For the Fans of FatLoss4Idiots!

April 11, 2009 by Frances Norah Smith  
Filed under Weight Loss

With due respect to the huge number of articles written on the benefits of calorie shifting, I just wished that the authors of those articles had also taken the time to offer a few easy-go-recipes for the followers of the diet. Regardless, I am going to fill that need with my article! If you have been searching for some good recipes that go well with the concept of calorie shifting, you would be able to find them and more from this article!

For the sake of argument, I am making a few assumptions here, the first of them being that you are quite familiar with the concept of calorie shifting method of dieting. I am also assuming that you are a member of the FatLoss4Idiots diet program, which follows the philosophy of calorie shifting diet. Now if those two assumptions are true, then you are going to profit tremendously from this article. I will offer you a 3-day meal plan based on the dietary requirements of FatLoss4Idiots.

For your information, these meal plans are only for the non-vegetarians; I cannot mention the vegetarian diet here, as it would mean infringing on the copyright of FatLoss4Idiots. If you require the vegetarian version of these meals, you can access that from within their membership area.

Also, note that you are free to consume these meals in any way and order you wish, the only exception being the meal plan of second day. Furthermore, if you don’t want to eat a particular food suggested in the meal plan, you are free to do that as well. These meal plans are as flexible as they should be, so that you can enjoy your meals and lose weight at the same time!

1. Meal Plan for First day:

Your first day should consist of the following meals:

Meal A-

I) Mixture of vegetables in steamed form: When you are starting the diet, I would recommend that you eat a bowl of steamed vegetables. You can have any number of vegetables you wish in the mix. If however, you choose to eat them fried, make sure you use as little oil as possible; I would also suggest the use of olive oil over your regular fatty oil.

II) Slices of roasted beef and hard boiled eggs: It is important to start building your lean muscle mass right from day one, as more lean muscles means speedier fat burning and a stronger and flatter body! Increasing your protein intake is a great way to build strong muscles, and good news is that both lean beef and eggs are rich in protein content!

Meal B-

Your second meal would consist of eggs, this time in scrambled form. Additionally, you should also consume broiled sea bass.

Meal C-

For the third meal, I suggest sausage links along with cottage cheese.

Meal D-

For the fourth meal, broiled orange roughy along with tuna salad would make a fabulous combo, and if you add a few pears to the mix (in fresh form of course), you cannot help but explain ‘Wow!’

2. Meal Plan for Second day:

You could have the following meals on second day:

Meal A-

For the first meal, you should eat nothing except a deli meat sandwich. To make this sandwich, you should only use the following ingredients:

-Any kind of meat that fits the deli style, such as turkey, ham, roasted beef, etc.

-2 Medium-sized sandwich breads

-Optionally, you can also add onions, tomatoes and lettuce to the mix

Meal B to D-

Your next three meals should consist of nothing but fruits. You are however free to choose any fruits from the following: peaches, pears, plums, oranges, apples, kiwis, strawberries, grapes, grapefruit, etc.

3. Meal Plan for Third day:

If you are bored of the fruit-only meals of the previous day, the meals of the third are as delicious as they could be!

Meal A-

You can start your day off with shrimps (one of my favorite foods by the way) as well as Pastrami in sliced form.

Meal B-

For the second meal, nothing could be better than having lean chicken meat. Along with chicken, you should also have the macadamia nuts, as they are rich in unsaturated fats!

Meal C-

Did I say that the third day has some interesting foods in store for you! For your third meals, you can have both cheese and turkey, although in sliced form. Along with that you can also have banana milk shake (trust me, it tastes fantastic!).

Meal D-

With this fourth meal, you would be back to square one. Remember that when you started dieting I recommended hard-boiled eggs and slices of roasted beef for your first meal! Well, you can have them again for this fourth meal. That completes the dieting cycle!

Even the best laid out meal plans could appear to be boring after sometime, which is why I highly recommend that you use the diet generator software that comes free with your FatLoss4Idiots membership! This tool would generate awesome meal plans based on your food choices.

A diet program that lets you eat what YOU want- can anything be better than that!

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