What you need to keep in mind...


Reality Speaking - If you weigh more than you would like, it is because you ate more food calories than you used. It is also likely, those extra pounds accumulated over many months or years.

The secret to losing weight and keeping it off is that you must control your hunger, or more specifically, the amount of calories that you consume. Any diet that leaves you hungry will not work in the long-term. Hunger is a survival instinct and a very powerful one. A successful long-term diet must deal with hunger.

Therefore, to lose weight, you must eat. This will mean eating differently than you do now and will also mean changing your eating habits.

To control hunger and eat fewer calories you need to find less calorie dense foods. The object is to eat more but eat fewer calories. This means eating fewer processed foods and more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. For example, one average 6 oz. Apple contains 80 calories and just 2 ounces of cheddar cheese has 225 calories.

Listed below are a few tips you may find useful. Experiment. Find out what will work for you.

A diet can cause shortages of important nutrients, take a good quality supplement to maintain good health and energy levels.

- Eat less fat.

- Eat water rich foods.

- Never eat when you are not hungry. Before you eat ask yourself; Am I truly hungry.

- If you are hungry, have a glass of water. If still hungry in 20 minutes, eat.

- Decide how much you are going to eat before you start. If you are still hungry when you finish, wait 20 minutes. If still hungry, decide again how much you are going to eat.

- Drink more water, often you think you are hungry when in fact you are thirsty.

- Soups are filling, tasty and healthy. Stay away from creamed soups.

- Eat very slowly and enjoy.

- Exercise will reduce you hunger and stress. TAKE A WALK.

- Don’t deprive yourself. If you really like a food, plan for it and eat it in combination with a more healthy food. Example: have a slice of pizza with a vegetable.

- Eat fruit 20 minutes before a main meal to reduce appetite.

- Eat to live. Don’t live to eat.

- Write down the reasons you want to lose weight. Review and update it weekly.

- Set a long-term goal.

- Take note of how you feel after eating different types of food. Do you feel energetic, sleepy, full, constipated etc. Keep a diary.

- Plan ahead

- Pick a place at home and work that you will do all your eating. Do not eat in front of the TV or in your car.

- If you are going to a restaurant, decide ahead of time what you are going to eat. Stick to it.

- Teach yourself to like healthy foods and dislike unhealthy ones.

Protein - is what we are talking about.
Protein is a substance that is found predominantly in meats, fish, eggs, and other animal and (in low form) vegetable products. Protein is necessary component for muscle tissue and as a building component of cells. Protein repairs body cells, builds and repairs muscle bones, provides source of energy, and regulates many important metabolic processes in the body. No matter what any one says, you need protein to build healthy lean muscle tissue. If you work out in the gym or outdoors, if you are athletic person, you are most definitely use more energy and protein as a regular person. Not having enough protein in your system will cause your body to use your own protein stored in the form of muscle tissue and bones. Even if you eat like a normal person but you are performing more physical activities than the average will result in protein deficit.

Proteins consist of amino acids. Amino acids are linked together in long chains creating a single protein. Our body uses amino acids extracted from foods as building blocks in the process of building or restoring/repairing muscle proteins and energy-converting enzymes. Some amino acids, such as Glutamine, used for other beneficial effects like support of immune system, hormone release, or even brain chemistry regulation.There are 140 known types of amino acids, however; only 20 are used in the protein production. Some amino acids can be extracted from your body or made by your body and some are found only in some foods. In order to keep proper body functions running smoothly it is important to fill your diet with the following amino acids: methionine, lysine, tryptophan, leucine, valine, threonine, phenylalanine, and isoleucine.

How much protein do we need? There are many factors that make impossible to give one correct answer. Usually it is between .8 and 2 grams per pound of your body weight. However, not every form of protein digested the same. Some meats and other animal food, will not brake fully down in your stomach, leaving unbroken proteins behind (literally behind) instead of delivering it to your blood stream. The heavier your physical load throughout the day – the more protein your body needs to support your muscle system. If your goal is to put up some lean muscle tissue then obviously there is a need to increase your protein intake (to 3 grams of protein per pound of your weight) if you whish to see the results in this century.

These days there are several kinds of protein available on the market.

Whey Protein Isolate – is one of the best sources of branched-chain amino acids. These are important to athletes as they are metabolized directly into muscle tissue unlike other amino acids that are metabolized into the liver. This kind of protein is usually supply high percentage of protein in the amount of 90% or more. Isolate protein is filtered to remove almost all the cars and fats from the final product. Whey Protein Isolate considered to be a rapid absorption protein and used by many athletes for supplemental muscle building purposes.

Whey Protein Concentrate – highly used protein among the athletes due to the fact that is usually less expensive that Isolate. Whey Protein Concentrate usually contains less protein amount than Isolate (between 75 and 80%), however, it still delivers value protein with minimum amount of carbohydrates and fats.

According to FDA Whey Protein Concentrate should follow the following standards:

Protein Content

Dry Whey Protein Concentrate shall contain not less than 25 percent or more than 89.9 percent protein. Note: The percent of protein shall be declared on the label of the package. The percent protein may be the actual percent protein in the product or may be declared in 5 % increments (expressed as multiples of 5), provided the declared percent protein is not greater than the actual protein content. Milkfat. Dry Whey Protein Concentrate shall contain not more than 10 percent milkfat. Moisture.Dry Whey Protein Concentrate shall contain not more than 5.0 percent moisture.The USDA Specifications for Dry Whey Protein Concentrate includes Dry Whey Protein Concentrate containing 25 % to 89.9 % protein.

Whey Blends - are protein powders that made of combination of protein isolates, protein concentrates, and other proteins like casein, egg, and possibly soy to create a "time release" or "sustained release" combination. Using this technique the final product contains both kinds of proteins – rapid release and slow release for combined benefit.

Nighttime Blends – are protein blends that are specifically designed for nighttime release. These proteins contain slow release/absorption proteins that are timed for 8 hours of sleep process during which they timely feed muscle tissues and prevent catabolism (muscle breakdown). It is essential product for serious athletes and also beginners with a heavy load.

Egg Proteins – Eggs are a powerhouse food- packed full of natural proteins, vitamins, minerals and other essential elements required for a complete and balanced diet. Altogether, each Large egg provides a total of 6.25 grams of high-quality, complete protein. For this reason, the egg is classified with meat in the food categories. One egg = 1 ounce of lean meat, fish or poultry. A Large egg provides 10 to 13% of the Daily Reference Value for protein and varying amounts of many other nutrients. In addition to the 9 essential amino acids, there are 9 other amino acids in an egg. The human diet must regularly supply protein which contains all of the essential amino acids. The egg boasts them all: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptoOphan and valine. They are present in a pattern that matches very closely the pattern the body need, so the egg is often the measuring stick by which other protein foods are measured.

Soy Proteins – according to FDA “diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that include 25 grams of soy protein a day may reduce the risk of heart disease.” Even though Whey protein have been predominant choice of many athletes, soy protein remain popular due to its dietarian benefits.

In 1999, FDA released the following statement in regards to Soy Protein (that statement not only added popularity to Soy Proteins among athletes, but also attracted many health consciousness people to use of this product):

FDA APPROVES NEW HEALTH CLAIM FOR SOY PROTEIN AND CORONARY HEART DISEASE

On October 26, 1999, the FDA will authorize use of health claims about the role of soy protein in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) on labeling of foods containing soy protein. This final rule is based on the FDA' conclusion that foods containing soy protein included in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of CHD by lowering blood cholesterol levels. Coronary heart disease, one of the most common and serious forms of cardiovascular disease, is a major public health concern because it causes more deaths in the U.S. than any other disease. Risk factors for CHD include high total cholesterol levels and high levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. This new health claim is based on evidence that including soy protein in a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may also help to reduce the risk of CHD. Recent clinical trials have shown that consumption of soy protein compared to other proteins such as those from milk or meat, can lower total and LDL-cholesterol levels. Foods that may be eligible for the health claim include soy beverages, tofu, tempeh, soy-based meat alternatives, and possibly some baked goods. Foods that carry the claim must also meet the requirements for low fat, low saturated fat, and low cholesterol content except the foods made with the whole soybean may also qualify for the health claim if they contain no fat in addition to that present in the whole soybean. Scientific studies show that 25 grams of soy protein daily in the diet is needed to show a significant cholesterol lowering effect. In order to qualify for this health claim, a food must contain at least 6.25 grams of soy protein per serving, the amount that is one-fourth of the effective level of 25 grams per day. Because soy protein can be added to a variety of foods, it is possible for consumers to eat foods containing soy protein at all three meals and for snacks