Sunday 11 November 2012

Diet Misconception


Do not give into Misconception but tread cautiously to cut through Weight Loss Confusion.

Why people keep changing every other diet plan hoping to find the ultimate plan?  Is it due to the fact that no diet plan lives up to their expectation or it is their misconceptions?  If you examine with great care, you will be filled with wonder at something unexpected.  With a few notably rare exceptions, it is not the diet plan which has failed them, but, it is their list of common misconceptions which have failed them.  It would be quite interesting and amazing to discuss a few of them to educate and inform us about the usual food and drink of a person and their beneficial effects on the body, health and hygiene.

To start with, you need patience before seeing tangible results, but, many people have misconceptions about diet plans for fast and rapid weight loss results.  But, you need to remember that often there are no quick and magical results; patience and an open mind are important.  Just as you gain weight slowly but steadily over a period of time, you should lose weight naturally and surely.  But, contrary to this a lot of people tend to give up before seeing results, when in most cases diet plans are in fact effective. Though a lot of plans available in market are not up to your expectation, with full of misguidance and false boasting, still plans like Medifast Diet are really of worthy of their declaration and genuineness.

When you talk of fat burning diets and losing weight, you are inclined to believe that burning fat is the same as losing weight.  As such, you end up in the mix up and forget that even if you think you are overweight, it doesn't mean that you have high amounts of fat in your body.  There can be people who weigh just fine but have high amounts of body fats and are prone to suffer from weight related health problems.  Hence, the sooner you accept the fact that burning fat is different from losing weight, the happier and healthier you live. 

Another common misconception is regarding the goal of most diet programs.  Most of the people suffering from overweight have a preconceived idea regarding diet solution programs that they are undoubtedly for weight loss.  But, the goal of most diet programs is for you to lose your body fats without losing weight.  That is why; many get discouraged too easily in the middle of course and move on to another diet plan without checking facts properly that the plan has already started showing results. 

Most of the time, overweight people suffer from acute impatience and want to see results as quickly as possible.  They assume that gradually and progressively diet solution programs will give them faster results.  But, they often forget the basic principles of fat burning; losing body fats and attaining the desired weight may take months or even years. While some overenthusiastic diet solution programs may promise results in as little as 30 or 45 days, it doesn't mean that you will achieve the ideal weight instantly.  In fact, fat burning process can be a long drawn one.

In most cases, people have difficulties understanding the very word ‘dieting.’ For them dieting means depriving themselves of something they want. This is a common misconception.  In simple words; dieting means selecting from a number of possible alternatives of foods you want your body to convert into simpler chemical compounds that can be absorbed and assimilated by the body, as by chemical and muscular action in the alimentary canal to use for energy to obtain the desired results you are after.  Therefore, to be successful you must set your goal and straighten your path of glory.  Never get carried away by the stories that since a certain diet program worked for some, the same program will also work for you.  Since, diet plans work differently on different body types and metabolic rates, most diet programs are created for a certain body types.  Tread cautiously to cut through weight loss confusion. 

Sunday 28 October 2012

Obesity: The Great Epidemic


Obesity is a condition of body wherein your body, at different spots acquires excessive fat deposits, in contravention to your weight. The spots can be arms, thighs, waist and the hips. With such a condition the body appears deformed. Being over-weight is commonly perceived as being obese. The medical standards lay out a chart that indicates the ideal or healthy range of weight for a given range of varying heights. Anything beyond the measures can be termed as condition of obesity. The usual term in use is BMI – Body Mass Index. BMI is the body weight divided by the height in meter squared. While a BMI of 25 and over is considered being over-weight, a BMI of 30 and over is being obese.

Till around the 60s, only 13% of the population was obese. Now not only 2/3s of the American adults are overweight but one in three of the Americans are obese. World over, the number of obese has doubled by the time of writing this article. In other words the disease has touched epidemic proportions. Treatment of the condition is not easy. Usually it takes 4 to 5 different experts practicing in different fields to analyze and consult each individual’s case and arrive at a mutual decision for the most likely prescription. If it didn’t work to the team’s expectations, they have to repeat the analysis to devise another prescription. Hence the treatment tends to be way too expensive. 

Most often than not people having lost some weight tend to gain it back in course of time. If long term maintenance of the lost weight can be assured, it promises to bring in significant improvement in heart conditions as well as diabetes and blood pressure and numerous chronic diseases. The other distressing health conditions include breast cancer, endometrial cancer, colon cancer, respiratory troubles, sleep apnea, gynecological problems, high cholesterol & Triglyceride, liver & gallbladder malfunction, coronary heart conditions etc. One can easily imagine the quantum of risk that we carry with ourselves and the strain it puts on the health system.

From around mid 60s, the obesity rates began shooting, mostly in developed countries affecting the affluent class. Later the affluent public in the less developed countries also began to acquire obesity. Then as high on calories, fast processed foods began making inroads and became available easily, it began affecting the less privileged class in the developed countries who would grab anything to suppress the hunger during their tight work schedules and who have little or no time for exercises or availability of safe space in their neighborhood. It is the middle aged public who is afflicted of this disease in the low-income countries, who can usually afford to buy such high calories fast foods and have little to offer nutrition. But food intake also treats different cultures and body shapes around the world differently. Korea, Japan are examples where the same food may not cause obesity at such alarming rates. Also females tend to gain weight swifter than the males.

There are various causes of obesity. There is an abundance of food of all kinds; we eat more often than during the 20s and 30s. So, passive consumption of food is widely prevalent. Time has brought development and that has brought more supply, enhanced taste, more food processing, more energy laden food, high on fat and carbohydrates, less in cost, technologically advanced transportation and distribution systems and marketing strategies. In contrast to the 20s, 30s and 40s, there are more malls and therefore more food courts; consequently ease of availability at any time of day or week. These trends are the main drivers in the US and the UK for gain in average weight of the public at large. These strategies then traveled overseas to the developing nations, obviously spreading it.

So the real causes of obesity can be attributed to sedentary life styles, high fat, high energy food intake and behavioral factors. When we are stressed out or depressed we reach out for comfort food, as we call it. Despite being not really hungry we consume such food items and our brain tricks us into achieving relief from such conditions. A size-able adult population in the Americas consumes anti-depressants and it is not difficult to imagine that half of such people are over prescribed. Anti-depressants are known to cause side effects in the form of unusual weight gain.

Only a widespread awareness about this lethal disease together with measures needs to go out to the masses to bring it into control. And to start with, why not adopt Medifast Diet that offers you a lot of weightloss tips that will inspire and guide you in the path of a healthy lifestyle.