Children and Adolescents die Before Their Parents

In the pre-video game era children watched TV for much shorter periods of time than they do today. Today's children and adolescents are glued to the TV playing their X-Box, Wii and PlayStations and watching their favourite TV shows for hours at a time. The unfortunate outcome of this addiction to the TV is the fat that builds up on these children. Their inactivity has caused this generation of children and adolescents to be so out of shape and fat that they have a shorter lifespan than their parents.

It has been proven that regular physical activity in children and adolescents promotes a healthy body weight and body composition.  If you are a parent or guardian make sure that your children and adolescents get out there and exercise. Staying tuned to a TV screen will harm their physical fitness and stunt their social skills.

Be Careful When You Exercise!

Exercise is vital when someone wants to drop body fat. Doing exercise correctly can make the difference to the success of a diet.  Often people who are fat and haven't exercised in a long while, just jump in and over do the exercise and quit. These people could get injured exercising because they weren't careful and then they quit because they have to "heal" their injury and meanwhile the fat still clings to their body.

Ease into an exercise program. A little bit of exercise done correctly is more beneficial  than to over do exercise and not do it again for 2 months. I found that cycling helped me to do aerobic exercise to burn fat and strengthen my heart. Cycling also helped me not to put too much strain on my hips and knees, the bike carried my weight.

When you exercise try not to reward yourself with a coffee or energy drink. These beverages contain caffeine and will dehydrate you.

The American Heart Association has a study that shows you can reduce your risk of heart disease through diet and exercise in as little a 3 weeks. Get out there and exercise. Be careful when you exercise but go out there and do it!

It's the small things that count! (part one)

When it comes to losing weight it truly is the small things that count. Think in reverse to really understand this concept. What small things did you do to get this fat?

• Did you eat until you were bloated or just until you were satisfied?

• Did you eat constantly throughout the day, or just had 3 or 5 small meals?

• Did you have desert after most meals, or once a day?

• Did you eat at fast food places everyday?

• Did you bring a lunch to work or did you eat out?

• Did you take the elevator instead of the stairs?

• Did you sit in front of the TV and eat?

• Did you go for a walk everyday or just watch TV?

• Did you pick fattening and sweet food over fresh healthy food?

• Instead of learning how to make your own food did you buy packaged and prepared food?

• Do you snack on chips and chocolate bars?

The wrong choices are endless but each small thing you do and did wrong added a pound to your dilemma. Life is like that, just a bunch of small choices that end up adding to one big problem. So what is the answer?  You could go on a starvation diet and lose the fat but just end up gaining it right back. Or you could do the small things that count to make a positive difference in weight loss.  Remember I said small things. Literally bite sized things.

The next few posts will cover some of the positive small things that count to help make you successful in losing the weight.  Stay tuned.

Eat Your Breakfast

Almost all diets out there will tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It fills you up, gets your metabolism going and stops the mid-morning munchie craze.

Be careful what you eat in the morning. If you load up with sugars then you'll have a sugar "drop" an hour or so later and start to crave food. That's why sugar laden cereals and pastries are not a good breakfast choice.

Surveys who asked fat people, "If you missed a meal which one would it be?" Almost all fat people who responded said they missed the breakfast meal. When missing breakfast the body then gets into the "hungry and starvation" mode and the eating starts mid-morning and continues until bedtime.

If you want to lose weight watch fat people's eating habits and run the other way!

Tips For Losing Fat

The following list has tips I've compiled from my research on losing fat. This list isn't comprehensive and I'm sure I'll add to it in the future.

• drink plenty of water
• exercise every day - this means do something more everyday than your regular routine requires
• walk everyday - ie. one hour if you're not doing any exercise
• have a big breakfast - helps kick start your fat burning metabolism
• try no to eat after 6 pm
• go to bed before 10 pm - going to sleep before midnight is healthy
• stay away from aspartame and sucralose
• no MSG
• take digestive enzymes - older people have less digestive enzymes
• do a candida, colon and liver cleanse
• stay away from diet sodas and diet food
• no fast food
• don't consume high fructose corn syrup
• no white cane sugar and white flour
• eat plenty of organic apples and grapefruits
• eat organic meat, fish and poultry
• use few dairy products if possible
• eat a big salad and lunch and dinner
• use spice and pepper in your diet
• take apple cider vinegar before meals - it helps digest food and pulls fat out of system
• practice deep breathing

This list is only partial and my next few blog posts will explain in more detail what is involved in accomplishing these tips.