Top Ten Superfoods for Weight Loss

Superfoods are considered to be superior to ordinary foods because of their high nutritional content and low fat content. These are the foods that have numerous phytonutrients and special compounds that can help promote weight loss.  However, as is true with all foods recommended to you for any purpose, make sure that it is on your allowed foods list in the Healthy & Active Metabolism program.  

1. Blue Green Algae

Blue Green Algae is a freeze-dried vegan product that is sold in capsules or a vial. It is harvested mostly from alpine lakes.

Blue Green Algae is a whole food. It contains the amino acid-profile of a complete protein and yet it is a vegan source. It balances blood sugar, lowers blood sugar and promotes intestinal regularity. This makes it ideal for dieters because they get all of the nutritional support that they need to sustain them for hours simply by taking a few capsules or drops.

2.   Eggs

Eggs are an amazing superfood for dieters. Each one has only 70 calories and is filled with nutrients such as vitamin E, calcium, B vitamins, zinc, iron, selenium, phosphorus, and iodine. In combination, these vitamins and mineral work together in your body to build a robust immune system, powerful bones, and strong muscles, while improving brain function and the health of your eyes. They also thyroid gland, which helps regulate metabolism and affects weight, needs iodine in order to function properly.

By providing the protein your body needs, people who eat them and then increase their activity through passive or active methods of exercising will boost their metabolic rate. In this way, eggs can help you lose weight in more than one way as well as provide building blocks for more muscle.

3.  Turkey

sliced roast turkey

Although 2 ounces of turkey contains only 110 calories, it is packed with phosphorus, selenium, B vitamins (including B6 and niacin), and zinc. Iron is important in red blood cell formation. Having low levels of iron can lower your energy levels and make you less likely to exercise. Selenium can improve the way your thyroid works and also works as an antioxidant. In addition to vitamins and minerals, turkey also contains omega-3 fatty acids, which are good fats.

You can eat turkey hot, cold or in a curry made with health enhancing vegetables and turmeric based curry.

4. Chilies

Chili is actually a term for any pepper that contains the compound capsaicin. Peppers, such as the cayenne, the jalapeno, and the habanero, all taste hot because of the capsaicin in them. However, it is also the reason chilies have weight loss and medicinal benefits.

Chilies reduce appetite, balance blood sugar and reduce the muscle and joint pain that could interfere with exercising.

Eating ½ - 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper each day can help you lose weight. For a kick to get you awake in the morning, mix together 2 cups tomato juice, ¼ cup lime juice, 1 cup orange juice, 4 dashes Tabasco sauce, and 2 level teaspoons of cayenne pepper. Pour in a glass and store the extra in the refrigerator.

5. Cinnamon

Cinnamon contains 11 vitamins and minerals. One teaspoon is a significant source of manganese and calcium. It can decrease the amount of LDL and triglycerides in the blood stream, which leads to a reduction in the overall blood stream cholesterol levels. It also will help you lower your blood pressure and decrease your risk heart problems.

Cinnamon can also help with regulating blood glucose levels by increasing muscle mass. Muscle tissue helps prevent the ups and downs during times of fasting and the times right after eating. Although this is beneficial for people with diabetes, it is also good for those who want to lose weight. It prevents cravings and decreases feelings of hunger.

In the morning, prepare your plain oatmeal and add ½ teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to it. Chop an apple or a banana and stir into it. Or add cinnamon and a sprinkle of sugar on top of your waffles instead of syrup. You can also add it to yogurt.

6. Dragon Fruit

Dragon Fruit is the fruit of a cactus and it is grown in Southeast Asia, Mexico, Central and South America, and Israel. Dragon Fruit is a beautiful large round rose-hip shaped fruit with a pink to red body and green and yellow tendrils on its side. When opened it reveals flesh studded with hundreds of very small seeds.  It is crunchy and tastes like a cross between a kiwi and a pear.

Dragon fruit is low in calories and offers numerous nutrients, including Vitamin C, phosphorus, calcium, and iron. fiber and antioxidants. The average Dragon Fruit contains about 15 grams of protein and 1 gram of fat. This makes it a very sustainable choice of dinner for dieters.

It is best cut in cubes and unearthed from the shell and served raw.

7. Rambutan

Rambutan comes from Indonesia and are like a large, apple-sized lychee covered with a skin with sharp brown spikes. They taste like a cross between a strawberry or a kiwi.

Rambutan is a vegan source of iron, supplying 40% of your daily needs as well as magnesium, manganese, potassium, zinc, vitamin A, riboflavin and thiamin. I tis excellent for weight loss as it is so rich in vitamin and minerals and yet so low in calories.  It is high in niacin which also good for increasing circulation and boosting the body’s ability to detoxify itself.

The Rambutan is best eaten raw and quickly as it does not keep for more than a week.

8. Watermelon

Watermelon contains about 92 percent water making it ideal for hydration. At the same time it is a diuretic that cleanses the body of fats and toxins. Watermelon is an excellent source of Vitamin C, A and betal-carotene.  It is also a concentrated source of lycopene, which has antioxidant properties.  It also helps relieve rheumatic pain that might be keeping you from exercising.

Watermelon can be eaten raw, frozen as a slush or as part of a smoothie.

9. Asparagus

Asparagus only has 4 calories per piece and is devoid of fat and cholesterol. It tastes salty but has almost no sodium. Asparagus spears are rich potassium, calcium, iron, fiber, folic acid (needed for healthy blood cells), thiamine, glutathione, vitamins A, C and K.  It is an excellent diuretic that can help you eliminate toxins from your body.

 It is tasty and you can eat a lot of it without gaining weight. You can eat it steamed, baked or broiled and you can serve it hot or cold.

10.  Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe is one of the best foods you can eat if you are insulin resistant. Women who eat cantaloupe have lower insulin resistance and thus are less likely to gain weight. This is also a hydrating fruit with plant of Vitamin C, Vitamin A and carotene.

Cantaloupe is best served raw and also delicious served up as a smoothie.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

How to Calculate Your Body Mass Index

The Body Mass Index or BMI as it is known in it short form is a calculation that estimates whether or not you are at a healthy weight.  This is important as being overweight puts a strain on your heart and can lead to health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, varicose veins, sleep apnea, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

How Does It Work?

Your BMI estimates how much you should weigh, based on your height. Here are the steps that are used to  calculate this formula:

• Multiply your weight in pounds by 703.
• Divide that answer by your height in inches.
• Divide that answer by your height in inches again.
• For example, a woman who weighs 270 pounds and is 68 inches tall has a BMI of 41.0.

The BMI is a set of standards known as the Body Mass Index Categories. The standards are stated as below.

BMI CATEGORY 

• Below 18.5    Underweight
• 18.5 - 24.9     Healthy
• 25.0 - 29.9     Overweight
• 30.0 - 39.9     Obese
• Over 40          Morbidly obese

Most experts conclude that a BMI greater than 30 (obesity) is unhealthy. The greater it is the more likely you are to develop a health production.

BMI may become important when it comes time to apply for health insurance. You can be denied health insurance if you have a BMI over 30.

Results or Effects

Calculating your BMI is usually an accurate way to determine whether or not you can lose weight. This is true unless you are very old, a child or a body builder.

The reason that the standard BMI calculations may not apply to body builders is because they usually have more muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. This throws the calculation off. Fitness experts and trainers have other ways of calculating body index mass for body builders.

The elderly are expected to have a BMI that is between 25 and 27 and not under 25. This is because being too thin is not a sign of health in the elderly. Having more BMI is an indication that their bones are not developing osteoporosis.

The BMI is not an appropriate tool to use estimate a child’s fitness. To make a correct assessment of a child’s BMI there are numerous factors to consider. That is why it is best to have a doctor decide whether or not your child has a health body mass index.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

 

Withdrawing From An Unhealthy Lifestyle

For some people changing their lifestyle can be very difficult. They can suffer from withdrawal symptoms from the old lifestyle on three levels: physical, mental and emotional.  Physical pains can come from some very real changes in biochemical processes in the body. Psychological pain can result if the bad habit was somehow protective of an inner vulnerability. Mental issues such as foggy thinking or memory loss can be the result of liver cleansing and the fatigue that can come with a body that is trying to repair and cleanse itself.

Common Withdrawal Symptoms

The good thing is these symptoms pass in just a couple of days.  Many people become cranky and lethargic.  It is very common to get headaches, foggy thinking and fatigued. If you are quitting caffeine or cigarettes, you could get constipated.

Some people have insufferable cravings for sugar when they go on one of these fasts.  Caffeine addicts can also have a hard time.  Both caffeine and sugar are really hard to withdraw from if you have been eating it any day.

If you are a steady drinker and you give up alcohol, you will likely experience the stress and anxiety that you were trying to blot out with your drinking.  If you are drinking to obliterate reality then you might see changing your habits as a chance to deal with your problems and traumas. 

Sometimes breaking a bad habit is not as bad as it seems especially when your start producing your own endorphins as the result of exercising more and eating right. This decreases your dependence on whatever it is you are addicted to in life whiter it be sugar, fat, salt, nicotine or alcohol.

Alcohol acts a lot like sugar does in the body and you may feel agitated if you don’t get your fix.  Giving up caffeine makes some people very moody and jittery.  Giving up gluten (breads and starches), however, sometimes gives some people an immediate relief from any irritable bowel type symptoms. Processed flours also act in the body much the same way sugar does.

Meatless Without Misery

Not eating meat can make some people feel quite lethargic as well. There are plenty of proteins and amino acids in plant-based food, without all the unhealthy fat and additives. However, if meat was the mainstay of your diet before the fast you may not feel that great and experience a lot of cravings until you get used to the idea of eating more alkaline foods.  Alkaline foods tend to be vegan whereas meats tend to be acidic in nature.

Not Everyone Has Symptoms

Some people do not have a hard time at all when they switch from an acidic to alkaline diet and almost everyone feels lighter and more energetic within a day or two of eliminating acidic foods from their diet and replacing them with more alkaline ones.

Be patient. Your physicality needs to have a chance to find its own natural balance.

After changing your diet from an acidic one to an alkaline one you are left with more balanced blood sugar and freedom from old addictions.  You will hopefully be onto a newer and healthier routine that includes the balancing of your blood sugar, weight loss and freedom from addictions.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.