Ahad, 29 Julai 2007

Crash Diet: Don't Ever Try...!

Crash dieting is an extremely dangerous way to go about losing weight. It's not only may lead you to yo-yo dieting but a number of serious health problems too.

Some people those who need the slimming result in shorter period practicing crash diet regime. At last they found it were unhappy result! So before you decide to plunge into a crash diet, here are some facts that you need to know.


A crash diet is one of the most restrictive types of weight loss plans that you can follow. It involves drastically cutting back on the amount of calories and fat that you take in on a daily basis. Similar to a starvation diet, a crash diet is often paired with other weight loss "fixes," including extreme exercise routines and the use of diuretics or diet pills.

Practicing crash diet, you will probably notice that you do lose a significant amount of weight in the first week or so. However, this weight loss isn't true. This is because low-calorie diets cause the body to burn up excess glycogen, a type of glucose that absorbs excess fluid inside the body.

Many followers of crash diets even end up putting back on all of the weight they lost, along with additional pounds. This is known as the yo-yo diet effect.

In order to support all of the functions that your body performs on a daily basis, your body needs to burn a certain amount of calories. The rate at which your body burns calories is known as your metabolism.

As time running and you're taking lesser calories, your body actually adjusts its metabolism, so that it burns fewer calories in order to perform all of its necessary bodily functions.

At last, what's are the risks of crash diet?

- Yo-yo effect: You're body will takes fewer calories for you to gain weight, making it more and more likely that you will put on weight at the end of your diet.

-
Mental Health Problems: You may find yourself feeling more irritable or depressed than usual when you are on a crash diet. Crash diets can also set people up for serious mental health disorders, particularly eating disorders like anorecia and bulimia.

Nutritional Deficiency
Long-term crash dieting can result in serious nutritional deficiencies, as a result of eating a poor variety of foods. In particular, crash dieters are putting themselves at risk for:

  • iron deficiency anemia
  • vitamin B12 deficiency
  • potassium and sodium deficiency

Potassium and sodium are electrolytes that used by your body to ensure proper nerve and muscle function. They play a particularly important role in regulating the way that your heart beats. If potassium and sodium levels become low enough, you could suffer from a heart attack.

Avoid crash diet, loss weight by healthy way:

  • Don't cut back on calories too quickly. Instead, slowly reduce calories so that your body metabolism doesn't slow down.
  • Take care of your high fat food intake
  • Take more fruits, vegetables and other high fiber contain food
  • Replace your diaries with low fat milk or yogurt if possible
  • Take care of junk food and bottled drink intake as it was high calories
  • Take enought fresh / mineral water (6 ~ 8 glasses daily)
  • Make sure you get appropriate vitamin and mineral supplement

Ahad, 8 Julai 2007

Acne


Acne can be a real issue, especially for teenagers. However, often it isn't only teenagers that have the misfortune to develop acne. It is also possible for many adults to get it too.

Acne occurs when your body contains more toxics than your kidneys and bowels can remove. (Your kidneys and bowels are the two primary channels of elimination that your body expel toxics and waste products through.)

These toxics can be the accumulation of fat stored chemicals the liver can not wash out or there may be a problem with fat digestion, fat accumulation, food allergy, or even the accumulation of hormones that your body produces.

Once these toxics build up, your kidneys and bowels can get overloaded and clogged up, causing it to not function properly. When that happens some of the load will be dumped onto your liver. One of your liver's main roles is to metabolize pile up fat into usable energy for your body.

Acne Treatment

Acne can be treated, but it varies among individuals since each person has a different skin type. Acne treatment also depends on the severity of acne outbreaks.

Commonly, the mild form of acne occurring in most people does not leave scars, or if it does, the scars heal naturally over time. But people suffering from severe forms of acne such as Nodulo cystic acne might be left with deep acne scars in the skin. Proper precautions must be taken to prevent acne scar of the skin.

Different kinds of acne products and acne medications are now available in the internet. There are acne solutions that act as remedies for acne or as treatment for acne. All these acne cures available in the market today can treat acne, whether it's an adult acne or baby acne.

Topical retinoids (Retin-A, Differin and Tazorac, for example)are helpful for mild to severe acne especially when they are used early on combining with hormonal antibiotics,or benzoyl peroxide treatments. When you discontinue the antibiotics you can maintain clear skin with retinoids. Another way to treat your acne is with laser light. The doctor applies a chemical called aminole-v-vulinic acid and then exposed to a sunlump called Clearlight. You need two to four treatments to kill bacteria and keep skin clear for 5 months or up to 2 years.

Rabu, 4 Julai 2007

Tips Diet Dan Kawal Berat Badan


Mengurangkan dan mengekalkan berat badan ke / pada tahap ideal adalah dua perkara yang sangat saling berkaitan. Kedua-dua isu ini memerlukan anda merancang amalan permakanan (diet)harian secara sehat.

Diet yang baik adalah dengan menambah pengambilan makanan berserat selain mengurangkan pengambilan makanan berlemak. Lakukanlah amalan beriadah dan senaman ringkas secara berterusan.

Cuba amalkan tip-tip berikut:
1. Kurangkan makan daging merah dan lemak secara berlebihan.
2. Makan daging ayam, ikan, bijirin dan kekacang dengan lebih kerap.
3. Lebihkan makan buah-buahan segar dan sayur-sayuran kerana ia mengandungi serat.
4. Elakkan makanan bergoreng. Gantikan dengan menu yang dipanggang atau stim.
5. Gantikan susu penuh krim dengan susu rendah lemah atau yogurt.
6. Pilihlah roti kaya bijirin menggantikan roti putih biasa.
7. Kurangkan gula dalam minuman.
8. Elakkan kuih muih manis.
9. Elakkan minuman bergas dan berperisa kerana kandungan gula yang tinggi.
10.Minum air kosong / mineral secukupnya (antara 6 hingga 8 gelas sehari).
11.Pastikan anda mendapat vitamin dan mineral secukupnya agar anda kekal sehat dan cergas sepanjang hari.

Jumaat, 29 Jun 2007

Omega-3 And Heart Disease


Omega-3 fatty acids benefit the heart of healthy people, and those at high risk of — or who have — cardiovascular disease.

We recommend eating fish (particularly fatty fish) at least two times a week. Fish is a good source of protein and doesn’t have the high saturated fat that fatty meat products do. Fatty fish like mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon are high in two kinds of omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

We also recommend eating tofu and other forms of soybeans, canola, walnut and flaxseed, and their oils. These contain alpha-linolenic acid (LNA), which can become omega-3 fatty acid in the body. The extent of this modification is modest and controversial, however. More studies are needed to show a cause-and-effect relationship between alpha-linolenic acid and heart disease.


Summary of Recommendations for Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake

Patients without documented coronary heart disease (CHD): Eat a variety of (preferably fatty) fish at least twice a week. Include oils and foods rich in alpha-linolenic acid (flaxseed, canola and soybean oils; flaxseed and walnuts).

Patients with documented CHD
: Consume about 1 g of EPA+DHA per day, preferably from fatty fish. EPA+DHA in capsule form could be considered in consultation with the physician.

Patients who need to lower triglycerides: 2 to 4 grams of EPA+DHA per day provided as capsules under a physician’s care.

Patients taking more than 3 grams of omega-3 fatty acids from capsules should do so only under a physician’s care. High intakes could cause excessive bleeding in some people.

In 1996 the American Heart Association released its Science Advisory, “Fish Consumption, Fish Oil, Lipids and Coronary Heart Disease.” Since then important new findings have been reported about the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids on cardiovascular disease. These include evidence from randomized, controlled clinical trials. New information has emerged about how omega-3 fatty acids affect heart function (including antiarrhythmic effects), hemodynamics (cardiac mechanics) and arterial endothelial function.

The ways that omega-3 fatty acids reduce CVD risk are still being studied. However, research has shown that they

decrease risk of arrhythmias, which can lead to sudden cardiac death
decrease triglyceride levels
decrease growth rate of atherosclerotic plaque
lower blood pressure (slightly)

Epidemiologic and clinical trials have shown that omega-3 fatty acids reduce CVD incidence. Large-scale epidemiologic studies suggest that people at risk for coronary heart disease benefit from consuming omega-3 fatty acids from plants and marine sources.

The ideal amount to take isn’t clear. Evidence from prospective secondary prevention studies suggests that taking EPA+DHA ranging from 0.5 to 1.8 grams per day (either as fatty fish or supplements) significantly reduces deaths from heart disease and all causes. For alpha-linolenic acid, a total intake of 1.5–3 grams per day seems beneficial.

Randomized clinical trials have shown that omega-3 fatty acid supplements can reduce cardiovascular events (death, non-fatal heart attacks, non-fatal strokes). They can also slow the progression of atherosclerosis in coronary patients. However, more studies are needed to confirm and further define the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acid supplements for preventing a first or subsequent cardiovascular event. For example, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trials are needed to document the safety and efficacy of omega-3 fatty acid supplements in high-risk patients (those with type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension and smokers) and coronary patients on drug therapy. Mechanistic studies on their apparent effects on sudden death also are needed.

Increasing omega-3 fatty acid intake through foods is preferable. However, coronary artery disease patients may not be able to get enough omega-3 by diet alone. These people may want to talk to their doctor about taking a supplement. Supplements also could help people with high triglycerides, who need even larger doses. The availability of high-quality omega-3 fatty acid supplements, free of contaminants, is an important prerequisite to their use.

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Source: American Heart Association