How to Build Healthy Eating Habits for Weight Loss

by iGrapez | Blog

How to Build Healthy Eating Habits for Weight Loss

For many people, losing weight is an uphill task. There are so many diets, programs, supplements, pills, exercises and what have you. Experts, however, say that weight loss is more of what you put into your body and how you utilize it. That is 80% of what you eat and 20% how you burn up what you eat.

From the numbers, we see that food is the more important part of the journey and that means that is where most of our emphasis should be. That means that we have to learn a lot about the different food types, the way our bodies react with the food and how to ensure that we find the right balance between foods that are good for us and foods that we like to eat. Many times, people who are trying to lose weight have the extra pounds because they are not eating right.

This is because many of the easily available options are not healthy and also because some people are biased towards healthy food because they think that it is boring. Most diets call for the removal of food and changing what one eats and eventually people start to feel deprived and cave in and revert to the routines that gained them the weight in the first place.

What does your body need?

Your body needs a balanced diet in order to run properly. A balanced diet is a meal comprising of all nutrients required by your body to perform at its best. These are carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, fats, and vitamins. These food groups should be taken in the right quantities if they are to serve us well. These are called calories, the amount of energy stored in a particular food. A deficiency or excess of one or the other may lead to an imbalance and even disease. There are also lots of foods with empty calories that provide little nutritional value.

In order to lose weight, we must know what foods to eat and in what portions. Let us now look at how to build healthy eating habits for weight loss.

1. Choose foods that are rich in nutrients.

Reduce the sugars and carbohydrates because they turn into fat in the body. Make room for healthy fats like those in avocado and olive oil as these aid in the weight loss process as several studies have found. Instead of using the carbohydrates in your body for fuel, the body will start to burn down the fat in the body instead and this will, in turn, lead to weight loss. Do not try to cut out both carbs and fats as this will just make you feel weak and cranky and cause you to give up on healthy eating at all.

Eating more protein makes you feel fuller for longer and therefore you eat less. Foods rich in protein include beef, fish, eggs, pork, and lamb. Fill up on foods rich in fibers and low carb vegetables like broccoli, kale, cabbage, and tomatoes as these help in burning fat especially in the stomach area.

2. Drink lots of water to aid your digestion.

Earlier we mentioned that deficiency in one nutrient can lead to an imbalance. Do not be afraid of a carbohydrate deficiency because you will still be able to get the nutrient from the stuff you are getting as the foods do not have just protein or vitamins but also carbohydrates but in limited quantities.

Make sure you eat whole or unprocessed foods as these are better for the body.

3. Prepare your own food

It is easier to choose healthy food when you make your own meals. Then you know exactly what has gone into your food and the calorie contents therein. Make a menu, write a list of the healthy food you are going to get and buy only that which is on the list. Experiment on different ways to make your food delicious but healthy, try out smoothies and juices for snacks instead of soda. Measure out your portions, know how many calories are in whatever you are preparing. As imagined, this might be a difficult task to achieve when you eat out at a restaurant. You can make an inventory of your meals as you go along, write it all down in a journal and this will help you track your progress. Research has shown that people who make their own meals eat approximately 200 calories less than those that eat out.

Tip: Do not go shopping on an empty stomach. This might force you to pick out unhealthy foods to satisfy a craving.

4. Do not reward yourself with food.

When we finish an exam, get a promotion, sign a huge contract, and feel lonely or disappointed we often treat ourselves to food to celebrate or make us feel better. That should stop. We should learn to disconnect food from emotions and break the cycle of emotional eating. There are plenty of other ways to reward or comfort yourself. Sign up for a new gym class, go watch a movie, buy a new pair of shoes, or go to an event with friends. Emotional eating may cause one to binge on unhealthy foods and that sets one back on their journey to weight loss or making healthy food choices. In the same way, mark every small milestone along your journey to keep you motivated, for example, you can buy a new pair of jeans when the old ones get loose.

5. Do not miss breakfast

Most people miss breakfast because they are always in a rush or do not have enough time to prepare the meals in the morning. However, after a good night’s rest, your body needs the energy to start the day and also to kick-start your metabolism. Breakfasts high in protein suppress your cravings and that limits the number of calories you consume per day. That can only be obtained from a meal at breakfast. It is therefore not wise to skip out on breakfast.

How to Use Yoga For Weight Loss

by iGrapez | Blog

How to Use Yoga For Weight Loss

Have you wondered if doing yoga will help you lose weight? While yoga can definitely help you become stronger and more flexible it should not be used primarily as a weight loss exercise. Some types of yoga may not raise your heart rate enough to burn enough calories to lose weight. Yoga can help in weight loss though, but how to Use Yoga For Weight Loss?

What do you need?

You just need to prepare your yoga mat. You can do this routine within three consecutive weeks or nearly a month or so unless you’re advised not to do so. Begin from the ‘main move’ in every exercise, but if you find it too difficult for you, then you can start with the ‘make it easier’ variation.

However, if it’s effortless or too easy for you to follow then you better try the ‘make it harder’ way. In order for you to achieve successful results, you can hold each and every pose for a minimum of 5 breaths or maximum of 8 breaths, then later on you can increase the number of times that you’ll repeat the pose. Do not as well forget the 5 One Minute Weight Loss Secrets, in order for you to come up with much better results.

Let’s discuss each of the moves.

1. What is the Main Move?

Main move (Crescent) includes the thighs, hips, and the abs. Relax and then stand with your feet together, while your toes are pointing forward. Once you are in that position, bend forward starting from your hips, and then bring both hands on to the floor. And then, you inhale. If you exhale you should step your one leg back into the lunge. Make sure that your knee is gently bent, like about 90 degrees. Also, it would be knee over ankle. Inhale with your arms raised overhead.

2. What is the ‘make it harder move’?

From your end position, inhale then arch torso with your head backward, looking at the fingertips.

3. What is the ‘make it easier’ move?

Lower your knee so as to touch the floor and as you step back to a lunge, rest your hands on your left thigh.

Why is Yoga better for losing weight?

One of the best reasons is the fact that it activates internal heat. Many people are doing yoga because they believe that this is one of the most well-known methods for losing weight, but this is far from what the truth is. Ancient yogis were creating heat inside their body instead of heating their caves. This is why yoga is very special because it has the power to create warmth. With the use of proper yoga poses, you can lose weight in a matter of 3 weeks or month, depending on how committed you are.

The heat created can burn fats and later on can be the best answer for losing weight. The yoga poses for weight loss can be done by anyone. It requires you to have focus and discipline. This is the reason why successful yogis have lean muscles and have excellent balancing capability.

Bikram Yoga

It provides cardiovascular workout which in fact is exercise-but in a relaxing manner. It doesn’t burn calories as rapid as the fast-paced, rigid workouts, but it does its work slowly and surely as long as you regularly follow the routine. Two of the most popular yoga types recommended for weight loss is Bikram Yoga.

These forms combine meditative yoga breathing techniques with fast, active movements. It also uses heat as an integral part of the exercises in helping you to sweat out the toxins.

The speed of the cardio takes a while to get used to. Nevertheless, it helps quickly deal with losing weight. Ashtanga Yoga exercise, on the other hand, uses a series of complicated yoga postures harmonized with breathing. This is more for those at the advanced level already. It produces internal heat that leads you to sweat out profusely, thereby detoxifying your body.

Essentially, the yoga postures encourage metabolism, calorie burning, respiratory balance, and as mentioned earlier, lowers stress. Not only does it help you lose weight, but it also keeps the weight off through continued practice. It also strengthens your muscles, tones your body, and, best of all, it forges a powerful connection between your mind and body. Yoga weight loss does not happen almost immediately though, you have to spend long hours following the routine to succeed.

Determination, patience, and self-control is a must for those who wish to want to try yoga. But before you do try, as a beginner, you must consult a yoga instructor or your health care provider first to help you determine which type of yoga will suit you best. From there, you can work up to the level that you would like to proceed with. All forms of yoga share one common goal: to balance your mind and body – increasing your self-awareness and providing you with a sense of calmness which will eventually guide you to practice restraint over cravings, anxiety, even depression, the usual causes of weight gain. Yoga is not a calling for everyone, but if you think it’s yours, then go ahead and start now. If nothing else, you’ll enjoy the certain relaxation.

Other yoga styles for weight loss:

Ashtanga:

Ashtanga yoga requires a very dedicated student and is a lot harder than some other forms of yoga. It is ideal for people to do at home

Power Yoga:

This form is very popular because of the cardiovascular benefits that can be gained.

Hot Yoga:

This is when you practice Vinyasa yoga but in a hot room. This will help you to sweat off some unwanted calories.

If you are overweight or out of shape remember to choose a beginner level class and work your way up. If you do not have a class near you, you can also find yoga instruction DVDs on the internet that can have you on your way to being a real yogi in no time.

8 Warning Signs You Have An Unhealthy Gut and How You Can Fix It

by iGrapez | Blog

Good gut health is essential for the good running of the body.

Actually, every system in the body is connected to the other.

When the gut is unhealthy, there is a high probability of experiencing stomach pain, bloating, gas, or diarrhea.

Gut imbalances also affect hormonal imbalances, depression, autoimmune diseases, eczema, diabetes, chronic fatigue, rosacea, fibromyalgia, anxiety, and other serious health problems.

The gut is the way to good health. 

GUT MICROBIOME

The gut microbiome refers to the microorganisms that live in your intestines.

On average a healthy person has about 300-500 diverse species of bacteria located in the digestive tract.

Most of these microorganisms are very beneficial and very necessary for a healthy body since they enhance your general immune system functioning and helping to combat obesity.

Here are the 8 Warning Signs For Unhealthy Gut and How You Can Fix It

Many problems we encounter in our modern life like high-stress levels, high sugar foods, too little sleep, taking antibiotics and eating processed foods can all destroy our gut microorganism.

They are hence affecting other aspects in our health like the brain, skin, heart, weight, immune system, nutrient absorbing rate, hormone levels, and even cancer development.

However, various signs may manifest in an unhealthy gut.

Some of the signs include:

1. Upsetting Stomach

Stomach disturbances such as constipation, gas, bloating, heartburn and diarrhea, can all be indicating an unhealthy gut.

A well-balanced gut has fewer difficulties in processing food as well as eliminating waste.

2. Sugary diets and Inflammations.

A diet containing processed foods and sugar additives can reduce the number of good bacteria working in your gut.

This causes imbalance leading to increased sugar cravings, that may destroy the gut further.

Taking high amounts of refined industrial sugars, mostly high-fructose, lead to increased inflammation in your body although other problems in the body might cause inflammation.

3. Uncontrolled Weight Changes

Losing or gaining weight without involving any changes to your exercise habit or diet may be signifying an unhealthy gut.

Having an imbalanced gut may impair the body’s nutrient absorption abilities, hence regulating fat storage and blood sugar.

Weight loss can be caused by the small intestine bacteria overgrowth(SIBO), during weight gain due to insulin resistance or overeating due to reduced nutrient absorption.

4. Sleep Disturbances.

Having an unhealthy gut can lead to sleep disturbances like insomnia.

Actually, the majority of the hormone serotonin, which affects sleep and mood, is produced in your gut.

Therefore, gut damage may affect your sleep.

Sleep disturbances can also be linked to the risk of fibromyalgia.

5. Irritation To the Skin.

Skin problems such as eczema can be attributed to an unhealthy gut.

Inflammations in the gut due to poor diet or specific food allergies can cause more absorption of certain proteins into the body, this, in turn, irritates the skin causing conditions like eczema.

6. Autoimmune Problems.

An unhealthy gut increases systemic inflammation that alters the excellent functioning of your immune system.

This results in autoimmune diseases, the body attacking itself instead of harmful pathogens.

7. Chronic Fatigue

This occurs due to reduced time to sleep and low nutrient absorption in the gut.

The problem leads to feeling generally weak.

8. Food Intolerances

The problem results from difficulties in digesting some foods.

The problem is somehow different from a food allergy that is caused by the immune system reactions towards certain foods.

However, food intolerance’s are believed to be caused by poor quality bacteria present in your gut.

The problem leads to difficulties in digesting foods as well as an unpleasant sign like gas, bloating, diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal pain.

Also, food allergies can lead to gut health problems.

However, the above gut problems can be alleviated by using healthy practices to maintain good health to the gut.

THINGS TO DO FOR A HEALTHY GUT:

Reduce Stress Levels.

Chronic levels of stress affect your general body health, including your gut.

It’s good to incorporate ways to reducing stress like meditation, walking, spending time with friends, getting a massage, diffusing essential oils, laughing, decreasing caffeine intake, yoga and having a pet.

Having Enough Sleep

Lack of Not enough or insufficient quality sleep may have severe effects on your gut, this, in turn, leads to complicated sleep issues.

Therefore, prioritize to getting some 7 to 8 hours of calm sleep each night.

Also, visit a doctor to help you in case you have sleep issues.

Eating Slowly

It’s good to chew your food well and eat your meals slowly to help in promoting full digestion as well as absorption of nutrients.

It helps you to reduce all digestive discomfort in order to have a healthy gut.

Stay Hydrated

Taking plenty of water is beneficial, especially to the mucosal lining in the intestines.

Hence, staying hydrated promotes a healthy gut.

Taking a Prebiotic and Probiotics.

Taking prebiotics and a probiotics supplement into the diet is a good way of improving your gut health.

The prebiotics provides nourishment for promoting proper growth of all beneficial bacteria in your gut, while the probiotics are right to live bacteria.

Individuals having bacterial overgrowth, like SIBO, are advised to exempt taking probiotics.

However, all probiotic supplements aren’t high quality.

Therefore, it’s best to visit your doctor when deciding on prebiotics and probiotic supplements to ensure good health benefits.

Food Intolerances Checking.

In case you have symptoms like cramping, bloating, diarrhea, abdominal pain, rashes, acid reflux, nausea, and fatigue, you might be having a food intolerance.

Therefore, you should try eliminating some common trigger foods to avoid the problem.

By identifying the food or foods leading to the symptoms, you will be sure of making a good change in the digestion process as well as your gut health.

This helps you to change your food habits.

Diet Changing.

It’s done by reducing the intake of processed foods, high-fat foods, and high-sugar to give a healthy gut.

Also, include in your eating routine a lot of plant-based foods.

The lean protein can impact positively in your gut if incorporated in your diet.

A high fiber diet is a good healthy gut.

Learn to maintain a healthy gut for a healthy general body.

8 Foods You Should Never, Ever Eat

by iGrapez | Blog

While there is a lot of truth to this saying, “You can eat what you want when you work hard all day,” it is not necessarily true.

A more appropriate saying is, “You are what you eat!” because it’s true.

You may be working out daily, doing plenty of cardio exercises, and drinking lots of water yet still gain weight and feel unhealthy.

If you’re not eating the right foods, progress is slower.

If you’re eating any of the eight foods on this list, you’re destroying your progress, and you need to change your habits.

We’re going to start with the most pervasive and favorite unhealthy food.

1.) Pizza

There are very few people on this planet who can deny that pizza is delicious.

The buttery bread, savory tomato sauce, and melted cheese make for a party in your mouth, every time.

Unfortunately, this party becomes a disaster by the time it hits your gut.

Though delicious, most store-bought or chain-delivered pizzas are ridiculously high in saturated fats and sodium.

A single slice of cheese pizza satisfies 50% of the average adult’s daily sodium limit.

At two slices in, you’ve nearly reached the recommended daily maximum for saturated fat.

You would have to eat nothing else during the day to keep from passing the nutritional limits and guidelines, and even then you would be doing your body a disservice.

Pizza doesn’t contain enough varied nutrients to compensate for it’s sugary, fatty, salty self.

2.) Fruit Juice

While fruit juices seem like a brilliant way to hydrate after a workout, do not be fooled!

Some fruit juices contain as much, if not more, sugar than soda.

A single cup of grape juice contains enough sugar to surpass the recommended allowance for women, and completely satisfy the daily quota for men!

Now while it is true that fruit juices contain vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to keep healthy, when you compare the number of nutrients to the amount of sugar, they don’t match up.

The small amounts of Vitamin C that most fruit juices contain cannot compete with the heaps of sugar that are also present.

As many of you know, high sugar intake can result in diabetes, liver problems, and a whole laundry list of related issues.

The bottom line?

The juice is delicious but unless you’re doing the juicing yourself, say no.

3.) Margarine

For decades margarine has been advertised and lauded as the “heart healthy” alternative to butter.

Because margarine is made from vegetable oils, it contains unsaturated fats which are better for you than saturated fats.

Butter, being made from animal fat, is chock-full of the “bad” fats.

So the choice seems easy, right?

It is until you start thinking about trans fats.

Some sticks of margarine are loaded with them.

Trans fats are one of the leading contributors to heart disease and coronary failure among American adults.

They function only to lower your HDL, the “good” cholesterol, and raise your LDL, the “bad” cholesterol.

Margarine should be avoided at all costs.

If you need butter, use butter.

Just be sure that you’re using a small amount.

4.) French Fries

Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, french fries are famous all over the world.

Unfortunately, they’re also one of the deadliest foods you can eat.

Consuming these oily, salty treats can significantly increase your mortality risk, doubling the chances that you will suffer from heart disease or diabetes.

There are many problems with fried potatoes.

Like margarine, french fries are high in trans fats.

And when overcooked, fries produce a chemical called acrylamide, which has been linked to instances of cancer.

In addition to this, potatoes are naturally a high-glycemic food, and foods of this nature tend to cause metabolic distress over time.

As they say in baseball, three strikes, you’re out.

5.) Candy

Every person on the face of the planet knows that candy is not healthy food.

Whether it’s a chocolate bar or a lollipop.

Chances are that the candy you like to eat is rotting your teeth and making you feel hungrier and unhappier.

Candy does not contain any viable nutrition and is typically mostly sugar.

As you know, consuming large quantities of sugar is addictive and can cause heart disease, and diabetes.

The calories you intake from sugar are the most fattening calories of any substance and positively the most dangerous.

Save your heart and save your pearly whites!

Stay away from candy.

6.) Processed Meats

Processed meat is meat that has undergone a preservation process, either by salting, smoking, curing or canning.

While this ensures that the meat takes longer to spoil, it also adds nitrites and nitrates.

These chemical compounds keep the meat red, improve the flavor, and prevent bacterial growth.

But they also have been linked to various cancers, including bowel cancer.

With the number of fresh meats available in most supermarkets today, it would be ridiculous to choose the one that might kill you.

7.) Processed Cheeses

As with processed meats, processed cheeses can kill.

Though they may claim to be “made from 100% natural dairy”, this does not mean that they are 100% dairy.

Most processed cheeses are so artificial that they are referred to as a “cheese product.”

Sprayable cheese, spreadable cheese, and string cheese are all examples of processed cheeses.

Saturated oils, sodium, sugar, preservatives, and emulsifiers are the most prevalent components to these false cheeses.

And each one of these components has a significant health risk associated with it, from diabetes and cancer to kidney disease.

Cheese is delicious, and real cheese is a great way to supplement your diet with some calcium while treating yourself to a little fat.

But processed cheese is chemical-rich and dangerous to eat.

8.) Fast Food

After a long day at work or the gym, it is easy to roll through a fast food joint, pick up some fried foods, and head home.

Don’t.

Fast food is the king of unhealthy food, containing merciless quantities of sodium, saturated fat, trans fats, cholesterol, and carbohydrates.

Eating it regularly is like buying a one-way ticket to the hospital.

High blood pressure, heart disease, acne, depression, dental problems, insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes are all likely consequences of eating fast food often.

If you’re looking for a way to prepare meals quickly, plan and prepare your food ahead of time, and freeze or refrigerate it until you’re ready to eat.

How to Lose Weight Fast for Teen Girls – 8 Steps

by iGrapez | Blog

How to Lose Weight Fast for Teen Girls – 8 Steps

The teenage years come with a lot of self-discovery, fun, and woes. From acne, angst, raging hormones, boy trouble, weight gain, peer pressure, parties, extended curfews to academics and extracurricular and even thinking seriously about career choices. It can either be the best time of your life or the more confusing or even a mixture of it all. You are halfway between child and adult and it is always a challenge deciding which side to lean towards more.

The last thing you want to be dealing with on top of everything is your weight. But this is a time when most girls are self-conscious and it is a great time for great habits to be born.

Studies have shown that obesity has become prevalent in teenagers especially in the US and the world health organization predicts that there will be more obese children and teenagers than starving ones by 2022. In the US alone 20.6% of the teenagers are obese or overweight.

It is pertinent that you do not become part of the statistics and the older one gets, the harder it is to get rid of the weight because the metabolism slows down and also, habits are harder to break. So what can a teenage girl do to lose weight?

1. Develop a healthy relationship with food

It is said that weight loss is 80% diet and only 20% exercise. Since food is an integral part of your weight loss journey, we are going to spend quite a bit of time on this part.

· Do not skip meals.

Have a healthy breakfast. Studies have demonstrated that missing meals can be counter-productive as your body holds on to any food it gets because it is trying to prepare for starvation. This may lead you to gain the weight you were trying to keep off. Skipping meals also makes you binge the next time you eat because you are hungrier than necessary and overeating leads to weight gain. What you should do instead is have regular meals but have reasonable portions. Do not eat more than you need to.

· Ditch junk food for healthier meals.

Have a balanced diet. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Balance out your nutrients. Junk food tends to have empty calories and it is highly addictive. You eat lots of food that is not helping your body except making you gain excessive weight. But if you eat healthier meals, you will feel more energetic and be healthier.

· Have healthy snacks.

Do away with processed foods and choose better options like fruit or healthy nuts. These might not seem very appetizing but you will be happy that you made the choice when you start to wear smaller sizes. Know what your body needs. Eat high fiber foods like kale because they keep you fuller for longer and so you do not eat unnecessary calories. Foods rich in calcium are needed because your body is still developing and you need strong bones and teeth. Meat, eggs, and spinach are rich in iron which helps oxygen flowing through your bloodstream.

It is very important to make the right food choices if you are to have sustainable results.

2. Get enough sleep

It is so tempting to stay up late watching your favorite shows, checking social media or even studying but do not underestimate the importance of sleep. When you do not get enough sleep, you often feel tired and lethargic and can be tempted to eat so as to increase your energy levels. Sleep deprivation also increases stress levels which leads to emotional eating. Sleeping lets your body rest and repair itself and this is important in regulating hormones and can be a vital part of your weight loss process.

3. Exercise

Do not have a sedentary lifestyle. Play a sport, take walks, go play in the park, go hiking with friends or family. Do not just lock yourself up in your room on your phone or on your computer. When the body is not active, it does not use up the extra energy which is then stored as fat.

4. Drink lots of water

Make water your best friend. It helps with digestion, helps in the fat burning process in your body and also clears your skin. Water after exercising revives you. Water, before you eat, helps you feel full faster so you eat less. Water improves your metabolism. So much to love about water.

5. Lose weight the right way

Avoid weight loss fads and diets like the plague. Do not rely on weight loss pills and other magic potions that promise quick weight loss. Diets restrict your nutrient intake, and nutrients are needed for your body to grow. The pills and supplements may not work and have been known to be dangerous. Fine, you might lose the weight but it will come back just as quickly as you gained it and even more. It is better to build a system that works and will stand the test of time. That is eating the right foods and exercise.

6. Do not develop disorders

Frustration, low self-esteem, and teasing can lead to one developing habits like eating too little, bulimia or use of laxatives. Do not let it get to that. If you feel you might be developing an eating disorder please get help. There are plenty of other healthier ways to help you get rid of the weight.

7. Soda is not your friend

Cut sugary stuff out of your diet. Soda may be too good to give up but for the sake of your health, limit its intake. Replace it with unsweetened tea or water. They are better options to keep you hydrated.

8. Go easy on yourself

Set realistic goals. Love yourself at whatever weight you are at. Make sure that your reasons to lose weight are genuine and not a means to an end. Do not do it because you want to love yourself. Or want to be happy. Be happy or love yourself regardless and therefore the journey will not be frustrating.

Also, do not deprive yourself of everything you love. Have a cheat day where you get to eat your favorite junk food or ice-cream. Keep it to once a week so that it feels more like a reward for all the healthy choices you made all week long.