The Fascinating Link Between Walnuts and Weight Loss
Is there a link between Walnuts and Weight Loss? The answer is yes. You might also want to ask, can a fatty acid really help you reduce your weight? Well, let’s find out in the next few paragraphs!
The following are the fascinating links between walnuts and weight loss:
Have omega 3 fatty acids
Well, you must know that there are studies that have revealed that not having enough of this essential fatty acid can actually inhibit weight loss. And this essential fatty acid also promotes blood circulation which leads to the enhancement of the fat burning ability as there is increased blood flow to the muscles.
Walnuts benefits include omega 3 fatty acids which provide our body with a wide range of health benefits. Firstly, they are known for their cardioprotective properties. Omega 3 fatty acids prevent our heart from beating erratically, thereby providing sufficient blood circulation and oxygenation to other systems of our body.
Prevent unnecessary clotting
Omega 3 fatty acids are known to prevent unnecessary clotting of the blood inside the arteries. Traveling blood clot or embolus is the most common cause of cardiac attacks in the world.
Also, these essential fatty acids are known to improve blood cholesterol levels by lowering down the LDL (low-density lipoprotein), which is bad cholesterol and by raising the levels of HDL (high-density lipoprotein) or the good cholesterol.
Low levels of LDL means the decreased risk for developing arterial plaques that lead to atherosclerosis. Diabetic individuals can also benefit from the healthful walnuts benefits. A study published in Diabetes Care shows that diabetics who include a daily ounce of walnuts in their diet showed significant improvements in the cholesterol profile.
Improve your health
The walnut tree is regarded as the oldest tree food so it’s not surprising that there are many walnuts benefits for your health. This fact is supported by the archeological discovery of petrified walnut shells. Using carbon dating technology, archeologists were able to date back the walnut shells 8,000 years ago during the Neolithic period.
Roman history also indicated that the walnut is the Royal Nut of their god, Jove, indicating a long and interesting history of walnuts benefits. Originally from Persia, the walnuts were brought into the United States by the Franciscan Monks in the early 1800s and were grown in Central California.
As a matter of fact, ninety-nine percent of the commercial English walnuts supplied in the U.S. today are produced in Central California. Central California is also the major supplier of English walnuts (65%) in the world.
Walnuts benefits may seem hard to obtain because they are hard nuts to crack, but they’re the kind of nuts worth cracking. They are hard on the outside, but they are definitely yummy on the inside. And what makes them even yummier is the fact that the hard nutshell swathes a kernel that’s packed with the essential nutrients needed by our body to function well.
Have higher levels of fats
Generally, nuts have higher levels of fats. A 1/4 cup of walnuts contains approximately 16.30 grams of fat. Nevertheless, don’t fuss. Although walnuts are high in fats, only 1.53 grams of the total fat are saturated fat and the rest are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.
One of the walnuts benefits is they are excellent sources of Omega 3 fatty acids. Quarter-Cup walnuts provide approximately 94.58% of Omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated essential fatty acids, in the sense that they can’t be produced by our body, which is why we get them from dietary sources like walnuts.
Not only is omega 3 beneficial for the heart, but it can also be good for our brain, another walnuts benefits. If you take a good look at a walnut, what do you see? You may see that it resembles like a wrinkled brain right? Well, nature didn’t do that to a walnut just for nothing. It was made that way to remind us that walnuts are excellent “brain foods”.
Did you know that 60% of our brain is made up of structural fats? Yes, fats. And in order for our brain to perform its cognitive functions normally, it needs all the essential fats it can get, in this case, Omega 3, from dietary food sources like walnuts. Also, did you know that walnuts benefits stemming from omega 3’s may help prevent neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease?
Sources of protein
If you are worried that walnuts are high in fat, then you should not worry so much because they mostly contain good fats, primarily the omega 3 fatty acids. These good fats are known to help lower the bad cholesterol in the body so do not feel too guilty in having to consume much of the dishes that contain walnuts. It is also important to note that walnuts are also known to be better sources of omega 3 acids since they contain more of this good element compared to other types of nuts.
Reduce the risks of heart disease
There have also been a lot of studies that indicate that walnuts should also be included in the diet of a person who wants to reduce the risks of heart disease. This is because blood vessel elasticity is improved, thus, helping avoid plaque accumulation in the blood vessels.
Although these pieces of evidence show how useful omega 3 is to weight loss people should put emphasis that this essential fatty acid is needed for the body to be healthy. It is true that omega 3 and weight loss are linked but this essential fatty acid can also help reduce heart disease and lower cholesterol.
Contain a substantial amount of calories
Walnuts also contain a substantial amount of calories. This can be very helpful to those who are underweight. They can try including walnuts in their routine diet as it will help them get the required amount of calories. As for those who want to decrease their caloric intake, taking walnuts in moderation is fine.
Conclusion
Walnuts can be eaten as snacks and get you revved up if you want a quick but not messy snack. You can easily buy packages of walnuts and can easily bring them in your bag or purse. Aside from eating walnuts as is, they are also great additions to dishes.
How To Snack Smarter When You’re Watching Your Portions
Eating snacks can be quite tricky, especially if you’re not used to controlling portions, not just with meals but also with snacks. Oftentimes, it’s easy to lose track and overeat on healthy snacks. But it’s not something you can’t fix with smarter ways of eating. Listed below are the 8 tips you can follow for smarter and more controlled snacking habits.
Avoid Liquid Snacks
Whether you like it or not, fruit drinks or any mixed drinks for snacks won’t make you feel full. They may be right portions but finishing it in one gulp or two can really make you grab for another which is bad. The only liquid you should be drinking often is water and only water.
As much as possible, snacks should be in solid form. Not only do they make you chew, but they also make you feel full much quicker. Just take your time eating and drink plenty of water. After all, crunchy snacks make you feel a little more full than soft ones.
Never Eat While Multi-Tasking
Just like how you eat popcorn in the movies, you just can’t stop eating until it’s all gone; and when it is, you might even grab some from your seatmate, if they’ve still got some left. All the action and talking gets you in a trance that you aren’t so conscious about just how much you’ve already eaten. And that’s really bad.
Now, this can be a problem for you when you’re watching your portions. There’s a high tendency for you to overeat when you’re watching a movie or doing something else that grabs most of your attention because you unconsciously pop one after the other. So it’s better to eat with focus or not at all. It’s better if you eat before or after you watch that new action movie.
Get a Smaller Bowl
Now, this might seem a little weird but it definitely works. Think about a bowl so small, you just force everything to fit inside it. When you’re watching your portions, a small bowl can help it make look like it’s already a lot; but in reality, it’s just the right amount. With smaller bowls, you first start to trick your mind that you have more than enough for your meal.
Smaller bowls also don’t tempt you to add more just to fill it in because you simply have no more space. A smaller bowl and a huge amount of discipline will definitely help you control your portions. After all, they’re snacks and not meals, so they’d most probably be more appropriate for bowls.
Choose Chewables
Not those vitamins you hear on TV or see on ads, but snacks that make you chew and chew non-stop until it gets finished. But not just that, you need to thoroughly chew your food. According to lots of studies, chewing much more slowly helps trick your brain that you’re full.
The best chewables that lets you chew thoroughly are nuts, namely almonds, cashews, and peanuts, crunchy vegetables like celery, fruits like apple, and kale chips. These kinds of snacks have that crunch to keep you chewing until they’re fine bits and piece. What a great way to trick your brain while enjoying a good crunch.
Get that Fiber
If you’re the type who gets hungry easily, you should definitely have fiber in your snacks. One study showed that having fiber as snacks also helped them lose weight. People also felt fuller with these type of snacks. Additionally, your bowel movements are also better. Win-win, right?
Perfect examples of high-fiber snacks are oatmeal, sweet potatoes, kale chips, prunes, bananas, apples, mangoes, and strawberries. Vegetables like broccoli, beets, carrots, and spinach are also great sources of fiber. Beans and legumes are also a great source of fiber. Nuts, too, are also rich in fiber. Mix and match these foods for a vibrant-colored snack.
Stick to Your Eating Schedule
There are just those times where you start to feel like you’re hungry. But are you really? A key to a successful diet is to stick with your eating schedule. If you eat way too early or way too late after the scheduled time, the tendency is you’re not going to follow your portions or even your diet.
To avoid this kind of mess, you can set up alarms to remind you that’s it’s snack time. When you feel like eating earlier than that, try to fight off the urge. This develops into a good habit that’s pretty hard to resist in the long run. Just remember that discipline will get you somewhere.
Go for Combo Snacks
Just a bit of everything can be overwhelming enough to make you feel full. A mix of a few proteins like almonds and peanuts with two or three pieces of crackers finished off with a few grapes can be a well-balanced yet diverse snack that could also be fun.
The differences in texture and sizes of these snacks can be a joy ride for your palate each snack time. You can also try mixing up high-low combinations like a good portion of avocado plus some kale or sweet potato chips can do the job. Regardless of what combination you choose, mixing the different foods relative to your portions will also keep your snacks interesting.
Rest Up
It may seem like this isn’t connected to smarter snacking but it is. In fact, it has a significant effect on your snacking habits. If you lack rest, you’re most likely to eat more than you should; ruining your diet, altogether. You can either have a higher tendency to eat more during unusual times or not eat at all. Lack of sleep also leads to lack of appetite because you’re just more focused on when you can get a good night’s sleep.
Lack of sleep can also give you stress that ultimately leads to stress-eating. You trick yourself into thinking you deserve more food than more sleep. So as much as possible get more hours of sleep than calories. You don’t want to ruin your diet and your sleeping patterns, right?
Conclusion
All of these tips all require one thing: discipline. Regardless if you’ve followed all these tips, you still need to be disciplined enough to watch over what you eat and how much you’ve been eating. Good habits for good health.
The Ketogenic Diet popularly known as Keto diet is known to be one of the best ways to lose excess fats from the body. It has proven to work out for most people, but this doesn’t mean that it is meant for everyone. Before beginning the Keto diet, you should consult either your nutritional doctor or health practitioner on whether you are fit to be on a keto diet or not.
This will save you the impending health disaster waiting to happen as soon as you embark on the diet. Below are some of the 9 reasons that signify that keto diet is not for you.
1. If you are a pregnant mother
Pregnant mothers are often required to have enough calories both for their sake and the sake of their babies. This means that you cannot be on keto simply because the main aim of the diet is to reduce your calorie intake so that your body may undergo ketosis. You should make sure that you avoid the diet and continue your calorie intake. A normal weight woman is required to consume about 1,800 calories, and yet a ketogenic diet requires you to consume only 20g to 25g. This is little than the stipulated amount. It may thus end up causing problems with your pregnancy.
2. In case you have an eating disorder
When dealing with a ketogenic diet, one of the most important factors is to maintain your food quantities. This means that you will be on a strict diet which includes cutting out too many carbs as well as eating a specific amount of proteins. Your fat intake should also be monitored closely so that you don’t end up eating excess or fewer fats. The worst part about the keto diet if you have eating disorders is that you may end up eating more than you should thus increasing your weight or you may eat less than required and stop ketosis.
3. Once you discover you don’t eat meat.
If you know you don’t consume meat either because you are a vegetarian or a vegan, then you should not attempt keto diet. This is because you will have a problem along the way. Most foods in the ketogenic diet contain meat. This means that you will have to consume a lot of both red and white meat to survive ketosis and reduce weight. If you start excluding meat from your ketogenic diet, then you will be cutting off a huge part of the most important macronutrients needed for ketosis. This will start having an impact on your health after a while.
4. If you have a high insulin level in your body.
Every human body has two very vital hormones. This is the insulin hormone and the glucose hormone. It is important that you maintain their levels without compromise. This is why if you realize you have high insulin in your body, you should stay away from the Keto diet. A ketogenic diet will worsen your condition since it often raises the levels of insulin by minimizing that of glucose. High level of insulin often leads to obesity and other health diseases that can turn severe.
5. Once you discover you have low fats.
Having adequate fat in your body is very important for a number of processes. High fat rate, on the other hand, tends to increase your chances of developing heart disease and high blood pressure. You should thus make sure that you have the right amount of fats in your body before you begin your keto diet. Make sure you consult your medical doctor about your body’s fat rate and if it is low, keep off the keto diet.
6. Those who are used to high-intensity workout.
Exercising while on the keto diet is highly recommended. This is because you not only get to lose your weight but also shape your body. What is not recommended is getting involved in a high-intensity workout which requires too much energy. This will require you to let go of the diet for your body to be able to adjust and function optimally.
7. Menstruating women.
The last thing your body needs while on a keto diet is stressful conditions. This is because they tend to cause either hormone imbalance or trigger a certain health problem. Menstruating women are categorized to be undergoing a stressful and normal biological process meaning that they are not required to be on a keto diet at any point of the process.
8. Individuals who have insomnia or sleeping problems.
One of the main requirements for your body to undergo ketosis is adequate rest which is mostly characterized by sleeping. This makes the body to work optimally while burning the excess fats. This means that if you have sleeping disorders, you will not be able to have enough rest during ketosis. This will end up reducing your chances of having safe ketosis and burning fats at a good rate. You should thus keep off the keto diet.
9. If you are breastfeeding.
Just like Pregnant women, lactating mothers also require all nutrients in the body for them to undergo a safe lactation period. Remember that the nutrients will be transferred to the baby via the milk and so if there are no adequate carbohydrates the baby might not have enough strength required to function optimally. A lactating mother should thus ensure that she maintains eating a balanced diet that doesn’t lack any nutrients especially any of the macros. Since the keto diet lacks carbohydrates, she should not have it.
Conclusion
As much as the ketogenic diet is one of the most effective ways of losing weight that is not harsh but natural, not everyone is cut out for it. The above groups of people have been known to be at risk if they undertake a keto diet. This is because their bodies are either undergoing a process that cannot handle the keto diet or are just generally don’t have the required components to allow them to initiate ketosis successfully. You are thus advised to check up with your medical doctor or fitness practitioners before you start a keto diet.
10 Cardio Kettlebell Workouts That Will Crush Calories
Kettlebells are similar to dumbbells used in fitness centers and boot camps for physical strength endurance training and other incredible workouts. They use explosive movements that stimulate abdominal contractions. So, while you are building stamina, you are also working out your abs. Here are 10 effective Cardio Kettlebell Workouts That Will Crush Calories
1. Kettlebell Cleans
To do cleans, first stand straight and space your legs out apart at about shoulder width. Rest your set of kettlebells in between your feet. Next, bend down slowly at an angle to pick up the bells using a backhand grip while at the same time ensuring your back is straight. Raise the bells explosively by going to a standing position and pulling them up, and then around your shoulders. Finally, perform the reverse motion to place the balls down.
2. Kettlebell Squats
Place your bells on the floor directly in front of you, and slightly within shoulder width. Using a forehand grip, bend down with your back straight and grip the bells, slowly pulling them up and around your shoulders. Make sure at this point the bells are at chest level. The actual exercise is to squat down and up with the bells at that position and height. The key thing is to ensure your back is straight at all times.
3. Kettlebell Swings
To do kettlebell swings, put just one bell on the floor directly in front of your right hand. Pick the bell up normally with a forehand grip and go into a standing position, holding your bell in between your legs and below your groin. Swing the ball back behind and under your legs with your right-hand firm on the grip and your left hand grabbing it slightly for support.
As the momentum swings the bell back up, use your force to push the bell higher to your chest level, keeping your hands straight while doing so. Follow the momentum and swing the kettlebell back down and under your legs, this time switching hands.
4. Kettlebell Jerk
This involves exercising one arm separately. Stand straight and spread your feet up to the length of your shoulder. With one arm, lift a kettlebell gradually up to the level of your ear. Raise it once more until it reaches your head and then squat. All the way, make sure that the arm and hand in motion correspond to the body. Make the last jerk and repeat the procedure.
5. Kettlebell Overhead Press
Pick up your kettlebell and bring it into the rack position, close to your body ensuring that your wrist stays straight and that the bell is resting in the ‘V’ made by your forearm and bicep. Brace down hard through your core, (think that someone is about to punch you in the stomach), squeeze the kettlebell handle as hard as you can and drive the kettlebell overhead.
During the press, you will rotate your hand so that in the top position your palm will be facing away from your body. At the top make sure that you lock out the elbow and that your shoulder is locked down and back. The kettlebell can be directly over the shoulder, or slightly behind, but not in front of the body. From here you need to keep your core braced, and reverse the movement and hand rotation coming back to the rack position.
6. Kettlebell Renegade Rows
With the regular 1 arm kettlebell row where you have one leg on the bench, renegade rows and their variations require you to use your entire core to keep your lower back straight and stable.
7. Kettlebell rack position
Start in the rack position, the same as mentioned above for the overhead press. You will need to brace your core like never before on this exercise, squeeze the KB handle tight and then start your descent.
8. Kettlebell Hard Style Breathing
This type of breathing is done when you use powerful and explosive movements while using kettlebells. During the exercise, you breathe in while swinging the kettlebell between your knees and breathe out when you use an explosive movement of your hip to swing it back to your chest height. This type of hard breathing is used to improve the power of movement.
9. Kettlebell Soft Style Breathing
Soft style of breathing is done while performing the classic style of kettlebell exercise. You do not use explosive movements while performing this exercise. Hence, it requires you to exhale while you swing the kettlebell down between your legs and inhale while you swing back the kettlebell to your chest height.
As your lungs get compressed during this downward movement, you exhale and when you swing back to your standing position, you inhale. So, this type of breathing matches your movement. It is better to use a lighter kettlebell for improving strength endurance while doing soft style breathing.
10. Boot camps using kettlebells
At a boot camp, you are encouraged to use kettlebells for burning calories, increasing movement and increasing endurance. As the exercises are performed in the open here, you feel more motivated. Also, at boot camps, all the exercises are done in groups. So, you feel inspired by your peers and strive to put in your best effort.
Trainers in a boot camp motivate you to use kettlebells for flexibility. Since multiple muscle groups are used while performing kettlebell exercises, you are encouraged to do these workouts.
Conclusion
Above all, kettlebells give you something that you normally can’t get from most weight based routines – functional strength. Functional strength is defined as a strength that can be used in everyday situations, not just to show off one specific move. Bench pressing 200 lbs is very impressive, don’t get me wrong, but it only provides a limited range of motion for those muscles that you’re working on. Adjust the angle just a little bit and you’re back down to 50 or 75 lbs.
With kettlebells, the specific types of workouts give you a range of functional motion while you increase your strength. More importantly, each exercise brings a variety of muscle groups into the routine rather than isolating specific muscles. The result is that your body works better as a single unit, rather than a conglomeration of individual pieces that don’t fit in with one another. Simply put, kettlebells are the ultimate muscle maximizer exercises because they allow you to maximize every different type of strength without limiting your range of motion. This makes these perfect for athletes who need to focus on strengthening their entire body.
Lose Weight by Eating More Learn The Surprising Truth About Reverse Dieting
When you talk about eating more to lose weight, it seems to be an impossible thing. But the main idea of losing weight is the reduction of calories in our bodies. But some people prefer eating more so that they may gain a specific body physique.
Reverse dieting basically involves increasing calorie intake in a very small quantity. The purer fact is that an individual will attain their best body physique at a really slow rate. This is through an increase in calories intake with a steady loss of fats which eventually leads to loss of body weight. The more time you spend in eating should be utilized in a high intake of calories in a less quantitative and stable increment for metabolic repair.
When people hear of this term, they think that this kind of dieting will make them stay lean while eating a ton of food. Other think that hunger will past for them, hence, eating more food will be a good idea.
Competitors who are preparing for a stage follow ultra-restrictive diets. But after the completion, some struggle to maintain their ultra-fitness/lean physiques. As a result, the metabolism slows down and the body starts to burn fewer calories. Due to food being in abundance, when competitors stop dieting and embark on eating again there metabolism starts to burn calories at a slow rate. This is how our bodies are wired.
Reverse dieting hacks into the above problem to reduce chances of metabolic slow rate to individuals with a restrictive diet. A study shows that individuals with a long history in dieting are very poor in losing weight. It also proves that a good percentage of individuals nowadays gain weight as opposed to losing. For stable weight maintenance, there should be a slower transition out of restrictive dieting to maintenance mode.
How Does Reverse Dieting Work?
It primarily implies a slow addition of calories at the end of a diet while maintaining your physique without any fat increment. It’s just a slow increase of calories intake up to a certain normal maintenance level, while the protein intake is kept relatively constant. Hence fat loss is maintained as you get satisfied with calories intake per day.
Instant calories drop may lead to loss of testosterone in men while in women it may lead to loss of menstruation as per the study. Some dieters are troubled when trying to bring calories back to normal after a long period of slow intake. Try to add small and stable extra calories on the normal daily intake for a positive result. Hence at the end of everything an increase of about 20-40 percent should realize depending on how you want it to be. People should learn how they can achieve their calories level and at the same time maintain it.
Who is Fit for Reverse Dieting?
Individuals who wish to restore their metabolism rate back to normal after a long restricted low-calorie diet should get more benefit from this article. It’s also useful for those who are seeking to lose their weight with minimum engagement into physical activities like the gym. Those who prefer eating well and enjoy working out and at the same time maintain their flexibility should have the same advantage.
People with yo-yo dieting history are able to apply reverse dieting in order to fix their wonky metabolism. One can wish to increase the metabolic rate while eating a large volume of foods to maintain leanness. As a result, people get comfortable with what they eat and at the same time focusing on a better health regime.
It’s also fit for any individual who is involved in high training and has a feeling of fatigue and low energy during day time.
If you hate your diet and you have an all-time low motive then you are on the right track of achieving a long term solution for your health dreams.
ADVANTAGES OF REVERSE DIETING
Prevention of Yo-Yo dieting
A perfect calories increase plan is better adherence as compared to a sharp calories increase adjustments. Better nutrition adherence is also realized.
You Cannot Overshoot Maintenance
After a deficit, shooting back to maintenance seems to be a popular strategy. This seems to be working but in a real sense isn’t a better way of doing it. The major problem here is to use a graph to estimate maintenance whereby it doesn’t make any sense. Hence you will find yourself overestimating which may be dangerous to your health.
Estimation is highly discouraged. In fact, assessing hunger and progress will enable us to avoid overshoot maintenance.
Increases Your Metabolic Rate
Slow calories increase allows us to stay lean at the same time eating more food. Some metabolic parts are believed to change as we consume more food. For instance, spontaneous movements that increase calories surplus which makes us consume more food without gaining expected body fat amounts.
High Potential of Losing More Fat
You will lose more fat when you continue practicing reverse dieting.
DISADVANTAGES OF REVERSE DIETING
It’s a very slow process. This means that if your calories intake were cut back many weeks ago, maintenance to a required level may be a difficult task. This will theoretically mean that your diet will be prolonged when still in calories deficit. This can lead you to a miserable situation if you haven’t adapted to the situation.
It also requires rigorous tracking. Taking into account of every single calorie you take may be a tiresome job.
Your food cravings problems will not be well solved. If you previously had serious diet restrictions, then it will be harder for you to consume much of these calories. And for it to make an impact on you, you have to consume more calories.
Conclusion
In general, reverse dieting is the best schemer to adopt when it comes to fat gain prevention. Some level of patience should be observed when dealing with this kind of dieting. It has the ability to repair metabolisms which have been damaged as a result of chronic dieting.
