Nutritional Support For Low-carb Dieters

The popularity of protein-based diets, which limit
carbohydrates, seems to be growing at an extraordinary rate.
These diets seem to promise dieters that they can eat all they
want and still lose weight. However, there is one condition;
the dieter must give up all carbohydrate-containing foods, which
includes bread, pasta, fruit, sweet corn, and potatoes. Because
more than half of Americans are overweight or obese, we all seem
to be looking for a weight loss program that works. There is no
doubt that the biggest appeal of the low-carb diets is the type
of foods you can eat. What is even more appealing is that your
eggs can be fried and your burgers can be grilled in grease and
topped with a thick slice of cheese because low-carb dieters can
eat three to four ounces of certain cheeses every day. However,
those on a low-carb diet can't have toast with their fried eggs
or a bun for their hamburger. Although certain types of
vegetables are allowed in a low-carb diet, the types and amounts
are very limited. Absolutely no fruits, potatoes, corn, peas,
rice, pastas, or bread is allowed, at least during the first
phases of low-carb diets. As more and more typical dieters
learn how to count calories, followers of low-carb diets learn
how to count their daily intake of carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates provide energy, fiber, and naturally occurring
sugars and the majority come from plants. According to their
structure, or how the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are linked
together, carbs are classified as either "complex" or "simple."
Simple carbs (sugars) are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream,
where they trigger a rise in blood sugar. This rise causes
insulin to be released from the pancreas, accelerating the
conversion of calories to fat. Excess blood sugar that is not
needed immediately is stored in the muscles and liver. Simple
carbs can be found in abundance in table sugar, candy, honey,
soft drinks, white bread, and highly refined cereals. Complex
carbs (starches) take much longer to break down. The fiber that
is found in complex carbs keeps sugars from entering the
bloodstream as quickly after a meal. Complex carbs are found in
fruit, vegetables, and whole grain breads and pastas.

Doctors believe that by restricting your intake of
carbohydrates, you focus your body on using stored fat as an
energy source. This makes the body less likely to store fat
when using it as its primary fuel. If you are reducing carbs,
you are also most likely reducing the total amount of calories
you consume each day.

Many healthcare professionals and researchers are concerned
with the potential health risks of a low-carb diet. Research
has shown that consuming large amounts of animal fat and protein
is linked with an increased risk for damage to the kidneys and
hearts, as well as an increased risk for cancer. One
consequence of burning fat instead of glucose for energy is the
development of ketosis, which normally occurs only during
starvation, but can also occur after removing carbohydrates from
the diet. Ketosis causes uric acid to build up in the blood,
leading to gout. Diets consisting mainly of protein,
cholesterol, and saturated fats, can also greatly increase the
risk of heart disease and can stress and damage the kidneys. A
recent study found that women eating diets that were high in
animal fat were at increased risk for breast cancer. Although
it is not harmful, excess ketones in the body can result in
quite bad breath.

If you do decide to follow a low-carb diet, there are several
nutritional supplements you should consider taking to keep you
healthy while you take off the weight. A daily multivitamin is
a must because you deprive yourself of essential vitamins and
minerals such as the B vitamins, calcium, and potassium, when
eliminating entire food groups. The B vitamins are
water-soluble and can't be stored, which means they have to be
taken more than once a day to maintain optimum nutrition. They
are essential for energy and your brain. Calcium and potassium,
which have many functions in the body, keep your heart, bones,
and kidneys healthy. You should look for a high quality
multiple that specially formulated for your age and gender.
Because you will be consuming primarily animal-based proteins
with a low-carb diet, supplemental digestive enzymes are needed
to maximize the breakdown and digestion of nutrients in these
foods. Without these enzymes, digestion cannot take place,
resulting in gas, bloating, and sub-optimal nutrient levels.
When limiting carb intake, you will increase your exposure to
cholesterol from animal-based foods. Phytosterols and
pantethine can help to minimize the absorption of cholesterol.
Research has proven that phytosterols work in the intestines to
block the absorption of cholesterol, while pantethine can
support reduced cholesterol production in the body. At least
600 mg of pantethine is needed each day before any significant
benefits will be reached. When the two are used together,
better cholesterol lowering benefits are provided, so look for
supplements containing both. Studies have shown that following
a low-carb diet and taking fish oil can lead to greater weight
loss and improved cholesterol and triglyceride levels than just
following a low fat diet without the supplemental oils. Fish
oil, which reduces homocysteine, total cholesterol, blood
pressure, and increases the "good" HDL cholesterol, should come
from cold water ocean fish that are free of toxins and
contaminants. Because our oceans have become more and more
polluted, so have our fish. Cheap fish sources can actually
cause more harm than good. The most effective and the safest
fish oil contain lemon and rosemary, which makes sure the oil
retains its natural stability. In order to lose weight, we must
increase our metabolism. The thyroid gland, which influences
our metabolic rate, can be "fed" with nutritional supplements
that are specifically formulated for thyroid function. These
include: vitamin B12, iodine from kelp, the minerals magnesium,
zinc, copper, manganese, and molybdenum, and thyroxin-free
thyroid substance. Be sure to drink at least eight glasses of
water each day. Stay active by walking the dog, running in the
park with your kids, taking the stairs to work, or any other
physical activity. Having an exercise buddy can make trips to
the gym a lot more fun. Make sure to set realistic goals for
yourself and don't expect to see overnight changes.

About The Author: More information can be found on the website
http://vitanetonline.com/ where advice on a wide range of low
carb Diet products can be found.

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Nutrition Intake - The Ideal Amount

Every human body has a certain need for valuable minerals and
compounds. In order to keep the body fit and in shape, it is
extremely important to consume the required amount of protein,
fat, carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables etc. The secret of how
much of these to consume is an ever-eluding health formula.

This article aims at providing an idea of how to determine the
exact amount of nutrition that is necessary for the body to stay
fit. In fact in today's fast paced world, where physical
exercise has otherwise decreased, workouts have become the order
of the day. The first step in any workout would be to regularize
the nutritional intake, which in itself will lead to noticeable
reduction in body fat.

The first important substance in human body is the protein. It
is relatively easy to determine the required protein content to
be consumed with every meal. A simple and universally accepted
formula for protein intake is that about 1.5 to 2 grams per
every pound of body weight must be taken. For instance, if your
body weight is 200 pounds, then the protein intake must be 300
grams per day. Depending on the number of meals one takes during
a day, the amount of protein per meal can be easily determined.
Foods such as cheese, milk, chicken and fish contain protein
necessary for the human body.

The next important substance is carbohydrate. It is slightly
more complicated to determine the needed carbohydrate intake.
One need to be careful in eating carbohydrates as too much of it
results in accumulated fat and too less makes the body very weak
and disease-prone. Generally, a person who wants to add to his
body mass can consume about 2 to 2.5 grams of carbohydrate per
pound of body weight. Therefore in our same example of a person
with 200 pounds body weight, about 400 to 500 grams of
carbohydrates is necessary. Potatoes, beans, bread, pasta,
oatmeal and pasta are staple carbohydrate foods.

As far as fruits are concerned, every serving contains about 20
to 25 grams of carbohydrates. However, it is not advisable to
consume more than this amount in one sitting. Fruits such as
orange, banana, apple, pear, strawberry etc can be consumed for
the right fruit intake.

The next dicey situation is to know how much of fat is right
for a person. Too much of fat may result in excess body weight
leading in turn to a spate of diseases. On the other hand less
fat will result in weakness and reduce one's testosterone level.
Then supplements would become necessary. There is no ideal
answer or formula to determine the exact fat content needed for
the human body. It would again depend on the kind of food
consumed. For instance, about 0.5 gram per pound of body weight
is enough for fish oil. Likewise, about 15 grams will be enough
for olives, eggs, nuts, salmon etc.

Remember the formulas for a healthier body!

About The Author: Chris McCombs is a personal fitness trainer
and you can learn more about him at http://www.socalworkout.com

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Do Nutritional Supplements Support Weight Loss?

The next best thing you can do to lose weight and keep it off, after choosing a healthy diet, and exercise is to plan a good supplement program. The foundation of a good supplement program should be based on a quality multi-mineral, multi-vitamin daily supplement.

The basic multi-mineral, multi-vitamin daily supplement will supply what your body needs under ordinary circumstances to meet your normal daily needs and prevent disease.

If you are ill, if you have a propensity for a certain problem, if you are trying to recover from a disease or illness of any sort, if you are preparing for an operation, or if you are recovering from operation, you should plan on augmenting the daily supplement with other specialized supplements.

Another serious problem with food is that it is less and less nutritious in terms of vitamin and mineral delivery. Recent studies suggest that vitamins and minerals delivered to the human body by fruits and vegetables may have declined as much as 30 - 40% since 1960!

The problem of poor mineral and vitamin content is even further exacerbated by the wide spread use of chemical fertilizers that bind micronutrients, such as zinc and selenium, in the soil.

This binding makes the micronutrients inaccessible to the plants (the plants cannot get the nutrients out of the soil) and therefore the mature vegetables or fruits are lacking both in major and micronutrients. A highly disproportionate amount of food has added sugars and/or artificial sweeteners.

Some of these are cancer causing in and of themselves being, as they typically are, petrochemical derivatives (artificial flavor usually means carcinogen), but even an innocent sweetener like white (or brown) sugar inactivates your white blood cells by a factor of 40 percent for up to three or four hours!

Imagine, your immune system is weak, then you drink some orange juice (most of it is phony sugar water) or some yogurt loaded with sweeteners (like glucose, sucrose, fructose, real sugar, etc.) and then for the next four or five hours your white cells are disabled (their effectiveness blocked by 40%) and they are unable to successfully defend your system against any attack.

The best general solution to this problem is to dramatically improve your eating habits. It is nearly impossible to do this in an intelligent way unless you take time to inform yourself about food and how to prepare food.

For example, the majority of cooks do not understand that heavy metals bleed from stainless-steel cookware (once its hard, smooth surface is scratched or damaged in any way) into the foods prepared in such pans. We personally prefer enamel pans for most uses.

I should also mention that some recent evidence suggests that the microwave may be one of the most dangerous machines ever invented from a health standpoint.

Since it tears the cells in food apart by intermittent vibration, it may cause you to consume an extraordinary amount of free radicals which will accelerate your aging, promote illness, and weaken your immune system.

If a microwave can give you cancer from standing close to it while it is on just imagine what it is doing to your food. If you want to heat something quickly just put it in your oven and broil it.

Your oven gets extremely hot on the broil setting, so it won't take much longer than a microwave. If you want to defrost something, plan ahead and defrost it in the refrigerator.

To protect your body and immune system, it is essential to stop eating suspect foods, prepared goods, and most foods that fall in the candy or snack category. For example ordinary crackers are almost universally made with hydrogenated oils and often, like bread, have added iron.

We suggest that you purchase and prepare foods for yourself such as eggs (fry or boil eggs, whole eggs; eggs have a balanced supply of lecithin and cholesterol naturally), poultry (bake a chicken, boil chicken breasts), beef (broil a steak, throw a roast in the crock pot.

And prepare fruit and vegetables. For instance, along with scrambled eggs I might saute a diced onion, a diced apple or two with one or two diced jalapenos in a bit of butter to serve with the eggs.

Use a whole cabbage to steam or saute, add onions and garlic for additional flavor. Obviously, we cannot tell you what to eat or how to prepare it, but it is imperative to get away from most prepared foods (in frozen or shelf boxes, cans, jars, and all foods that are in any way prepared.)

Even yogurt can be dangerous if not plain. The flavored yogurts are often made with petrochemical carcinogens such as color and flavor, and sweeteners that are deadly to the weakened immune system. If you want to flavor your yogurt, buy organic plain yogurt and put fresh fruit and/or granola into it. I feel a safe rule is not to eat anything that would not have been available on the table of your grandfather.

You would not have found bagged salads, which can stay fresh for a week or two, thanks to chemicals, on his table. If I want a salad I chop up some kale, collards, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and stir up some oil, lemon juice, and vinegar; that is a salad.

Something grown in California, chopped and bagged in Chicago, and shipped to your grocer by way of New York is not a salad but it is a lifeless food source.
Another important addition to the diet would be to go on a modified juice fast to help cleanse the body (and particularly the individual cells of the body).

This would be to juice singly, together, or in any combination cabbage, onions, garlic, carrots, apples, pears, peppers, celery, onions, kale, spinach, fruits, and similar foods and to consume only the juice and as much as you can tolerate.

As a rule of thumb, any supplement program you start on, make sure you are getting what you pay for. I highly recommend you find a natural supplement company, one that has a track record of quality, integrity, and understands the power of nature.

Good luck on your journey toward Health & Wellness!

Brue M. Baker, is an expert on natural health and fitness who has helped people from all across the country sky-rocket their health and well-being. Find out how you can get your hands on his weight loss products at: http://www.PerfectHealthShop.net

Nutrition for Lactating Women

Many already realize that nutrition for lactating women is
going to have different rules than their pregnancy diet
had. Because of the milk production process, the body needs
different fuels than it did before. And while nutrition for
lactating women might seem a bit much at first – remember
that you're not the only one that is going to benefit from
watching what you eat.

Eating Regularly is the Best Advice

The process of breastfeeding is one that requires a lot of
energy for mom. This means that as a mom, you will need to
eat three regular meals a day and two snacks to make sure
your body has enough fuel to produce the milk. Most experts
on nutrition for lactating women agree that choosing
balanced meals with plenty of nutrients is the best way to
ensure you're getting adequate vitamins and minerals.

But what you might not realize is that this will and should
add up to about 2700 calories a day. While this seems like
a lot when you feel like you should be losing weight, it's
actually what your body should be getting, plus an
additional 500 calories for the breastfeeding process.

This is simply not a time for dieting – there's plenty of
time later to try to lose weight. Right now you need to
focus on being healthy!

Drink It Up

Nutrition for lactating women also needs to include plenty
of beverages, like water. Since the process of
breastfeeding and lactating takes up more water to
complete, you need to be able to replenish your body's
stores and keep your energy up in this way.

If you should notice signs like a dry mouth or
constipation, these may be signs that you need to drink
more water. You should also realize that these symptoms are
quite common, and there's nothing to be worried about.

Keep up Those Vitamins

To further ensure that you're getting adequate nutrition,
you might want to keep taking those prenatal vitamins
you've been given. In terms of nutrition for lactating
women, this is a great way to fill in any gaps your diet
might leave. And if your doctor agrees that this is a good
step, why not keep up this good habit?

With the proper nutrition for lactating women, milk
production is much easier and more nutritious for your
growing child – and that adds up to a happy mom and child.

About the Author:

Michelle Van Otten is the founder and owner of Ultimate
Body Potential located in Los Gatos, Ca. UBP offers
personal training, fitness classes, outdoor fitness
bootcamps and much more. To learn more and sign up for lots
of free information please visit
http://www.ultimatebodypotential.com

Losing Weight Via Those Natural Nutritional Supplements

Many people become overwhelmed when in the process of reviewing all the weight loss supplements that are available to them. You will find many claims, both real and false, that are attributed to natural nutritional supplements.

There are many facts to keep in mind when attempting to lose weight by way of natural nutritional supplements. Some of those facts are as follows:

Many are fairly inexpensive and can be purchased over the counter. They do not require a doctors prescription.

Some have positive effects while others do not.

Some work for some people and others do not.

The general consensus by many people is that weight loss supplements work better with a proper dieting and exercise plan. Some are safer to use than others. Many of them cannot simply cause weight loss on their own.

Although permitted to be sold, the FDA does not approve most of weight loss supplements, which is a governmental agency that monitors the safety of drug and food use. They also permit various foods and supplements to be sold by pharmacists and to prescribe by doctors. Many weight loss and other nutritional supplements require a warning, which tells the buyer that this product has not undergone extensive FDA research yet.

The most dangerous, such as the weight loss supplements that contain the ingredient Ephedra, have been banned. The reason why is because this ingredient has been known to cause near fatalities and death in people.

Many of the most commonly used weight loss supplements have been known to have major and minor side effects such as vomiting, bloating, heart trouble, seizures, and/or death. The most dangerous ones include Ephedra (already banned in most forms), Country Mallow (contains ephedra), and Bitter Orange (an ephedra substitute but could possibly cause just as much damage).

Some dietary supplements are relatively safe but do not necessarily have enough evidence to support the claim of weight loss. Some also have not been studied for a long enough period of time to know what the long term effects of them are, or cause uncomfortable or minor side effects (bloating, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, indigestion, gastrointestinal problems).

The supplements that have one or more of the characteristics in described in above paragraph include the following: Guar Gum, Hoodia, Green Tea, Chronium, and Chitosan, and Conjugated Linoleic Acid.

It is likely that not everyone will have a negative experience with weight loss supplements. Not only that, but some will even swear by them, and others may not mind the minor side effects associated with some of them. If you want to take the risk, and you know enough about the particular supplement that you are using, there is a chance it could work for you.

Before attempting to use any weight loss supplement, however, just make sure you do the research on it and find out if it is safe enough for you to use. One place you can do research on various weight loss supplements is by searching the Internet. The best place to start is to look for articles on weight loss supplements at your favorite health channels.

You can also chat with your friends and ask opinions through online weight loss forums in order to gain further insight about weight loss supplements. Many weight loss supplements also have vitamins and other nutrients that are very healthy for you. The trick is to find the right combination that is also safe and effective for weight loss.

The worst place to find information about weight loss supplements is on biased websites that make extraordinary claims about rapid weight loss. Furthermore, though infomercials can get the word out about various products that can be useful to a person, these are also biased as well. Therefore, when you search for information, consider the source.

Often times you can find professionals on the Internet offering free advice for those who post questions. This is another great way to find out more about weight loss supplements. These professionals are often certified health professionals of some sort.

For best results, you may want to do research through a variety of sources. This will help you gain both the positive and negative aspects of any dietary supplements. That is true for pills, shakes, bars, and other nutritional foods also designed for weight loss. The more you know about a product before making a purchase the better.

For several years now, Jason has been reviewing hundreds of online products and services. Many consider his reviews to be very insightful and reliable. Visit his website http://www.dietandweightlossinfo.com