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6 Things That Might Be Ruining Your Weight Loss Program

October 22nd, 2011 Comments off

So, you will know you have to reduce your calorie consumption and increase your exercise to lose weight. You’re doing all of these things, although not seeing any results. So, why do like this? Here is a list of some reasons that could be ruining unwanted weight loss program:

Stress. When you’re under a lot of stress, your body secrets a hormone called NPY. This hormone leads to the storage of fat, particularly in the stomach. This also affects the mind, making you think you’re hungrier. To avoid this, attempt to manage your stress as well as you can when staying on a diet.
Another thing that may affect your results is dehydration. If your is dehydrated, it’ll decelerate your metabolic process and retain fluids within your body. If you do not drink an adequate amount of water, your body will be attempting to hold in just as much water as it can. To prevent this, make sure you are drinking enough water every single day while you are in your diet.
If you recently quit smoking, you might see putting on weight. The reason behind this really is that smoking actually burns calories. So, whenever you quit smoking you will see a small putting on weight. This is because you’re losing slightly less calories per day.
You may be suffering from constipation. Chronic constipation can in fact result in obesity. It keeps toxins within your body. Also, it decelerates your metabolic process and makes your stomach feel bloated.
Age. As we grow older, we burn fewer calories. This is due to a decrease in our metabolic rate. Another thing that affects unwanted weight while you age is your body’s hormones. This is especially the case in menopausal women.
Another reason your diet might not be working, is you have tried too many different diets. Every time you go through a weight loss program, the body’s starts trying to restore your initial weight. This usually begins with intense feelings of hunger. Eventually your body gets accustomed to it, and also you lose that feeling of hunger. So if you stop that diet and start another one, you will start to believe hunger again. Every diet you decide to go on messes up your metabolism before you get to a point where you stand almost not able to lose fat, even if you try to starve yourself.

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Stress And Your Diet

October 22nd, 2011 Comments off

Would you go to the snack drawer when you get consumed with stress? For many people there’s a direct relationship between stress and the foods they eat. For many turning to snack foods in stressful situations is a method of comforting themselves, but what many don’t realize is the fact that what you are eating can also add to your stress.

Stress has more of a job with what we eat than many realize along with a great deal of overeating could be related to stress. One common substance that people ingest which may be associated with our stress levels is caffeine. Caffeine isn’t just present in coffee but is also in tea, soda and chocolate. Caffeine can add to your stress by elevating your heat beat along with your blood pressure level. Cutting out caffeine may help you reduce stress, but it is advised to cut back gradually to prevent suffering the harmful effects of withdrawal.

Many people turn to alcohol once they get stressed but alcohol can in fact increase stress. Alcohol could make the body produce adrenaline which could affect your sleep. Drinking alcohol will make you tense and can hinder your bodies defense mechanisms.

One common comfort food that many consumed with stress people use is sugar. Who hasn’t ripped open a candy bar following a stressful workday? While it may seem like this really is comforting you, it may can even make you are feeling more stressed. The reason being sugar can affect the adrenals be responsible for depression and irritability. Fatty foods work together with sugar and fat can strain the heart resulting in more stress on the body.

Typically people either turn to sugar or salt for snacks but eating salty foods isn’t any better on your system. Salt raises blood pressure and may cause you to feel out of control with your emotions. If you are already consumed with stress this could compound your emotions.

If you want to control stress, you should take a good look at what you are eating. Try eating a diet full of fruits, vegetables and whole foods. These food types will assist you to fight stress and are filled with nutrients that will help your state of health. In addition, maintaining a healthy diet won’t pack about the pounds thus allowing you to avoid the stress of putting on weight. In order to get all the nutrients, aim to consume the majority of your fruits and vegetables raw as some important vitamins and enzymes can be lost during cooking.

Can you be sure if your weight loss program is adding to your stress levels? Focus on any warning signs. Do you experience headaches after eating? Have you been having neck or lower back pain? Do you get irritable after dinner? Are you feeling anxious for pointless? Should you answer “yes” to the of those, you may have food induced stress. While fighting this with better food choices, also ensure that you get at least seven hours of sleep every night in order to ensure that you’re well-rested. Being tired can contribute significantly to your stress level.

There is no question that there is a link between stress and you diet. Eating caffeine filled drinks and sugary foods will make you jittery and hyper in addition to lower your capability to concentrate and relax. However, meals loaded with vitamins and minerals will give you clarity of mind and provide the body a chance to better handle any stressful situation which comes along.

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The Effects Of Force on Diabetes

October 22nd, 2011 Comments off

Stress affects our health and well-being both mentally and physically. Stress is understood to be the body’s a reaction to a change that requires an actual mental or emotional adjustment or response.

In diabetes, stress can impact the blood sugars in 2 ways. A lot of times, it causes the blood sugars to increase above normal levels. This is called hyperglycemia. However, occasionally the blood sugar levels may fall to dangerously low levels. This is known as hypoglycemia.

Both can be very challenging for a person living with type 2 diabetes.

The body consists of an intricate network of chemicals. These chemicals are called hormones and they permit the cells to communicate with one another.

When the is exposed to stress, a hormone gets released into the bloodstream. This substance is called cortisol.

How do your blood sugars react when you’re under stress?

You can study this by keeping a record of your blood sugars and paying attention to your body.

For example, if you notice that your blood sugars are constantly changing during stressful times, then you may choose to check them more often. By so doing, you can make changes to your diet, exercise program or medications.

Additionally, you will to talk more together with your healthcare professional. That way they are informed of what is going on with you and may enable you to make adjustments inside your treatment.

Sometimes most of your doctor might need to refer you to a professional. This is because you avoid complications associated with diabetes.

Each one of these actions however begin with a keen degree of awareness.

So it is important as a type 2 diabetic not to take the effects of stress as a given.

What are the effects of mental stress in diabetes?

I just reviewed how stress physically affects an individual living with diabetes.

The main thing to understand would be that the is affected exactly the same way by emotional or mental stress.

Quite simply, your body doesn’t know the distinction between stress that’s physical for example an illness or recent surgery, or mental or emotional stress.

Let’s be honest, for a lot of people, being identified as having diabetes can be quite stressful. Your world and life as you know it changes.

Many people get uncomfortable simply because they will need to change their lifestyle.

Although the change might be for the better, we’re creatures of habit.

It is important to learn how to manage stress in your life. Sometimes this really is easier said than done. Especially in situations in which the stress may be job related or a relationship for example.

But there are several choices that need to be made in order to live powerfully with diabetes.

Being proactive together with your health insurance and well-being is an important choice.

The way in which emotional stress affects your blood sugars shouldn’t be ignored.

Emotional stress can cause many people to obtain overwhelmed to the stage that they quit taking care of themselves!

This is how it might go:

The blood sugars get free from control.
This leads to a feeling of frustration and helplessness.
The frustration causes more emotional distress
The emotional distress causes the blood sugars continue to spiral out of control
The healthcare provider decides to improve the medications
The diabetic patient begins to feels like there is nothing working in their favor.

This leads to more frustration then many people start to get depressed. Others may begin to miss doctor appointments since they’re fed up with hearing not so good news.

This is where a complications related to diabetes are more likely to happen.

Here are some tips regarding how to manage stress to be able to live more powerfully with diabetes.

Be conscious of how stress affects your blood sugars. Do they go high or low?
Everyone experiences stress included in life and we all have to develop ways to deal with stress. One way to help cope with stress is as simple as creating a support
Keep a journal. Jot down your ideas within the journal. Sometimes putting things on paper tends to make them clearer. Once they become clear you’ll be able to make better decisions.
Learn some relaxation techniques like deep slow breathing, meditation, prayer or visualization.
If the stress is because of your projects, find out if you’ll be able to do something about it. For instance, you might enlist the aid of your doctor to provide some supporting documents for example FMLA or disability forms to show how the stress is affecting your diabetes.

To conclude, you can’t manage to disregard the effect of force on type 2 diabetes. Finding out how to deal with stress is a very important tool to develop if you are going to reside powerfully with diabetes.

Born in London and raised in Nigeria, Dr. Eno Nsima-Obot is really a board certified Internal Medicine Physician, with more than 20 years of expertise in the health & wellness industry. She graduated from school of medicine later with awards in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Clinical Pharmacology and General Surgery. She was also the recipient for that quarterly award for compassion when she worked as a doctor with a large multi-specialty medical group in Chicago.

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Stress – How Perceived Stress Vs Actual Stress Affects Your Health

October 22nd, 2011 Comments off

Stress affects your wellbeing in a variety of ways, all negative. Without starting all the biochemical specifics, suffice it to say stress, perceived or actual, floods your body with powerful stress-related chemicals that might be very helpful should you be literally fighting or running for your life, and therefore are very health-destructive otherwise.

Effects Of Force on Your body

Stress cause blood platelets to stay together, which raises blood pressure level.
Stress causes your body to lose important nourishment at a rapid rate, be responsible for nutrient deficiency leading to poor organ and gland function.
Stress interrupts digestion, meaning food goes partially undigested and also you get merely a fraction of the nutrients in the food you would get otherwise.
Stress floods your system with homocystine and cortisol, which are associated with hypertension, cardiovascular disease and a tendency to achieve weight.

Kinds of Stress: Actual And Perceived

Actual stress, that is largely unavoidable, includes environmental stress such as air, water and environmental noise, along with other environmental factors including extreme temperature, dangerous weather and so on.

Actual stress, that is fully avoidable, includes such things as smoking, excessive drinking, a junk-food, fast-food, high-sugar, nutritionally deficient diet, insomnia, pushing yourself physically beyond your limits, and doing something that obviously works against your health and well being.

Causes of psychological stress, most of which is avoidable or certainly able to be modified, can include things like relationship difficulties with a spouse, child or anyone; job-related issues; financial issues; self-esteem issues; goal and achievement related issues, personal integrity issues and so on.

When something happens that directly, physically impacts you, it’s an ACTUAL stress. Drinking polluted water, dropping a hammer in your foot, eating a bag of cookies and washing it down having a quart of sweet tea; these are causes of actual, real stress.

Perceived stress is not actual, perceived stress is due to the story you know yourself by what something means. If your partner runs late without calling, and you get all upset since you decide that means he or she is being unfaithful, then you upset yourself abut something that might ever happen, and being upset about the thing you would imagine produces the SAME negative cascade of powerful stress-chemicals that flood your system as if an actual physical stress had occured.

Perceived Stress May Be More Health-Destructive Than Actual Stress

If you feel about something which hasn’t happened, and your thoughts upset you, the strain reaction to those imagined events is a REAL STRESSOR that affects your wellbeing. This is when someone can use their mind to eliminate their health, even though the strain is imagined, the damage is real.

Research published within the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine reports that perceived stress is much more destructive to your immune system response than actual stress.

Using blood samples taken over a 16-month period from study participants who was simply vaccinated against meningitis C, researchers determined that individuals with high amounts of PERCEIVED STRESS consistently measured fewer protective antibodies than other groups.

Participants were split into 3 groups;

1) Group one had Low ACTUAL Stress without any stress conditions past the ordinary. 2) Group two had High ACTUAL Stress with unusually high stressful circumstances. 3) Group three had High PERCEIVED Stress. Most participants in group three had low to normalcy stress levels, however, they perceived their lives to be highly stressful.

The group with high-perceived stress frequently had very low actual stress.

The group rich in PERCEIVED STRESS tested 80% fewer protective antibodies in their blood than either from the other two groups.

Discussion: The message here is clear; there’s a DIRECT and MEASURABLE link between your defense mechanisms strength and the way your respond to the world around you.

The most known thing about this study may be the clear distinction made between ACTUAL STRESS and PERCEIVED STRESS.

Some of the study participants experienced the loss of a parent during the 16-month study period. By any standard, the death of a loved one is really a highly stressful event, yet even those who work in this highest stress group had perfectly normal amounts of protective antibodies.

Twenty seven percent from the participants reported high amounts of perceived stress throughout the study and, to a person, this 27% had up to 80% fewer antibodies, even though generally, their ACTUAL stress was far less than other participants.

The message is clear. If you believe you’re stressed you get the negative health consequences set up stress is real.

How does perceived stress weaken your defense mechanisms?

When you feel stressed your brain creates a cascade of powerful bio-chemicals called neurotransmitters. There are lots of different types of neurotransmitters, however the long and short of it’s that stress related neurotransmitters can be HIGHLY DESTRUCTIVE to your health.

Constantly feeling stressed means you are constantly flooding your body with powerful chemicals that weaken your defense mechanisms and then leave you more susceptible to illness and disease.

Request: The practical application of the information is obvious. Take charge of your feelings and never let tiny problems, (or big things), enable you to get down.

Stressful situations occur, but ACTUAL STRESS, stress that you simply recognize, cope with and move on, will not harm your health.

Monitor your emotions and emotions. If something is troubling you, DEAL WITH IT. Your wellbeing is too vital that you let things bother you for very long, and besides that, (to quote my dad), what difference will it make in a hundred years? And to quote my spouse, what difference does it make within an hour?

Remember this . . .

Stress-related bio-chemicals damage your wellbeing and those chemicals are made IN DIRECT Reaction to YOUR PERCEPTIONS, not in reaction towards the actual situation, which means, simply determining your reaction to things may go quite a distance to helping protect and preserve your health.

Remember, excellent health is a choice you may make, and also you make that choice every day with your diet, nutrition and lifestyle decisions. So learn everything you can… and judge wisely.

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