Exercise: This is the best stress-buster -- and also happens to be good for you in lots of other ways. It burns calories and triggers your brain to activate hormones and chemicals in your body to counter the negative effects of stress.
Eat a balanced diet -- and never skip a meal. Eat breakfast -- and try to consume six small meals a day, with foods from all the food groups This helps keep blood sugar levels steady, which in turn put a damper on insulin production and eventually reduce cortisol levels -- all helping to control appetite and weight.
Don't lose sleep, over your weight problems or your stress -- When we don't get enough rest, cortisol levels rise, making us feel hungry and less satisfied with the food we do eat.
Devote time to relaxation -- Because it works much like exercise to produce brain chemicals that counter the effects of stress. Find the time for activities that make you feel relaxed and calm. Some people think yoga can do the trick. Others may prefer meditation techniques or deep breathing. And don't overlook the relaxing power of cuddling up on a sofa with a good book or magazine, or even playing your favorite movie on the VCR.
Snack on whole grain, high fiber foods. If you just can't ignore those stress-related hunger pangs, try filling your tummy with foods high in fiber and low in sugar, like oatmeal, whole wheat bread, or fruits such as pears or plums. According to Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, author of Fight Fat After Forty, foods that are high in sugar and simple carbohydrates -- like white flour, cookies, cake, white rice, or pasta -- cause insulin levels to rise, which in turn increases stress hormones and ultimately makes you feel more hungry. But high-fiber, whole-grain foods -- particularly cereals like oatmeal or multi-grain flakes, as well as fruits -- help keep insulin levels on an even keel, which can help control blood sugar levels, and ultimately, hunger, according to Peeke.
Avoid caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol -- According to the American Institute of Stress, cigarettes, as well as caffeine-laden soft drinks, coffee, tea, and even chocolate, can cause cortisol levels to rise, stress to increase, blood sugar to drop and hunger to prevail. The institute also cautions against drinking too much alcohol, which can affect blood sugar and insulin levels.
Take your vitamins -- A number of medical studies have shown that stress can deplete important nutrients -- particularly the B complex and C vitamins, and sometimes the minerals calcium and magnesium.
The best weight loss tips are to eat sensibly with the right exercise program attached. We can then set to achieve our desired weight loss goals with a structured eating plan that incorporates good food recipes that are based on a healthy for life eating program. I shall talk about this program later on in this article.
So what maybe is a good weight loss cure for you right now?
As we are aware, we need not only to lose the weight we have put on slowly in the years gone by but somehow have to find a way to manage to keep it off once we have achieved our goal if we want optimum health. The simple tip is not treat the weight loss programs as a quick solution to your weight problem. It never works if you approach it from that angle.
There are two easy and quick weight loss tips you can implement immediately:
1. A healthy eating low carbohydrate diet plan. This should be a set of instructions on what to eat as well as how much you need to eat per meal per day. Its important not to fill your self with just one food type such as carbohydrates and leave out others. The reason is that we need a variety of nutrients and these can only be made available from varied food sources.
No one source can give you all what you need in one meal alone. Secondly the diet plan should give you the science behind the program as to why certain foods are chosen and others left out. For example eating a low carbohydrate meal and high in fibre will result in weight loss. There are low calories present. Secondly pick a diet plan that is low in proteins.
It is found that a low carbohydrate - high protein diet can reduce your weight but it can also make your blood cholesterol level rise due to the fats in the proteins. Be careful of high protein diets that force you to have alot of meat.
There are a number of studies out now that say that though there is very little difference in the weight loss of the two diet plans, it is found that low carbohydrate - high protein diets tend to increase cholesterol. So if you are looking for optimum health go for a low carbohydrate - high fibre diet.
2. Personal weight loss support. A diet plan without backup support is no good. Most people fail or quit in their weight loss programs because of the lack of a buddy system to back them up when they are ready to quit. We all need encouragement, help and support on the journey to lose weight.
Find a program that gives you support either by email or a website where you can go and join a forum. It's normally in the 3rd day or 2nd week of the program where you will find the most distraction and want to quit. The weighing scales will not show the great readings of the first week. You will feel discouraged and be tempted to go back and fall into those great high carbohydrate - protein meals you were so used to.
This is where a good support system will show you that you too can enjoy life to the fullest. It will introduce you to great diet cookery recipes where you can have fun with your food and still be able to keep the weight off for a long time to come.
Please research the program that you are looking at to see if it offers you advice on eating healthy, good food recipes and wonderful support when you start the weight loss program. Effective programs will also introduce you to good nutrition to help you get your desired results.
What foods are good to eat to lose weight immediately?
Its is simple to lose weight almost immediately by following a smart plan. When you go on a weight loss diet pick foods that are nutrient dense and rich in as many minerals and nutrients as possible.
The easiest way to know what is dense is look for foods that are whole grain or heavy when you hold them, they should smell good and always look fresh. By choosing dense foods you do not have to over eat to get the same level of nutrients.
Dense foods fill you up faster and are slow to digest resulting in less hunger pangs and hence stops the urge to pick at foods al day long.
Pick foods that are nutrient dense and with less calories. This way you will get your required amounts of vitamins, phyto-nutrients, essential fatty acids, fiber and minerals for the least number of calories you need and that is a very good problem to have. Remember fresh is best.
Avoid processed foods. You just have to look around at the fruits, vegetables, nuts , berries, seeds and meats to realise which are the better choices in food selection. Buy foods when they are in season as they will be fresh and full of essential nutrients you need.
By going for denser foods you will find that the GI level of these foods will be relatively lower than processed foods and will have a tendency to help reduce degenerative diseases as your blood sugar levels and cholesterol will begin to drop.
Picking the right type of diet will help in lowering heart disease. and diabetes among many others.
Both Burtonimus & Claudefoo are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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