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[N286]No Carb Weight Loss

by Mark Hyman, M.d., Mar

That statement probably goes against everything you've ever heard, so let me explain.

If you don't believe me, take this little test. Think of a carb!
If you're like most Americans, bread, pasta, soft drinks, French fries, sugar, and similar foods probably flew into your mind. Yes, these foods are carbs -- highly processed and refined ones.

And if these are the kinds of carbs you consume on a regular basis, let me warn you, (unless you regularly run marathons), you're most likely either overweight or heading down the road to weight gain.

You may like them, you may consider them "comfort foods," you may think that they couldn't be so bad since they are so predominant in our current diet. But the biological bottom line is that human beings have not evolved to metabolize these types of carbohydrates.

They slow down your metabolism and contribute to every one of the major diseases associated with aging including diabetes, heart disease, dementia and cancer.

In most, cases they are also "empty" calorie foods-the worst possible combination -- high caloric foods, low in nutrients. They deprive you of vital nutrients as well as burden your body with the task of digesting food molecules that aren't giving you anything you need.

Eating them (especially in excess) is a prescription for weight gain. But they're not the end of the carb story. If you're like most people, you may not realize that the wide world of carbs is actually much, much bigger than this limited crowd of processed carbs.

In contrast, natural carbohydrates, which come to your table just like Mother Nature made them, contain many essential nutrients and specialized chemicals that turn up your metabolism via newly discovered plant chemicals call phytonutrients.

So you have a choice: use phytonutrients to spark your metabolism into action, or drown your metabolism with indigestible nutrient-poor carbs.

Our genetic nutritional template goes back 20,000 years. Our ancestors foraged for wild food, like wild berries, grasses, roots, and mushrooms to find life-giving phytonutrients that all humans are designed by nature to eat.

On a recent vacation I found myself in a sea of phytonutrients in the wild islands of Southeast Alaska. I was foraging along with the grizzly bears for bog cranberries, blueberries, nagoonberries, raspberries, and strawberries. These scrumptious berries, bursting with phytonutrients, were smaller, richer in color and taste, (and lower in sugar) than their domestic berry cousins.

Here's a tip: The greater variety and the deeper the color of plant foods you eat, the higher their concentration of phytonutrients. The key is to learn which phytonutrient-dense foods can prevent disease and promote weight loss.

Want phytonutrient power?

Here 's a small sample of the many superfoods that contain these powerful phytonutrients: isoflavones in soy foods, lignans in flax seeds, catechins in green tea, polyphenols in cocoa (yes, chocolate!), glucosinolates in broccoli, carnosol in rosemary, and resveratrol in red wine.

And there are hundreds more that can help you unlock the secret to natural weight loss. All of these compounds -- and dozens more -- will help you fight disease and obesity. These special compounds literally communicate with your genes and turn on messages of health and weight loss. They are key to the success people experience in losing weight on a program I've developed during my 20-years practicing medicine, called UltraMetabolism.

Before you reach for that Cinnabon, know that phytonutrients only occur in whole, unrefined, unprocessed plant foods. All vegetables (and many fruits) score high in phytonutrients, while processed carbs, like bread and pasta, have virtually none.

Here's a shorthand to distinguish between the metabolism boosters and the processed carbs that will only weigh you down:

Anything that has been packaged or put through a machine is processed (like a potato chip). Anything that comes right out of the earth is natural (like a plum).

Don't let all the terminology -- high fat, low-fat, high-carb, low-carb, high glycemic index, low glycemic index, complex carbs and simple carbs -- confuse you. The key is eating whole, real, unprocessed, food found as close to nature as possible. Now you know why your grandmother always told you to eat your vegetables!

Folk wisdom passed down the generations showed how to give the body what it needs. In the early twenty-first century, that wisdom is being confirmed in the research of leading edge scientists. So you can follow these recommendations I offer with total confidence that the latest medical science backs them up.

This new science reveals why you should never do what some ill-advised diets suggest: cut out all carbs. Not a good idea-because you also cut out all the phytonutrients (and the fiber) that only comes from whole plant foods.
Along with their obesity fighting chemicals, vitamins, and minerals to accelerate your metabolism, most whole carbohydrates are filled with healthy plant fiber to slow the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream.

And for super fast weight loss, you'll want to eat some special "super" fiber foods which I use as my secret weapon with many patients who have had difficulty losing weight. Once you incorporate them into your diet, you'll feel full, experience steady energy, and will never be tempted to overeat.

Here's a guarantee: If you've been consuming highly processed foods such as sodas, chips, and crackers, and you decide to boost your intake of those powerful phytonutrients that I've reviewed, you'll be taking the first step towards re-programming your body for automatic weight loss and health.

My dirty little secret as a doctor is that I never treat anybody specifically to lose weight; I simply help them become healthy using these and other techniques and the weight automatically comes off.

So remember, eat your carbs, but make them the right carbs!

If you've read much about hoodia gordonii�"the natural appetite suppressant herb now gaining widespread popularity as a potential weight loss pill�"it all sounds rather convincing: lose weight without feeling hungry. What could be easier?But is it really true?Let's take a hard look at the science and reality of using hoodia. First, there's the problem that there's only one decent study on hoodia, and it was conducted on a small number of people, all of whom were obese. Even if the results of that study hold out for larger numbers of obese people, it doesn't mean it will necessarily help people lose that last ten pounds of body fat. As you approach a greater level of fitness, your body chemistry adapts, and going from 20% body fat to 15% is nowhere near as easy as going from, say, 30% to 25%.Secondly, there have been no widespread clinical trials examining the safety of hoodia as a nutritional supplement. Although no problems have been reported to my knowledge, and the African tribesman apparently chew hoodia with no ill effects, the fact is that hoodia may have side effects we do not yet fathom when distributed to the public at large. Although there's nothing in the research that shows hoodia to be dangerous for people who wish to experiment with this appetite suppressant, there's also nothing to show that it's 100% safe for everyone (you can research hoodia gordonii articles and other information free at www.webseed.com).

This isn't a traditional Chinese herb that has thousands of years of medicinal use to back it up, for example. It's not something that comes with a convincing amount of evidence for long-term use by indigenous cultures. Even the San tribesmen only used it sparingly. They weren't taking this herb every day like many Americans plan to. And what is the safety of this herb for pregnant women? I don't think that question has been sufficiently addressed. My own experience with hoodia In addition to my skepticism about the studies conducted on hoodia so far, my own experience with hoodia uncovers some additional questions. Naturally, I tested hoodia on myself for quite some time (several months). During that time, I carefully noted my level of hunger three times a day (rating my appetite on a scale of 1 to 10), and noted my dosage of hoodia gordonii. Here's what I learned:

• Hoodia does help suppress your appetite, but there are many caveats, as you'll see below.

• The dosage of hoodia necessary to truly suppress my appetite was far, far larger than the dosages claimed by many websites selling hoodia. While some hoodia formulas contain only 100mg of hoodia per serving, I found that I needed 1000mg of hoodia three times a day to have any real effect. That's three grams of hoodia per day, and the cost adds up quickly.

• Hoodia does not counteract the blood sugar drops that occur following the consumption of refined carbohydrates like soft drinks, cookies, white bread, white rice and other simple carbohydrates. In fact, on days that I ate carbs, my appetite wasn't lowered at all. Hoodia only appeared to work in conjunction with a controlled carbohydrate diet. And some would say that a controlled carb diet works by itself anyway (which is partly true, but in my case, I also have to give some credit to the hoodia).

• Hoodia in no way stops your body from feeling intense hunger after a heavy workout. When I engage in strength training, I feel ravenous within minutes. Of course, I train harder than 99% of the people out there, but let this be a lesson: if you work out hard, you're still going to feel hungry, hoodia or not. In other words, hoodia doesn't cause your body to lose its mind. Your muscles still scream out for calories.

In other words, in my experience, hoodia was a help, but it was not at a miracle pill. It didn't just shut off my hunger like a light switch. It was an aid, yes, but I had to take a lot of hoodia to have any effect, and I still had to control my food choices or the hoodia offered no help whatsoever.

With this said, it is notable that I still use hoodia, and here's how: I now use the tincture exclusively, and I use it in the evening to help control late-night cravings. Even though I'm skeptical about the safety of long-term use of this product, I consider it safe for occasional use �" but that's just my own opinion, and I know I have stronger liver function than most people. Your results may vary. I personally believe hoodia to be perfectly safe, and I have chosen to make it part of my collection of nutritional supplements that I use to maintain ideal health and body weight. Whether you make the same choice is entirely up to you.

Hoodia does not release you from responsibility. If you choose to purchase hoodia, make sure you have realistic expectations about what will really be required to lose weight. On the Internet, hoodia is frequently promoted as a magic bullet solution. "Lose weight almost like magic!" But in reality, it isn't magic, and weight loss isn't really automatic. Let me explain.

Taking hoodia is not a license to eat. If you keep eating like you always have, you're going to gain weight. Hoodia doesn't change the laws of physics. What is does is suppress your hunger, allowing you to take control over your eating instead of letting your genes do the driving.

The only way you're going to lose weight is to eat less. Hoodia, in large enough doses, may give you the tool to do that, freeing you from the prison of hunger pangs. But hoodia can't control your arms, your mouth and your tongue. If you keep on eating, you're gonna get fat, plain and simple.

Also, hoodia isn't going to get you into shape. If you really want to lose weight, the best thing you can do for your body is boost your resting metabolism. And the number one way to do that is to add some lean muscle mass to your body by engaging in cardiovascular exercise (walking, jogging, and so on) and strength training.

Just because the people in the hoodia study sat on their butts and still lost weight doesn't mean that's the best way to do it. I suggest you go do something while taking hoodia. With your hunger turned down and your metabolism turned up, you just might find yourself burning 1500 calories a day or more, causing even more rapid weight loss!One more warning for the truly desperate: I know there are a few people out there who are thinking, "I'll just take a mega-dose of hoodia and turn off my hunger completely. I won't eat for days, until the fat disappears, and then when I'm slim and trim I'll start eating again."

This sort of plan is not only medically dangerous, it is utterly stupid. Only a fool would attempt to lose weight in such a radical way. Don't even try it. Fact is, if you're losing more than a pound a day, you're ill in some way and need to feed yourself some healthy nutrition!Don't mega-dose with hoodia. If you take twenty pills or drink an entire bottle of hoodia tincture, chances are you will just make yourself sick and waste your money.

Don't be stupid with this: lose weight gradually. Drink a lot of clean water, exercise regularly, lay off the refined carbs, and take hoodia in reasonable doses (I take around 30 drops of hoodia tincture each evening).

And, as always, get some medical advice from a competent practitioner. If your goal is to lose weight, educate yourself about nutrition first. Do your homework. Be healthy, okay?

Article Source : Running To Lose Weight

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Both Mark Hyman, M.d. & Truth Publishing 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.

Mark Hyman, M.d. has sinced written about articles on various topics from Green Tea, Lose Weight and Diabetes. Mark Hyman, M.D. is a NY Times bestselling author, lecturer, and practicing physician. Discover how you can program your body to automatically lose weight and regain health by grabbing an exclusive. Mark Hyman, M.d.'s top article generates over 1600 views. to your Favourites.

Truth Publishing has sinced written about articles on various topics from Vitamin and Mineral Supplement, Lose Weight and Diabetes Treatment. Mike Adams, "The Health Ranger," is chief contributor and editor of the NewsTarget Network, a leading independent news source for natural health, nutrition, medicine and other wellness topics. NewsTarget and. Truth Publishing's top article generates over 1000 views. to your Favourites.