Are You Skipping Meals to Lose Weight?
I know, it seems like that would work, doesn’t it? If you skip a meal it should help you to drop some extra pounds. I mean, let’s face it, you’re taking in fewer calories — so that should translate to weight loss, right?
Wrong!
When you skip meals you’re actually setting your body up to gain weight! One of the things that happens when you skip meals is that you create exaggerated swings in your blood sugar levels. When that happens, it’s only a natural reaction to get cravings for unhealthy foods — and you know what those will do. They’ll add calories.
Why does this happen?
One reason is that when you skip meals, your body gets tricked into thinking it’s starving. This in turn can cause your metabolism to start to slow down. When your metabolism is sluggish, your ability to burn fat and calories goes right down with it. — Or — as mentioned above, you snack to relieve the hunger.
What about those times when you’re just not very hungry? That could be a good thing, especially if you’re following a healthy eating lifestyle. When you eat good fats and good carbs, and you do it regularly, you’ll lose your desire for sugary snacks and foods that will turn into fat. It doesn’t mean you’re not hungry — but it may mean that you just don’t have any cravings. If you can get to a place where you aren’t hungry all the time, you’ll find it a lot easier to maintain the weight you desire.
Have a healthy day.
Shanti,
Ron
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Ron Rink (See my profile on the “Contributors” page — the link is in the upper right hand corner) writes regularly in his “Nutrition and Weight Loss” blog at: http://www.wecould2.com. Be sure to stop by, check it out, and leave a comment.
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While it is quite common, osteoarthritis is a painful and debilitating disorder. Symptoms can range from an annoyance to the complete inability to use affected joints. Currently the only “cure†for osteoarthritis is to completely remove the affected joints and replace them with artificial ones. This in itself is painful and annoying and brings a whole new set of health problems into play. The best way to deal with arthritis is to relieve the pain as long as you possibly can. Instead of turning to prescription painkillers and anti-inflammatories. Glucosamine and chondroitin are great natural alternatives for reducing the pain of osteoarthritis.Â
So what exactly are glucosamine and chondroitin and why do they help with arthritis symptoms? Osteoarthritis is caused by the breakdown of cartilage in the joints. Everyone’s cartilage is constantly breaking down and being rebuilt; however, in a person with arthritis, the breakdown occurs faster and the build-up occurs slower. The body just can’t keep up. This causes progressive joint damage. The theory behind using glucosamine and chondroitin is to speed up the rebuilding process in the joint by providing an ample supply of the materials used to build cartilage.Â
Glucosamine is a substance used to build and repair cartilage while chondroitin makes cartilage more resilient to damage. A combination of these substances in the joint can help to build cartilage better and keep it from deteriorating as quickly. Strangely, while taking oral supplements is suggested for relieving symptoms, there is no evidence that it increases the amount of these substances found in any one joint.
Studies have been done to study whether these substances actually help relieve arthritis pain. They showed that the relief level from these products was about equal to the relief obtained from using prescription anti-inflammatory drugs. So why use these products instead of a prescription that will likely be covered by your insurance? First of all, the prescription medications come with a lot more side effects than glucosamine and chondroitin. Another more serious problem with prescription anti-inflammatory drugs is that they have actually been shown to increase the rate of damage to affected joints. Because glucosamine and chondroitin are the materials used to build joints, they not only don’t cause further damage to the joint, they may actually slow the progression of arthritis.
Glucosamine and Chondrointin are a great, natural way to deal with minor arthritis pain, but don’t rule them out if your problems are more severe. Many doctors will suggest using supplements along with traditional treatment to increase the amount of pain relief and because it may slow joint deterioration. You should consult with your doctor for advice on your best course of treatment before trying either of these supplements.