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“Cheat Day” Effect on Healthy Diet Program

  • Posted on May 2, 2012 at 1:34 pm

When we do our healthy diet program, we often hear or even do the “Cheat Day” or free meals day, which is one day in a week which we are free to eat anything we want, including the ones forbidden in the diet program.

Cheat Day is a double-edged sword. When we use it properly, we can be free from the boredom of consuming the diet food. But it also has the negative effects, which can make us feels tortured to do the healthy diet program. First thing to note, when we think that the Cheat Day is the liberation day, doing the other six-day is a burden for our life. This will cause a negative mindset which can ruin our long run healthy diet campaign.

Basically, human has nature to find comfort. Cheat Day gives the wrong idea of understanding the diet itself. Finally, we will be more comfortable to change the Cheat Day into Cheat Week , which causes us to stop our healthy diet program. The second condition will worsen our effort, the mindset of, after doing a few days of diet, then we can give prize to ourselves by eating pizza, burger, or other junk foods at the weekends.

Try to make an analogy like this. Imagine you are a child, studying hard, tried his best to answer the questions at full semester. When he arrives at the final test, he thought that it’s okay to cheat at the final test, after all his hard work to do the previous tests, he deserved to cheat.

I think that is the wrong mindset to give a “cheat” as our prize. When a child studied hard, and finally passed the test, the prize could be vacation with the friends, buy a video game, toys, or anything. It’s not good to gift a “cheat” in his future efforts. Similarly, when we go all-out on a healthy diet program, the gift will be smaller clothes size, feel lighter body. We will be stronger when travelling. We can take vacations, spa, swim at the beach with our new body shape. Not “cheating” by eating junk foods for a short moment.

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You Are What You Eat

  • Posted on April 20, 2012 at 3:06 pm

We often hear the saying: “ you are what you eat ”, which means your body is a reflection of what you eat. This is true, because if you eat healthy foods your body will feel refreshed, energized, and healthier. But if you are eating unhealthy foods then your body will be at risk of health problems.

Knowing the relationship between the food you eat and its impact on health is important for you to understand, so you can choose healthy foods that your body needs.

Food, it takes the body as a source of energy for the body. Any activity you do can occur because the energy in your body. Food that you consume daily to give energy for the body to move, whether walking, running, thinking, and any activity you do every day.

Carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals are variety of essential nutrients the body needs every day to keep the body functioning properly and stay healthy. The only way that your body gets the nutrients it needs to stay healthy and functioning properly is to eat a variety of healthy food variants.

Different foods have a major impact on the health of organs such as heart health.Research has shown that a high fiber content in fruits and assorted vegetables play an important role to maintain heart health and maintain a stable blood pressure. While eating foods high in saturated fats and fried foods such as junk food may increase the risk of heart disease dramatically.

Vegetables and fruits also contain calcium. Calcium is one of the essential nutrients for the body every day. Calcium plays a significant role in maintaining bone density and health, prevent osteoporosis, and helps the performance of nerve cells in the body to work optimally.

Therefore, make sure your body always get enough nutrients every day, that is by eating a variety of healthy foods that you can get around you. Remember that your body is a reflection of what you eat.

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Avoid These Wrong Exercise Habit to Achieve Your Six Packs

  • Posted on March 22, 2012 at 3:15 pm

Maybe you’ve tried dozens of ways to get a sixpack stomach. But until this moment, your efforts are not fruitless. Though you’ve been training very hard, did strict diet program, your stomach has not got a sixpack yet.

Have you ever thought that a hard workout and diet you are doing is completely within the rules. Here are 10 mistakes that often frustrate you in getting a six pack stomach.

  • Monotonous exercises, techniques of training is the first obstacle that can frustrate you get a sixpack stomach. Even when you’ve been training hard enough. For example when doing a crunch, you use your neck muscles to lift the body instead of using the abdominal muscles. Another common mistake is, you’re not using good breathing techniques. In the crunch exercise , inhale in a state of supine, then when the body is bent exhale and contract your abdominal muscles. The next error, you’re doing the reps too fast and irregular. You should do more reps with quietly and periodically so that more muscle fibers are involved so that the muscles are well trained. So that you get proper exercise technique, find a reference on how to properly train the abdominal muscles and practice in front of the mirror to see if the technique you are doing is good and right.

 

    • Doing the Same Exercises

Doing the same exercise every day without increasing the training load is also a fundamental error that must be changed. The body will adapt to the exercise, so that muscle mass will not increase significantly. It’s better to add the weight than to add dozens of reps with the same load.Try a new, more challenging exercises for abs.

  • You’re not doing cardio exercises
    The important things you need to know to get a sixpack stomach is to reduce your fat in your stomach first. You must do cardio exercise! The most effective methods to burn fat is doing a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) program. Examples of its application, warm up by jog 3-5 minutes, then run quickly for 10-15 seconds, 10 seconds quick walk, then run quickly again for 10-15 seconds, repeatedly within 4-5 minutes.
  • Wrong Diet
    We can not separate exercise and diet in forming a six pack stomach. Reduce your carbohydrates, sugars, and fatty foods intake. Replace with high-protein foods such as chicken breast, lean meat, fish, milk, soy, and nuts. Add the vegetables and fruits as a source of vitamins and minerals to boost your immune system.
  • Avoid Stress
    Stress can be a stumbling block you get a sixpack stomach. Stress can cause the body to produce the hormone cortisol, which can affect the other hormones that cause weight gain. In fact, stress can also trigger appetite that can lead to excessive accumulation of fat in your body. To cope with stress, you can do breathing exercises, pilates, or yoga.
  • Lack of sleep
    Want sixpack stomach? Do not stay up in the night. Lack of sleep can affect the body’s blood sugar, increase appetite, and disrupt your body’s metabolism.Research shows that people who sleep less than 6 hours per day had a risk of being overweight by 27% more than of those with 7-9 hours of sleep.

Avoid basic mistakes that can derail your efforts to get six pack stomach. Work on your exercise technique and run the appropriate diet to achieve your six pack stomach.

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Wrong Diet Habits

  • Posted on December 7, 2011 at 1:47 pm

Excess weight is a classic problem often faced by most people today, you might be one of them. You have done various ways in order to successfully overcome this weight problem, including by adjusting the diet. However, you who do not understand about setting up a proper diet to lose weight, so that applying the wrong diet that led to the failure of your diet.

The following diet mistakes you may have to do when dieting and how to overcome them.

  • Too Busy to eat
    Your crowded business often makes you late or even skip the meal. If this happens, then your blood sugar levels will drop dramatically and the body will break down muscle for energy.Solution : set an alarm on your wristwatch or cell phone during the meal arrives. This way you will not forget the time you eat.
  • Not Eating Sodium (salt)
    The body still needs sodium to function properly. Sodium in sufficient quantities useful for maintaining fluid balance in the body. If you do not consume sodium at all, the body will experience fluid retention, cramps, and muscle strength will decrease.Solution : consume sodium to your diet in sufficient quantities.
  • Source of Unhealthy Eating Calories
    When hungry, you should never eat biscuits, fast food, processed food or other less-healthy food. Even with a delicious taste, it turns out the type of food is not a good source of calories for you.Solution : you can eat sweet potatoes, oatmeal, brown rice, and vegetables. In addition to healthy, you can feel fuller for longer with this natural food.
  • Eating Carelessly After Successful Diet
    This is what often happens, when you manage to reach the ideal weight, you will begin to eat as you please. This happens because during the diet, you feel ‘constrained’ and could not eat the foods you want.Solution : to avoid this habit, you can apply ‘cheating day’. Within one month of the diet, give your body a day to enjoy the foods you like but still in limited quantities, do not overdo it. When you start training your body, get rid of the habit of ‘cheating day’ from your diet gradually.
  • Carbohydrate Trimming
    body still needs carbohydrates as a source of energy for your daily activities. If you do not eat carbs at all, then your body will use muscle as energy reserves.Solution : In order the body does not use muscle as energy reserves, consume enough carbohydrates your body needs.Complex carbohydrates are the best choice to help you lose weight and keep your energy level okay.
  • Eating Simple Carbohydrates Before Exercise
    Simple carbohydrates are digested more quickly by the body. Because it is rapidly digested, then you feel hungry faster and faster loss of energy during exercise.Solution : You can eat foods that contain complex carbohydrates and proteins, 30-60 minutes before you start practicing. You can get complex carbohydrates you can get from brown rice, oatmeal, wheat bread, or fruit. Meanwhile, to meet protein needs, you can eat chicken breast, protein shakes , egg whites, and so on.

Diet does not mean leaving time to eat, or even not eating at all. Diet is about eating nutritious foods every day, accompanied by diligent exercise and adequate rest, to get the ideal body weight with a healthier way.

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6 Breakfast Menu to Increase Brain Power

  • Posted on May 12, 2011 at 12:04 pm

For busy and active people, time is very valuable. In the morning, a lot of people skip breakfast in order to pursue time-intensive activities. Avoid this bad habit. Make sure you start the day with the intake of foods that enhance the performance of the brain. It is more effective than drinking a cup of coffee .

Try to consume these 6 breakfast menu to increase body performance and brain power:

  1. Yogurt Low Fat with Flaxseed
    Linseed or flaxseed has content of healthy Omega-3 to help maintain brain function and memory. Consuming low-fat yogurt with flax seed will help to improve brain performance. Yogurt contains high protein, good to maintain the level of concentration in the morning.
  2. Wheat Cereals with Dried Fruit
    Cereal grain helps to maintain healthy levels of sugar of blood as well as providing energy in the busy day. Mix it with a few pieces of dried fruit to increase fiber intake, and complete with soy milk to increase your protein intake.
  3. White Omelet Eggs with Low-Fat Protein
    If you want tasty food, cook white omelets and add low-fat cuts of meat, combined with with fresh vegetables. High protein intake will help you stay focused and preventing hunger until before time to eat lunch.
  4. Bread Wheat with Peanut Butter
    Spread peanut butter on wheat bread as a nutritious breakfast. Select peanut butter to avoid the consumption of unhealthy fats and bread wheat to obtain high fiber. Carbohydrates of the fiber will be digested longer, so make your stomach full longer, and maintain healthy levels of blood sugar stable throughout the day.
  5. Fruit and Yogurt Smoothie
    Consumption low glycemic index food as a mixture of yogurt smoothies in the morning will make your day bright and make it as healthy and delicious breakfast in the morning.
  6. Cereal Mix
    Cereal is one of the best sources of fiber. Mix cereal with fruit, nuts , seeds, wheat, and apples . Use honey as a natural sweetener and complete with soy milk or fat-free milk to maximize the brain performance.

Make sure that every morning you give your body a nutritious food intake to keep blood sugar levels remain stable, prevent fatigue, and keep the mood remains good in working day. Eat one of the 6 breakfast menu every day for maximum performance.

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Weight Gain Through Exercise, Nutritions, and Healthy Diet

  • Posted on April 6, 2011 at 12:31 pm

Usually people go to gym in order to lose weight. But some go to the gym to add weight. Although this is a highly recommended solution to help increase weight loss by increasing the mass of muscle and keep the body stays fit, but it is not enough. You have to balance the routine practice by keeping the healthy diet pattern and taking weight gain supplements.

Many bodybuilders and fitness practitioners advise to exercise regularly to gain weight, so you also have to ensure the intake of protein, carbohydrates and fats are ideal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You must also ensure all the nutrients that your body needs can be fulfilled through the food you consume daily. And another effective way to supplement your regular workout pattern is by natural weight gainer supplement. This is not a drug. This supplement will continue to work on in your body by helping to meet all the needs of the nutrients you need to reach your ideal weight.

The secret behind weight gain supplements is contained in the materials. Weight is a good supplement should contain nutrients that can help you gain weight by adding muscle mass and preventing the buildup of excess fat. You can select natural gainer is in addition to high protein and calories to build muscle mass and increase your weight, also contain carbohydrate complex and comes with a fat good, enzymes and glutamine.

Remember, if you want to gain weight, the correct way to achieve it is with a balanced diet, eating regularly and not excessive. Eating more is not the best way to raise the weight. Consume more food will only give you heaps of fat and calories that you do not want. The best way to add weight is to eat properly and regularly. Gainer consumption in addition to increasing body weight can also help avoid the accumulation of fat in your body.

Weight gainer supplement is used to stimulate muscle growth. Remember, weight gaining is not the same with the consuming junk foods, but with a diet that is balanced and assisted weight gainer supplement. And of course, it will be even better if coupled with regular exercise to optimize your program as well as keeping your body fit and healthy. Good luck! The better the body you have, the more self-confident you has in your society.  Exercising regularly and good diet are the key to achieve body.

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10 Ways to Increase Metabolism

  • Posted on March 16, 2011 at 1:34 pm

??The experts of health are continuing to research how to increase metabolism optimally. How quickly the body can burn calories ? This depends on several natural factors such as age, genetic, and gender as a cause of decreased metabolism.

There are 10 ways you can apply to help you increase your metabolism or the rate of burning calories in your body,:

  1. Add Muscle Intensity
    You need to know that our body constantly burns calories even when we do not do anything. Metabolic rate at rest is much higher in people who have more muscle. Do the exercises and sports to increase muscle mass and increase your metabolism.
  2. Exercise Routine
    Exercise will increase your metabolism effectively. To get optimum benefit you try to combine weight training with aerobic exercise or apply for more challenging interval workout.
  3. Drinking Water
    The body needs water to process calories. Always make sure that your body stay hydrated, because dehydration will slow down your metabolism. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day for optimal calorie burning process.
  4. Add Ice Cubes
    Cold drinks help the body to burn more calories during digestion . But make sure you do not add sugar to cold drinks. Research shows consumption of 5 or 6 glasses of water with ice cubes can help burn 10 extra calories per day.
  5. Eat More Often
    Eat more often to include snacks in between main meals will help you lose weight . Eating small meals 5-6 times will make your metabolism stable, so the burning of calories will be more optimal.
  6. Add Spicy Flavor to Your Meal
    Spicy foods contain chemical compounds that stimulate higher metabolism than normal food. A tablespoon of chopped red or green chili peppers can increase metabolism by 23 percent.
  7. Increase Intake of Protein
    The body burns calories 2 times more time to digest protein than to digest carbohydrates and fats . Reduce carbohydrates and fat, increase protein-rich foods in the diet to improve your metabolism.
  8. Consume Dark Coffee
    Coffee can increase energy and your concentration if taken at the right time, for example, to start the morning of your day. According to research, the caffeine in coffee can help increase your metabolism in the short term, which is about 4 hours after drinking it.
  9. Consume Green Tea
    Green tea offers the benefits of the combination of caffeine and catechins, substances that are useful to increase metabolism for some time. Drink 2 cups of green tea to burn 50 extra calories each day.
  10. Avoid Extreme Diets
    Low-calorie diet can indeed help you losing weight but also in the extreme condition can make your metabolism dropping dramatically. Make sure the calories you consume fulfill the needs to maintain your body’s metabolism levels optimal.

The best way to burn calories and increase metabolism is to build muscle and be more active in physical activities. Try 10 ways to increase your metabolism above to reactivate your body’s metabolism.

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Seven Important Nutrients from Foods

  • Posted on March 8, 2011 at 2:05 pm

Each type of food should supply various kinds of nutrients to the body. In an increasingly busy life, people do not have much time to think and consider the intake of nutrients for the body. In the end, they consume food recklessly without regard about food quality and nutritional levels, and risks that may be caused by eating them. The following is a list of 7 nutrients that are often forgotten in the diet:

Potassium: For Normal Blood Pressure

Potassium is one of the main nutrients the body needs to help maintain healthy blood pressure, increase fertility, maintaining healthy muscle and nerve function. Source: potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, bananas.

Magnesium: Prevent Disease

The low levels of magnesium in the body was allegedly causing several health problems such as osteoporosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, muscle cramps, and heart disease. Sources: spinach, peas, almonds.

Vitamin A: Increase intake of Beta Carotene

Vitamin A is divided into 2 types, namely: retinol and carotenoids, like beta-carotene is useful to maintain a healthy sense of vision, immunity, and tissue growth. Sources of beta-carotene: sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, pumpkins, and cereals.

Vitamin E: Get the Benefits of Healthy Fats

Vitamin E is an antioxidant that is useful to boost immunity, maintain healthy skin and good eyesight, and reduce blood vessel blockage. Uniquely, the source of Vitamin E normally are foods that have high levels of healthy fats such as almonds, hazelnuts, safflower oil, sunflower oil, and peanut butter.

Calcium: For Healthy and Strong  Bones.

It’s no secret if calcium is very useful both for bone. Not only that, calcium also appeared to help maintain muscle function, set the rhythm of the heartbeat, and helps prevent high blood pressure. Its source: milk, salmon, tofu.

Vitamin C: Enhancing Immunity

People with influenza are usually looking for vitamin C to overcome them. Vitamin C can be obtained from a variety of fruits and vegetables, beneficial to enhance bone and tissue growth. In addition, Vitamin C works as an antioxidant to prevent damage to body cells and accelerate healing.

Fiber: For Digestive Health

Foods high in fiber are generally low in calories and filling, ideal to be consumed by people who are in a weight loss program. Fiber from whole grains and nuts have many health benefits like lowering cholesterol levels, improve the performance of intestine, reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and prevent some types of cancer.

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Vitamins and Minerals for Your Health

  • Posted on November 27, 2010 at 2:20 pm

Here are some vitamins and minerals that are very important in providing optimal energy body to carry out daily activities.
Vitamin

  • B1 (thiamin) supports nerve function and is useful for metabolism and energy. Found in spinach, green beans, tomato juice, watermelon, sunflower seeds, ham, and soy milk.
  • B2 (riboflavin) supports energy metabolism, eye and skin health. Found in spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, eggs, milk, liver, oysters and clams.
  • B3 (Niacin) supports energy metabolism, skin health, nervous system and digestive system. Found in spinach, potato, tomato juice, beef, chicken, tuna, liver and shrimp.
  • B6 (pyridoxine) is important in the production of red blood cells, metabolism of amino acids and fatty acids. Found in bananas, watermelons, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, potatoes, rice and chicken.
  • B12 is needed for new cell synthesis, helps break down amino acids and fatty acids, maintaining nerve cells. B12 are readily available in meat, poultry, fish, milk, shellfish, and eggs.
  • Biotin helps metabolize energy, fat synthesis, amino acid metabolism, glycogen synthesis and is widely used in food.
  • Folic acid to support DNA synthesis and the formation of new cells. Contained in tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, and peas.
  • Pantothenic acid supports energy metabolism and is found in most foods, especially meat, fish, poultry, whole grains and vegetables.

Mineral
The experts have not found agree in classifying the mineral, some say that there are seven major minerals or macro, and there is a mention 16 kinds of main mineral for human health. Some important minerals like calcium, potassium and zinc, is useful for the body to digest food, produce energy and regulate cholesterol. Calcium, magnesium and phosphorus is essential for healthy teeth, bones and joints.

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Balancing Your Healthy Diet and Activities

  • Posted on November 23, 2010 at 2:15 pm

Consumption of healthy foods, balanced with physical activity done regularly is an important factor to create a stable energy levels and maintain your health. Unhealthy diet and regular physical activity are not a major risk factor that triggered the emergence of chronic diseases like high blood pressure, high blood glucose / hyperglycemia, abnormal blood fats, including obesity. And also at risk of causing heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Healthy foods with good nutritional composition is the answer to all this.

Balanced Nutrition advice
Here are some of the things recommended by the WHO to maintain health and energy level that is optimal for all people:

  1. Keep your energy balance and ideal weight are proportional.
  2. Stay away from energy intake from fat that harm health.
  3. Increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, and nuts, seeds and nuts as your healthy diet.
  4. Limit your sugar intake.
  5. Consumption of iodized salt.
  6. Nutrition Essentials for Energy

Various studies have found that the additional nutrients, such as artificial sweeteners, colorings, and flavorings may cause health problems, as already mentioned above. To that end, here are some essential nutrients to provide excellent energy body.

  1. Protein. It is important for growth and repair muscles and other body tissues.
  2. Fat. Important source of energy and related to fat-soluble vitamins.
  3. Carbohydrates. The main energy source.
  4. Fiber. It is important for the health of the digestive system.
  5. Vitamins. Vitamins are water soluble and fat plays an important role in the chemistry of the body.
  6. Mineral. Inorganic elements is very important to run the metabolism.
  7. Water. It is important for metabolism and act as carriers of nutrients.

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