How to Close Down The Fat Factory

One of the most frustrating aspects of being what mainstream society calls overweight (I like to call it OVERFAT) is the your body becomes more inclined to convert the carbohydrate calories that you eat, into fat; and then stores that fat in your fat cells. Thus, the fatter we become the easier it is to gain even more weight; and harder to lose it. To understand this, we must first understand the role of the hormone, insulin in the body.

Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas. It helps the body utilize blood glucose (blood sugar). Think of insulin as a key. Every cell has a ‘lock’ (receptor) on it that opens a door that allows glucose to pass from the bloodstream into the cell. Once the glucose has entered the cell, it is used for energy. Glucose can be stored for future use by the liver or muscles in the form of glycogen.

The muscles and liver are the main storehouses of glycogen. Talk about efficiency of design. The very mechanicals that motivate us are also storage units! The power source is located right where the muscle needs it. Low-latency power on-demand! Which is great, but the most important thing to remember here is that once the muscle storage units and liver are full of glycogen; the remaining glucose in the bloodstream that is not being used by the brain or other vital organs usually gets stored as fat.

As a person gains body fat, the cells of their body become less sensitive to insulin. Insulin resistance occurs when the normal amount of insulin secreted by the pancreas is unable to ‘unlock’ the doorway of the cells. As a result, the pancreas must secrete higher and higher levels of insulin in order to overcome this widespread insulin resistance as it tries to maintain normal blood glucose levels. High levels of insulin signal the liver to convert carbohydrates into fat, following a meal or snack containing carbohydrates. In turn, these fats are shipped to your fat cells, contributing to weight gain and increased body fat.

What can cause the body to become insulin resistant? Genetics can obviously play a role, but I believe it has a LOT to do with the typical American’s poor diet consisting of mainly mid-to-high glycemic carbs, irregularly spaced feedings and lack of regular exercise that are mainly to blame. So it really becomes a Catch-22 situation for a mostly sedentary overweight person. Popular low-fat diets alone don’t get results because your body is conditioned to convert carbohydrates into fat, due to high levels of circulating insulin. The other negative effect increased fat storage and no exercise is the increasingly lower BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) that occurs because of this lifestyle. And that’s a death sentence for the typically weak and half-stepping fat-loss efforts; A.K.A. “diet” that most sedentary types try.

But the really sad thing is that these folks won’t exercise or exercise correctly even it they do. You hear them talking like diet is the only part of the equation, but that type of thinking doesn’t apply here. Remember it was not just the diet, but also the lack of exercise that got them into this state.

Fitness For All Teens

When we talk about fitness, it can either be performance-related fitness or health-related fitness. This teen fitness article focuses on both type of fitness that affects both the mind and the body of teen guys and teen girls. Being fit gives you more energy for work, school, and allows you to enjoy life better. It wards off heart attack, colon cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure; and being fit does not only assures good health but it makes you feel good about you and lets you stay active.

Yoga does a lot of great things to the mind and body of teenagers. It’s a simple solution to beating stress from exams, peer pressure, social anxiety and fear of being ridiculed common to teen guys and girls alike. If perform before and after study hours, yoga can have tremendous relaxing benefits that allows the mind to perform better.
Teens who are independent and loved variety can engage in aerobic exercise outside the gym. Running, cycling, swimming, tennis, dancing, are just some of the many that you can engaged in to build stamina and endurance while strengthening your heart muscle for better health. A 20 minute intense aerobic exercise three or more times a week is recommended by the American Heart Association. Active teenagers are most likely to develop active and healthy lifestyle as they grow older, and are healthier than their sedentary counterparts.

Teen wants to stay on top of everything; why not stay on top of your self defense. Martial art such as Kung Fu is a fun and exciting way to stay fit while building your confidence that comes from knowing that you can protect yourself. Martial art training relives tension and stress you experienced as a teenager whilst building up your fitness level. Spending time training martial arts is also a great diversion to occupy your self learning productive activities than otherwise.

The cheapest way to stay healthy and fit for teenagers is to have a good, well balanced diet rich in vitamins and minerals, and fibers from fruits and vegetable. Boys trying to beef up their muscles need to eat more protein rich food to spur muscle growth. It’s not so much about dieting but rather it is about healthy eating. When you are younger, your body’s metabolic processes are most likely working well so that you do not need to worry too much about calories. Naturally though, teenagers are active so that you need more calories than adults. However, if you tend to be sedentary often, that’s when you get the problem of sugar and fats in your body. That is why you need to live like a teenager, go out and have fun.

You do not need a lot of money to finance your fitness activities. You can seek advice from your friends or relatives who knows about staying fit and healthy, and just try to fit their advice on your lifestyle, and financial and physical capacity. Certainly staying away from smoking is the cheapest and surest way to ensure healthy lungs and tip-top stamina.

Successful Weight Loss with Green Tea Extract

Is Green tea is good for weight loss?
Yes, believe it or not, more and more often you’ll find green tea (or green tea extract) included in the compilations of many of the more popular weight loss supplements today. Tea has been used as an aid for weight loss. Drinking a cup of tea with each meal is a protocol for using tea successfully as a metabolic stimulant. Tea by itself carries only 4 calories per serving, and it’s most healthy when consumed with nothing added. The caffeine in tea increases body function to help burn more calories and the polyphenols seem to aid in the digestion of fat, truly making it a Chinese diet tea.

Green tea is recommended for the diet aid mainly because of its multifaceted effects on health. The major active component that attributes the properties to the green tea are the polyphenols such as catechin, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, gallaogatechin, epigallocatechin, and apigallocatechin gallate (known as EGCG).

Green tea contains high concentrations of catechin polyphenols. These compounds work with other chemicals to intensify levels of fat oxidation and thermogenesis, where heat is created in the body by burning fuels such as fat. Drinking Japanese green tea regularly will increase your metabolism and help burn fat safely and naturally.

In Thailand, India, Japan and China, green tea has been used as a medicine for a variety of conditions from helping with digestion to healing wounds.

But while many in the medical field proclaim the wonders of this much talked about tea, others are quick to point out that there is little or no evidence to support at least some of the claims.

Glucose Regulator
Green tea also acts as a glucose regulator i.e. it slows the rise in blood sugar following a meal, by slowing the action of a particular digestive enzyme called amylase. This enzyme is pivotal in the breakdown of starches that can cause blood sugar levels to soar following a meal.

Green tea contains Vitamin B, C and thiamine. This will ensure that our brain cells have sufficient energy to protect the nervous system from being over stimulated. A good nourished brain will surely help in achieving your weight loss goals.

In November 1999, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, in which researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.

The study conducted by the University of Geneva on the weight loss benefit of green tea extract implicated that green tea extract can also help thyroid patients. According to dietitian Lynn Moss, M.S., R.D., green tea extract is a healthier choice for people with thyroid who may be too sensitive to stimulants. Green tea extract can promote weight loss by increasing metabolism without over stimulating the adrenal glands.

Bottom Line: Green tea helps you with weight loss by boosting your metabolic rate, regulating your blood sugar, suppressing your appetite and giving you something else besides that high calorie, high sugar coffee beverage to drink in the morning. While it’s not the magic bullet, it can definitely give you a boost in weight loss and in your overall health