Weight Loss - The Safe Way

It seems like everyone now a days is concerned about their image and health. Everywhere we look we see ads for weight loss pills, diets, surgeries and exercises.  Every advertisement seems to promise the same goal over and over again, "Get amazing results with our product" but just how much of that statement is true?

Looking through a magazine at the doctor’s office this morning I counted 12 different advertisements for weight loss.  Some were pills others exercise kits and the last one was for the lap band surgery. How did we as a society get too wrapped up in our image that we don't even worry about the side effects of advertised product?

Let’s think about this for a minute.  We read a magazine and find an advertisement for a "natural" supplement that promises exactly everything that you are looking for. In the ad it says you can go to your nearest chain retail store and buy this miracle pill for a low price.  This seems wonderful right?

You buy the pills, take them home and then read the directions. You are so excited about the potential results that you happen to skip over the fine print. You take the pills as directed and feel okay the first couple of days.  The next few days you realize that your heart is racing or you become extremely flushed or dizzy upon standing.  These are the side effects I mentioned.

Instead of trusting the ever so friendly staff at your local retail store, why don't you decided to shop at a store that is designed to help you make correct and safe weight loss decisions.  A supplement store or a store that specifically sells products like vitamins or natural products would be more than happy to help recommend a solution to help you lose weight.

Granted, these stores too have some weight loss supplements that may also be dangerous but the staff in those stores are trained to recommend options that are best for you. Sometimes a pill supplement is just what you need to go hand in hand with the diet changes you are changing.  Make sure to consult your physician before taking any new pills or supplements to make sure there are no contraindications with any other medicines you may be taking.

Of course, there is no such thing as a miracle pill that will give you the exact body you want. Weight loss takes a lot of time, patience and commitment.  Not only are vitamins and supplements an important part of the process but changing your diet, eating healthy and exercising at least three times a week are also imperative to losing weight.

More often than not we hear people complaining that they are not losing weight fast enough or losing as much as they had hoped for.  Here is where you need to sit back and take a look at your eating habits and exercise schedule. When you wake up in the morning, your breakfast should contain a healthy dose of protein. This protein boost first thing in the morning will help keep you energized until mid-morning.

You should plan to snack a couple times a day.  One snack mid-morning and one snack in the later afternoon before dinner.  These small snacks will help refuel your body if you are feeling tired and hungry.

Having a correctly portioned meal for dinner is key. Many of us will sit down to dinner and eat a first helping and then a second, sometimes even a third.  Instead of having two or three helpings, start your meal with a fresh salad.  Not only will you be eating your daily veggie intake, but it will help to fill you up and also help your digestion.

In conclusion, it is important to really research any form of weight loss treatments you intend to use.  Consult a physician or a nutritionist to help you make a decision that is best for you.

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Green Tea Leaf Extract Can Lead to a Lot of Benefits

Over 5000 years ago, in China, people noticed that they could drink the brew prepared from the green leaves of the tea plant. They also started to realize, that they longer they drank the tea, the more they were able to maintain good health. The drinking of green tea spread widely all over the world as its popularity spread. This led to research by scientists to try and trace the ingredients of the green leaf that gave it, its health giving properties.

Every natural herb has some particular ingredient that gives its ingestion the beneficial properties. Researchers were able to decide this from their study of green tea leaves. They were further able to isolate these and produce green leaf extracts that showed a higher potency and benefits when taken. This means the earlier habit of drinking green tea for its benefits, can be replaced for the same and better effects if the extract is taken. Polyphenols are the most potent ingredient of green leaf and this in the form of catechins. EGCG is a particular constituent of green leaf tea extract that makes green tea a very powerful antioxidant.

These antioxidants can stop cancer before they take root in tumours or other cells that have got mutated. They also help to reduce inflammation and make their presence necessary for cardiovascular systems that are in good health. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals in the body. Free radicals are cells having unpaired electrons that form very quick chain reactions and destabilize other molecules. This is not good for the health and can cause rapid unwanted cell formation. The antioxidants in green tea leaf extracts neutralize these free radicals and prevent them from reacting or destabilizing. They also help to reduce headaches, lower cholesterol and improve digestion. The extract increases the body's capacity to hold antioxidants, so necessary to fight free radicals.

Green leaf tea uses all the parts of the leaf and many of these have no particular benefits. A green tea leaf extract on the other hand, concentrates in it, only those parts of the leaf that can promote good health. Green tea extract is made by steeping the leaves in their green condition in alcohol. This dissolves the ingredients and once the solvent evaporates, it leaves behind the extract. These strong infusions are further concentrated so that the content of the catechins is increased to 20 percent instead of the two percent in the strong infusion. This is then sprayed and hydrated to extract the powder. The evaporated water content continues to have the beneficial catechins, and are further used to add to other medicinal products.  Membrane extraction and column chromatography techniques are also used to produce green tea leaf extracts.

Green tea extract has been proved to improve metabolism and thus assist in weight loss. There is caffeine present in green tea leaf extract, but this is unlike normal caffeine. Normal caffeine increases the metabolism and the heart rate. The caffeine in the extract however has no effect on heart rate, and this makes it much safer to use as a supplement for weight loss using herbal products. It is also possible to obtain these extracts that have been decaffeinated form, if this is still found necessary. This extract is also known to fight dental plaque, while stimulating the immune system. The EGCG has a potency that is 200 times that of Vitamin E. Besides cancer, it can also help to reduce liver damage. There are other biochemical properties that green leaf tea extracts have. Besides being antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, they are also anti-inflammatory and can fight radiation. The antioxidant properties that these extracts offer are stronger than that offered by supplements of vitamin C and vitamin E.

A standard green tea extract contains poly-phenols up to ninety percent, while taking one pill will be equivalent to drinking five cups of green tea. Most of these supplements are available over the counter and those containing a lower amount of poly-phenols will be lower priced. It is generally recommended that such extracts should be taken between meals, as this can otherwise have effects on iron absorption. These extracts are also used as preservatives for meat products. They can also help to prevent juices from getting microbial contamination.

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