Make This Your Green Tea Year
It is time you made this your green tea year.
Now that Christmas and the related festive indulgences are over, it’s time to kick start the New Year and start working towards your New Year’s resolutions. However, deciding that you want to lose weight or eat healthy this year is not enough. Instead what you need to do is start taking specific actions to help you achieve these goals.
In this article I’m going to be providing you with one of these specific actions and discussing how drinking more green tea this New Year can enhance your overall health and help you lose weight.
Why Green Tea?
Green tea is one of the most talked about health foods on the planet. However, unlike most health foods which get lots of media attention, green tea lives up to the hype. The reason green tea is so good for you is that it’s packed full of a group of health boosting nutrients called flavan-3-ols. These flavan-3-ols in green tea have numerous benefits in the human body which include:
– Keeping your blood healthy
– Keeping your heart healthy
– Minimizing the severity of allergies
– Protecting against cancer
– Strengthening your immune system
Drinks To Substitute For Green Tea
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to stay fit and healthy is not paying attention to their liquid calories. They’ll count the calories they eat with scientific precision but then they’ll go and gulp down a sugar filled drink without thinking twice. Green tea contains zero calories, so if you’re currently guilty of not paying attention to your liquid calories, drinking more green tea can cut the amount you consume and help you lose weight. So, if you drink any of the following drinks on a regular basis, substitute them for a cup of green tea and watch the pounds melt away:
– Beer
– Liqueur
– Milkshakes
– Soda
– Store bought coffees
Serving Suggestions For Green Tea
Although green tea is very good for you and can help you lose weight, many people find the grassy taste overpowering. So, if you’re not a huge fan of the natural taste of green tea, try one of the serving suggestions below:
1) Green Tea With Honey & Lemon: While your green tea is steeping, add a slice of lemon and a teaspoon of honey to the cup to infuse it with a sweet, citrus flavor.
2) Green Tea Smoothie: Place a chilled cup of green tea into a blender along with a selection of your favorite fruits and blend all the ingredients until they’re frothy for a sweet, fruity green tea smoothie.
3) Iced Green Tea: Place some green tea leaves along with a selection of your favorite fruits and herbs into a bowl. Then add hot water to the bowl and let the ingredients steep for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, strain the mixture into a large jug and chill it in the fridge for at least 1 hour to create a refreshing iced green tea.
Summary
While green tea is something of an acquired taste, drinking it can help boost your health in countless ways. Plus, since it contains zero calories, the more green tea you drink, the less liquid calories you’ll consume and the more weight you’ll lose.
So get the kettle boiling, brew up a cup of this hot healthy drink and start taking your first steps towards achieving your health and fitness based New Year’s resolutions today.
Your Body’s Daily Nutrient Needs
Nutrients your body needs on a daily basis
Every human needs a certain amount of nutrients each day. There is a lot of controversy on exactly how much of each type of nutrients you need such as proteins, carbs, fats, vitamins and minerals. There are some really great charts put out by various organizations such as the CDC, centers for disease control, and other government entities. The best thing you can do for yourself is to ensure that you’re eating plenty of veggies, fruits, and whole natural foods as unprocessed as possible, in every color of the rainbow.
This chart is a very general guideline, you should consult your physician or healthcare practitioner to be sure about your particular needs. Your needs can be determined by special blood tests which check the levels of the nutrients in your blood. It is recommended, if you’re concerned to get one blood test per year to check your levels. Once you know your levels you can adjust your dietary intake accordingly.
In general every woman needs adequate amounts of calcium, iron, and folic acid. The actual amount is dependent upon the person’s individual weight, caloric intake and health issues. Most women need about 18 milligrams per day of Iron, and 400 micrograms of folic acid, and about 1000 mg of calcium. It is also important to take or expose yourself to vitamin D each day. Despite rumors you can get adequate amounts of these vitamins and minerals easily, whether you’re a vegan or a carnivore. Just learn the nutrient amounts in the foods you ingest and use a nutrition calculator such as CRON-O-Meter or FitDay.org’s nutrition calculator to ensure that you’re meeting your goals. Remember that goals can also be met on a weekly basis over time and don’t always have to be daily.
Men need to also ensure that they meet their requirements each day too but on different levels of women’s. It’s important for men to also check with their doctor to ensure they’re getting the essential nutrients that they need over time. Most of the time, people who eat a variety of healthy whole foods and enough dark green leafy veggies, will meet their nutrition requirements over time. But in some cases, such as with vitamin B 12, both men and women can have issues with processing the vitamin and may need supplementation. This is because our soil is depleted of these vitamins today, but for the most part you should be able to get the vitamins and minerals from your diet.
Check with your doctor before you ingest high doses of any supplement as it could be dangerous. Instead, seek to get most of your needs met through your diet. A good way to ensure you’re getting enough fruits and veggies is to incorporate either a green juice or green smoothie into your diet once a day. A good recipe is below:
| Morning Green Pineapple Upside Down Cake Smoothie | DirectionsPut all in blender in order. Blend in high speed blender on high until ice is gone. Enjoy.
Variations: Substitute pineapple with any other fruit. Replace coconut water with soy free, gluten free, sugar free almond milk for a creamier consistency. Add more ice for thicker milk shake like smoothie! |
How Many Calories Do You Burn Daily
How to figure out how many calories you burn each day
Now that we realize that calories are an important component in any weight loss or even in maintaining a healthy weight it’s important to know how to calculate what you need in terms of caloric content each day in your diet. There are several ways to do this, one is figuring your BMR and activity level and using a formula. Another is just using charts and guidelines put out by the government or given to you by your doctor.
How many calories you need is a function of your body type, age, height, weight (or desired weight) activity level and gender. The BMR is a good indicator but it doesn’t take into consideration those who are super athletic and have a high muscle mass. But, if you don’t fit into that category likely you can do the BMR and activity level formula and come up with your caloric needs so that you can either lose weight to become your desired weight, or maintain your current weight.
The important thing is to be honest about your activity level, and realize that the numbers can be shocking. Most people eat far too many calories and if you’ve not gained a lot of weight yet, but you’re regularly ingesting too many calories, you will soon. We can be tempted to blame outside factors and health issues on weight gain but it’s really quite rare for most people. Unless you’re entering perimenopause, it’s likely you can lose weight just fine by sticking to a high nutrition, low calorie plan based on the BMR formulas. Of course, it’s important to get your overall health status confirmed by a doctor before embarking on any weight lose regime.
First write down your age, the weight you want to be,(lbs) and your height in inches. Now determine your activity level. If you don’t do any type of intentional exercise then you are considered to be sedentary or not active. If you walk at least 1.5 miles per day at a brisk pace, in addition to your job, this is considered to be moderately active. Be honest about your activity level and realize that if you’re not you’ll only have yourself to blame if you don’t reach your weight loss goals.
Now look at the BMR charts and equations on this page. Using the formula let’s figure the calorie requirements for a 5.5 inch woman who is 140 lbs and wishes to maintain that current weight. She is moderately active. From the charts we have the following formula.
BMR for women — BMR = (65.5 + (4.35 x weight in lbs) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)) x 1.55 (activity quotient)
This woman, when figuring out the formula in its entirely, should eat no more than 1272 calories per day if she wishes to maintain her current weight. She can up her exercise levels, in order to increase her calorie intake, but for the most part, this is what she can eat each day to maintain her current weight.
To make it easier to stick to it is important to eat high water content and high fiber foods to stay full, get all the nutrients needed, and to not feel deprived.
The First Step Of Any Weight Loss Program
Do you know the first step before starting any weight loss program?
So, you’ve found the perfect weight loss program for yourself and you’re ready to get started! Congratulations! Assuming you’ve chosen a realistic and healthy way to get control of your weight and your health the process should be successful. However, there are a few things you should always do before embarking on any new regime, especially if you already have underlying health issues.
Ask your doctor — Let your doctor know that you’re going to start a new lifestyle. Do this to inform the doctor but also to ensure that your choice is a good one for you. Everyone is different and has different nutritional requirements. This is especially true if you are using any medications such as diabetes meds or blood pressure meds. If you’ve picked a healthy way to lose weight such as adding in more fruits and veggies, eliminating processed foods and counting calories you’ll find that your doctor will be very supportive.
Set Goals — Now that you have your doctor’s approval it’s time to set some reasonable goals. Remember that when you set a goal it needs to be challenging but possible. It’s also important to write down your goals in a substantial way. Don’t just write, “I want to lose weight.” Instead, write down exactly how much weight you want to lose in total, then move backwards on the calendar to figure out how much you’ll need to lose monthly and weekly to reach your goal. Then also write down how you’ll reach that goal. By filling in your calendar with exactly what you’ll do you’re automatically creating a step by step guide to get you to your goal!
Assess Yourself — You can’t set good goals without knowing where you stand today. Much like setting your monthly financial budget you’re going to need to find out where you stand right now compared to where you want to be. It’s a good idea to write down the numbers so that you can periodically check to see that you’re being successful. You don’t need to do anything too fancy, just write down in a notebook (or use your computer) to track your current measurements and weight. Then once a month or so check your progress and write it down so that you can track what is happening. It’s a good idea to also take a picture of yourself so that you can see for yourself how it’s all working for you. Oftentimes our minds don’t catch up to the change in our body without seeing it.
Plan for Success — Don’t forget to plan each week’s meals in advance. Have plans in place for parties, socializing, and guests. The thing is, you’re doing this for life, not for a certain time until you lose weight. Instead, this is your new life so plan in “cheats” that fit into your new healthy lifestyle instead of depriving yourself. If you know your best friend is getting married in a couple of months, save up calories and plan for enjoying that day, otherwise you’ll fall off the wagon and punish yourself with more bad choices.
Obesity Versus Overweight- What Is The Difference
Obesity versus overweight, what is the difference.
A lot of us are closer than we’d like to admit to being medically obese. You might think that you need to be 100 lbs or more overweight to be considered obese but actually someone can be obese and at risk for all the illnesses associated with obesity by just being 40 lbs over eight. Take a look at this BMI Chart:
Now let’s use an average height woman at 5 foot 5 inches as our guide. According to this chart a 5 foot 5 inch woman who is 140 lbs is within a normal BMI range, with a BMI of 23.3. So, how much weight does she have to gain to be 30.0 or above? Surprisingly, only 40 lbs.! At 180 lbs, the 5 foot 5 inch female, will have a calculated BMI of 30.0. That’s quite scary when you think about it.
There are different classes of obesity, with the morbidly obese woman having a BMI of 40 or greater. So, how much weight does our 5 foot 5 inch woman need to gain to become morbidly obese? She’d have to weigh 247 lbs to be classified as morbidly obese. However, even before she gets to that level she’s in danger of many illnesses associated with obesity such as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. Once a woman gets to the level of morbid obesity she likely has one or more conditions present and unfortunately, without drastic intervention most morbidly obese people don’t lose weight and keep it off.
This is not to say they cannot, it’s just to say that statistically, it’s unlikely. But, the fact is if you remain morbidly obese you’re not going to live a long and happy life. You will die early from a whole range of painful and deadly diseases. While statistics put the obese person as unlikely to lose weight and keep it off, the truth is, you can stick to a diet that considers your nutritional needs, caloric needs, and mobility so that you can give yourself a chance at a long, healthy, and happy life.
You don’t have to resort to surgery, although for some this may be an answer, though a dangerous one. Sticking to a whole food diet, rich in veggies and fruits, and low in processed GMO (genetically modified organisms), low in processed foods, will improve your health and lead to a slow and healthy weight loss.
However, it has to be an entire lifestyle change, and not just a diet that has a finish line.
There is no weight loss race in spite of the diet industry and reality TV’s portrayal of weight loss.
The best way to permanent weight loss is through a permanent change in what you eat. Even if you do resort to surgery, the truth is, you’ll be also making a huge change in what you eat, if you made those same changes without surgery the result would be the same. Weight loss.