wellbeing Archives - WellBeing Pro

If you’re not 100 per cent confident about your body weight or shape, and the sight of someone coming towards you in a T-shirt or shorts makes you feel anxious about the thought of revealing your body, then it’s time to start working on your summer diet. And although many people just want to look good for that short period of time when the sunshine arrives, there is no better time than to make the healthy living choices that will lead to long-term well being.

It’s more than vanity

Sometimes we dismiss our ideas of slimming for a beach-fit body as vanity, but it is more than that. The reason why a well-sculpted body in a swimsuit looks so appealing is because it is a picture of health, and evolution has resulted in us being attracted to signs of health. Looking good in public also allows us to cast off our inhibitions and become more of the people we want to be. This makes us happier and improves everything from our intimate relationships, our role model as a parent and our working and social lives.

Three steps to fitness

There is, and probably never will be, no one diet that suits everyone. Instead there are two main principles and one extra helping hand that together will inevitably lead to improved health and fitness.

Depending on your circumstances, weight loss might be high on your agenda, so you’ll be pleased to learn that safe weight loss is purely a matter of sensible calorie control and moderate exercise. A healthy diet that is conducive to weight loss will do two things: reduce the conversion of calories to fat and ensure we have enough nutrients to keep us in good health. Reducing the overall number of calories we consume is, of course, the key behind calorie control, but there are also ways we can make our bodies less prone to storing calories as fat, while promoting the use of fat as a fuel source.

Foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids (including avocados, walnuts and kidney beans) help to inhibit the storage of glucose in fat cells, while calcium binds with bile cells to help us excrete more fat; calcium is found in milk, broccoli and cheese. Foods containing the carotenoid astaxanthin (prawns, langoustines, lobster, etc.) have a thermogenic effect, raising the body’s temperature and ensuring more fat is burnt. Catechin in green tea is also thought to have this effect on the body, as are diet supplements containing spices, chilli or caffeine.

The second element of a healthy lifestyle is moderate exercise, including running, swimming and cycling. Either of these activities, combined with a light weight-bearing element, will help you to convert fat into muscle. A pound of muscle burns up to an extra 50 calories a day compared with the same weight of fat – and looks a whole lot nicer too.

The third element to achieving a healthy lifestyle is the careful use of diet supplements. As the word ‘supplement’ suggests, these should be used as part of a healthy diet to boost results; after all, summer is getting very close.

The cutting edge of weight loss is an exciting place to be with obesity such a problem and people desperately looking for a slimming solution that doesn’t need drastic measures or a surgical procedure….

Safe weight loss is of paramount importance to a healthy society and there have been countless health and weight loss claims put forward by people providing evidence of diet success by taking food supplements.

If you are preparing your summer diet, you should avail yourself of all the information possible before making a purchase decision.

Raspberry ketones are phenolic compounds, a class of natural substances found in plants. They are part of what gives raspberries their delicious aroma and, as a result, are used in small amounts as flavourings (in such things as carbonated drinks, ice-cream and cosmetics) and perfumes.

The link with raspberry ketones and burning calories started about 15 years ago with strong evidence that these compounds had a powerful effect on lipolysis (fat metabolism).

In 2005, in Japan, experiments on mice on a high-fat diet found that those given raspberry ketones metabolised fat more quickly, reducing their fat levels. A later Korean study on fat in test-tubes provided more evidence that the phenolic compounds sped up fat metabolism. There have also been tests on rats and rabbits but still the well being industry waits for conclusive answers.

The most famous of all is a feature on the Dr. Oz show where raspberry ketones were shown to break down fat molecules thus assisting weight loss. Dr. Oz called raspberry ketone supplements a “miracle in a bottle”.

While most well being experts would probably agree that it is likely that raspberry ketone diet supplements would affect fat metabolism in humans, there is naturally a healthy caution about the correct dosage for safe weight loss. This is thought to be 500-600mg per day. Some fruit extracts containing raspberry ketones have a history of significant use within the EU, prompting the UK’s FSA to update its previous blanket advice on the ‘novel food’ classification of the compounds.

Healthy living is not always a clear cut issue, and we must always work together to balance the needs for calorie control and overall well being. Of course, any supplements should only ever be used as part of a healthy diet.

Tag: wellbeing

Getting Fit for Summer

How Can Raspberry Ketones Help with Weight Loss?