To Lose Weight & Burn Fat...Shakes or Whole Foods?
Copyright 2006 Jonathan Perez
After many years of spending hundreds, and even thousands, of dollars, after getting sick on them, and after seeing no kind of results in the form of weight loss / fat burn from them, many have finally realized that they are WORTHLESS.
Yet, many are still confused if the supplements that are sold as "Meal Replacements", "Weight Gainers", "natural supplements", and "amino acids" have some good use in substituting for some whole foods to help speed up their goals to lose weight and burn off body fat.
Surely you see them in just about every other page in every-single bodybuilding / fitness magazine. Everyone at the gym uses them.
Go to any grocery store and they have them there too. Yes, even you have probably used them and / or are using them right now.........
Shakes and supplements.
Many different "meal replacement" powders and shakes, also known as RTD's, are sold as being a substitute for a real, whole food meal.
The makers claim that they are "just as good, if not better, than eating a real meal", which will, supposedly, speed up the weight loss process.
They claim to have higher amounts of protein, lower amounts of sugar / carbs, and add in ingredients such as BCAA's, Glutamine, Creatine, HMB, CLA, so on and so forth.
They claim that in order to lose weight / burn fat you need a high amount of this and that, and that you can't get those from just eating the right foods. .....
That's what the makers claim.
First off, no supplement that is out on the market right now will do the work in burning body fat or losing weight as hyped in the ads.
Not "metabolism boosters", calorie burners, carb / starch blockers, fat blockers, etc.
If you are skeptical, perform a test on yourself:
For one month, don't change anything about your training routine or diet habits.
Measure your arms, your chest, and your waist with a measuring tape and fat calipers.
Take one supplement, and only one. Use it for that month.
Then take your measurements again.
I guarantee you that your measurements will reveal that your arms or chest didn't get any more toned, and that you're body fat levels will not have dropped beyond what you normally would have burned, regardless of what the weight scale says.
So, when a meal replacement shake or powder advertises that it is better than eating whole food because it contains all of these extra "fat burning / weight loss / metabolism boosting" compounds, don't be fooled.
Even if it actually contains those ingredients, they don't work as hyped up anyway!
Second, meal replacements claim to have a certain amount of protein grams, carb grams, and fat grams.
Well, lately there have been several analysis done on many popular supplements, and it has been discovered that many of them do not contain the amount of ingredients as printed on the label!!
Just a while back a report was written that a popular "protein bar", that claims to taste like Snickers, contained up to 7% less amount of protein than the label claims.
And it contained much more sugar than stated.
Many of these makers "skim" on the ingredients to bring the cost down of making those supplements, while lying on the nutrition labels, just to make a bigger profit!
Third, the price.
A meal replacement powder can cost you up to $3.00 PER PACKET, while it would probably cost you $1.00 or less if you were to eat the same amount of calories from real food.
I don't know about you, but I rather keep my money in my pocket.
Fourth, and probably the most important out of all, is that powders and shakes contain many ingredients that are down-right harmful to your internal body.
In order to make these "meal replacements" into powders and to be able to be stored for long periods of time (for shipping and sitting on the store shelves), many chemicals and preservatives must be added.
What do you think happens when you are constantly putting into your body foreign chemicals and preservatives, substances that are not from nature.
Your body does not handle well those types of unnatural substances.
Instead of making you losing weight or stubborn body fat, all you will get is a bloated stomach, diarrhea, and maybe even fatter, since your body doesn't digest it well.
How many times have you drunk a protein shake and 30 minutes later you start to get "gas"?
That's your body's way of telling you that it cannot handle that shake.
Also, "meal replacements" don't contain vital nutrients that are a "must-have" if you want to grow a healthy physique, such as vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, enzymes, etc.
These powders don't have any of those things.
Don't believe me, read the nutrition labels.
On the contrary, whole foods are natural, they contain all of the vital nutrients that your body requires to get big and strong, they are much less in price, and they won't cause you to go running to the nearest toilet.
Without a doubt, if you want to lose weight / burn body fat, forget about those disgusting-tasting meal replacement powders and shakes, and eat real whole foods, just like our ancestors did back before the supplement industry came along with all of their lies.
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6 Tips About Diet and Weight Loss
Copyright 2006 Donovan Baldwin
Most people who are seeking a weight loss solution often start by reducing the amount of food they eat. This has a name. It is called a "diet" and it doesn't work. True, a relatively few people can lose a small amount of weight this way, but there are five major problems with dieting:
1. A diet is not a permanent weight loss solution
2. A diet may backfire and actually cause weight gain.
3. A diet may not only be disappointing but may cause loss of self esteem.
4. A diet may cause health problems.
5. A diet may, in extreme cases, cause death.
6. There is a weight loss program that is better than a diet.
Let's take a closer look at these points.
A diet is not a permanent weight loss solution: Simply cutting back on calories may work for small losses of weight in some people over a short time period. However, diets are hard to stay on for many reasons. You get tired of eating the same food. You cannot stay on your diet when traveling, dining out, or when your schedule does not allow you the time to prepare meals. Special foods are required, or you must take the time to select foods from charts, one from column A, two from column B and so on. For this to work, you will have to stay on this diet for the rest of your life. Not only that, a diet simply denies your body some food. It does not cause your body to change the way it functions (except in a negative fashion talked about below), nor does it burn fat.
A diet may backfire and actually cause weight gain: When you first begin a diet, you may notice some weight loss as your body is denied the calories it is accustomed to. After a very short while, however, your will adjust to the new level of calories and your weight loss will stop. To lose more weight this way, the next logical step is to cut calories even more. By this point, in addition to you starting to get sick and tired of this nonsense, once calories drop below a certain level, your body will slow down the rate at which it metabolizes the calories you take in. Eventually, your body will learn to subsist on fewer calories, and weight loss will cease. If you fall off the diet wagon after your body has learned to get by on fewer calories you will be consuming more extra calories than before you started the diet, and you will gain weight. If you wanted to burn fat, this is not the way to go.
A diet may not only be disappointing but may cause loss of self esteem and motivation: As you may know from personal experience, it is hard to stay on a diet. As you can see from the discussion above, it is unrealistic to expect yourself to stay on a diet forever. Sooner or later, you are going to fall off the wagon. Not only will you probably blame yourself for your "failure", but it will be one more on a list of failed weight loss plans, and you will begin to lose respect for yourself and will begin to believe that others have lost respect as well.
A diet may cause health problems: Any time you restrict the amount or variety of the foods you eat, you are reducing access to the nutrients your body needs for good health. Your diet may take you to the point that you are not getting the proper amount of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and even the fat that you need to stay healthy.
A diet may, in extreme cases, cause death: Simply put, if you take your diet to the extremes, you may cause extreme health problems and damage internal systems and organs to the point of death.
There is a weight loss program that works and is better than a diet: It has long been known that sensible eating habits together with regular physical activity, i.e. exercise, is the most effective means of weight loss. If you don't believe me, pick up almost any bottle of diet pills, or enroll in any diet program, and you will probably see a disclaimer to the effect that "...this product, when used in conjunction with proper exercise and nutrition will..." enhance weight loss, cause weight loss, encourage weight loss. You see, all the people who manufacture these articles know that exercise and nutrition are the keys to healthy weight loss.
Instead of a diet, learn how to eat properly, exercise properly, and you will be able to burn fat from your body.
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Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer. He is a graduate of the University of West Florida, a member of Mensa, and is retired from the U. S. Army. He writes articles on health, fitness, diet, and weight loss. Learn how to burn fat at http://nodiet4me.com/burn_fat.html
Surfer Girl Brag Rights: You Have the Right to Brag
Copyright 2006 Tobey Brown
The guys have it easy, that's all there is to it. Being a surfer girl is no easy task to endure. Just as there are other sports that are geared to the guy, the physical sport of surfing is yet another choice that is geared towards the male gender. In some cases, it is even hard to get surfing recognition. No more! Today, there are plenty of surf schools, surf camps, and even surfing girl spas that can lead us down the path of pretty awesome skills. That said, women have the right to brag about what they have accomplished here.
For example, consider why it is just a feat for women to accomplish something this complex. The male body is designed for power with muscle building ability much unlike the women's. Yet, how many guys make the most of this? In surfing, a strong, lean and flexible body is an absolute must. It takes quite a bit of work for the surfing girl to build up her body to this level, much more than for the guy.
What's more is that this was once nothing more than the guy's sport. Through time and a bit of need, there are now countless heats designed specifically for the woman surfer. They are just as competitive and just as awesome. Women are out there, competing and hitting the big waves with perfection, something that just was not done before this.
Consider the names of those world champs out there like Claire Bevilacqua, Kassia Meador, Holly Beck and Kim Mayer. These women have set the extreme sport of surfing into something that women can do to the best level.
If you are new to the sport of surfing or looking for a way in, then take note of the fact that these women are out there, making waves and having a great time doing it. What's more is that with so many opportunities like awesome surf camps designed to teach just women to surf, there is no doubt that more women will be out there in the line up.
So, do you think you have the right to brag? With a body that limits the power that can be had and a world dominated by men, when a woman wins the world championships (or even if she just gets out there and tries) it is definitely right to brag about doing it.
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Laura Dever is a staff writer for http://www.surfkooks.com. More information on women's surfing can be found at http://surfergirl.surfkooks.com . Send comments to: comments@surfkooks.com
