Many of us Americans are impatient people. We decide we want something and that means we have to have it NOW. This explains the reason for the average credit card debt being close to $9000, people over-extending themselves to buy bigger and nicer cars than they can really afford, and so on. The same theory holds true for losing weight.

New Year’s is just days away as I write this and people are going to be making their resolutions. Of course, the most popular one, year after year, is losing weight. People decide for whatever reason that they need to lose weight, usually for the sake of their looks and not to become more healthy. They expect to lose 20 pounds by February 1st because there are hundreds of products out there that say it is possible.

People spend millions of dollars a year on FAD diets. What is the hottest diet of the year, Adkins, South Beach? People join Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers and spend money on their food, because the programs only work with their food. How convenient! So, are they telling you that you will need to stay on their diets/programs for the rest of your life or you will get fat again?

I could fill this article with numerous statistics and facts to show you why it is important to lose weight. There is the ever popular heart disease, increased risk of cancer and many more. The problem is, people know why they should lose weight and don’t need the stats to explain it. The most important thing they need to realize is, they need to do it for themselves.

We are put on this Earth with only two guarantees, 1)life, 2) death. While we are living we need to maximize what time we have. Our body is our biggest resource and our biggest tool in life. People take better care of their cars or furniture in their homes than they do their bodies. Cars and furniture can be replaced, a human life cannot be.

So now you have decided to take your health seriously. Which diet, out of the hundreds, do you chose? The answer is none of them. A healthy life is not about diets, it is about changing your lifestyle. It is about common sense. It is about putting down that bag of Doritos at 10 pm for that late night snack. It is about exercise. It is about the combination of a sensible diet and exercise. If you do change your lifestyle and eat better and smarter, along with some moderate exercise, you will lose weight and become healthier. And, you will do it cheaper than if you splurge on the latest FAD diet. If all these diets were so good, why don’t they stick around long? The answer is, someone out there is trying to make some money off people by convincing them they have the cure for losing weight. They have the best diet, or some magical fat burning pill, or some belt that you wrap around you that burns fat. Don’t waste your money on these schemes designed to make someone else rich. You will need your money for the new clothes you will have to buy when you lose weight.

Scott Bianchi operates http://www.best-internet-bargains.com If you would like to be included in his mailing list when he publishes a new article send an email to articles@bestinternetbargains.com

We’ve all known for some time that breakfast is an integral part of the day. Now research has shown that, regardless of physical activity, eating high fibre cereal in the morning at least three times a week leads to having a lower body mass index. This study followed 2,300 teenage girls over ten years, and was conducted by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in the US.

One reason people skip breakfast is because they are trying to reduce their overall calorie intake. Whilst its important not to eat too many excess calories, having breakfast, even if its a simple smoothie, or a couple of pieces of fruit, will reduce the urge to snack on chocolate or other unhealthy options, as well as improving your performance at work and reducing fatigue. Sometimes its not just the overall calorie intake, but the types of foods we eat as well. Grab a couple of carrots instead of some toast - not only will you be getting fiber, but the phytochemicals such as carotene and other vitamins will help you get the most out of your body and your day. And if you’re a bit disorganized with buying fruit and vegetables, visit the local fruit street vendor on the way to your local coffee shop before work. It beats a muffin nutritionally.

And for the final word on going overboard with calorie restriction, recent research found that even though mice will live up to 50% longer by eating less, humans don’t. The most having a low calorie diet over your life would do is extend your time span on this earth by 7%.

Physiologically, having breakfast will in fact boost your metabolism. And its certainly a cheaper way to do that than investing in a bottle of diet pills.

A couple of weight loss tips for parents and expecting mothers. Early research has suggested that those mothers who eat excessively (think Britney Spears) have children who are more prone to being overweight by the time they are toddlers. This sets up food difficulties from a young age. And beware of teenagers or children who develop poor eating habits, combined with sedentary activities like playing playstation or xbox games too much, and watching television at the expense of even non-athletic activities like having a job or joining school clubs. These kids will have a greater tendency of growing into overweight or obese adults.

One key to integrating changes in your diet, whether with the goal of losing weight, or simply being more healthy, is to add variety. Its easy to get into a food rut, stuck for something tasty to eat that is also going to support our goals. Planning ahead, and doing a little research, can be one way of mitigating those moments when the urge to grab something unhealthy is driven by both hunger and unappetizing dishes.

Following are three breakfast recipes that will add a little variety to that all important meal, as well as supplying essential vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fiber.

Delicious Tropical Muesli
Serves 2 to 4. Preparation time - 10 minutes.

Ingredients

• Muesli - 100gm

• Wheat flakes- 50gm
• Apple - peeled and grated - 1no
• Low Fat or Skim Fruit Yogurt- 500gm
• Mango - peeled and cut into strips - 1no
• Passion fruit - pulp of 2
• Flaked almonds, toasted - 11/2 tsp

Preparation
Mix together muesli, wheat, apple and half the yogurt in a bowl and refrigerate covered overnight. Divide it into four serving bowls. Top evenly with remaining yogurt, mango, passion fruit pulp and flaked almonds and serve.

Choose plain low-fat yogurt for the fewest calories. Fruit and flavored products have extra calories. Nonfat yogurt sweetened with artificial sweetener is an option for dieters. Plain yogurt is the best choice for cooking.

Terrific Mango
Serves 2. Preparation time - 10 minutes.

Ingredients

• Mango- peeled and chopped -125 gram

• Chopped pineapple - 1 no
• Papaya- peeled and chopped- 125 gram
• Kiwi fruits - chopped- 2 no
• Tropical fruit juice - 150 ml
• Honey- 2 tablespoon

Preparation

Mix all the fruit pieces together and pour the fruit juice and honey on top. This is an excellent dish to start your day.

Summer Special Salad
Serves 4. Preparation time - 20 minutes.

Ingredients

• Water melon - 1 no (medium size)

• Tomato - kg
• Celery - 20 gram
• Orange -4 no
• Grapes -100 gram
• Pineapple (chopped) - 1 cup
• Raisins - 12 no
• Salt and pepper - to taste

Salad Dressing

• Salad oil - 6 tsp

• Mustard -2tsp
• Chopped onion - 2 no
• Pepper - 2tsp
• Sugar -1 tsp

Blend all the ingredients for the salad dressing in a mixer.

Preparation
Chop all the fruits and vegetables. Take the pulp out of the watermelon and put all the chopped fruits and tomatoes into the outer covering of the watermelon. Pour the salad dressing on top. Garnish with raisins.
Serve chilled.

Eating fruit and vegetables raw gives you many of their vitamins undiminished by cooking processes. It also means you get enzymes which are great for helping the digestive process. Watermelon is rich in vitamin C and is also one of the few sources of lycopene, others being tomatoes, red grapefruit and guava. Lycopene is a particularly effective antioxidant.

Rebecca Prescott runs a natural health website that includes articles on the science behind green tea weight loss, cla for weight loss, and reviews of Dr Atkins diet, and the zone diet.

Hypnosis in ancient times

The use of hypnosis as a therapeutic tool is as old as man himself. As far as can be traced back through time, we can find records of hypnosis being used to heal and to make change. Hypnosis has been used under many different names down through the centuries and the use of hypnosis for healing can be traced back to around 3000 BC in Egypt. Both the new and old testaments of the Bible speak of what could be deemed to be hypnosis, and the ancient Greeks and Romans had sleep temples where those seeking healing would be put into a trance like sleep. Their dreams, would be interpreted by the priests. By rhythmic drumming and monotonous chanting together with eye fixation, the Shaman of today can still produce catalepsy of the body and this helps to give the shaman the appearance of having magical powers just as they have done for centuries. Much of what has been done in the past by the village witchdoctor, shaman or wise woman, can be attributed to the fostering of a strong belief, conviction, expectation and imagination in the one being healed, and the chanting and singing often takes the form of what we would term as suggestion. After all, if the most powerful and magic person you know tells you will become well, you are very likely to do just that. Of course in many cases where such an individual administered to a sick person, they would have recovered eventually anyway, and this intervention just speeded up the healing process.

The mind - body connection

It has long been believed by many healers that body, thoughts and emotions can influence one another. Therefore it is possible to influence a physical sickness by working on and realizing particular emotions and by changing thoughts and behavioural patterns.

The Romans said “mens sana in corpore sano”, healthy mind in healthy body. This saying seems to confirm that for many centuries it has been believed that physical and emotional well-being have an effect on one another. To put this in perspective, only has to consider how our health declines after periods of stress or as a consequence of radical events.

The division between body and mind in medicine is something that only took place around 1750, with the scientific developments from Newton. Since then the mind and spirit have been considered to be under the jurisdiction of the church and the body under the jurisdiction of science. This is also the reason why non-Western kinds of medicine see the human being as a whole consisting of body, mind and soul.

Traumatic experiences are not only stored on an emotional level but also on the physical level. The emotional charge of the different traumas can influence our immune system and health conditions. Through processing old traumas and the emotional charges that are connected to a certain sickness it is possible to find resources inside of us that could help us start the healing process.

Modern hypnosis

Modern hypnosis began with Anton Mesmer (1734 - 1815) in the 18th Century. Mesmer was a medical graduate from the famed medical school of Vienna and after studying as a Jesuit priest, he became interested in magnetism. Mesmer became Europe’s foremost expert at magnetic healing, where magnets where passed over the body to effect a healing. His results where fabulous and so he became very famous. Mesmer believed all living things contained a kind of magnetic ‘fluid’ and if a person had enough of this fluid, they would be healthy. This is where the term “animal magnetism” comes from. Mesmer forgot his magnets one day and so just made passes over the patient with his hands and was surprised to find that they got better. From there on, he thought he had sufficient magnetic fluid in himself top effect the cures.

The early pioneers

James Braid (1795-1860) coined the terms hypnotism and hypnosis, in 1843. He was a Scottish surgeon working in Manchester. He found that some people could go into a trance if there eyes where fixated on a bright object like a pocket watch for instance. He believed that a neurological process was involved and that the process could be very useful when no organic origin could be found for a person’s disorder.

James Esdaile (1808-1859) another Scottish surgeon working in India would use eye fixation to prepare a patient for surgery and slow sweeping motions, putting them into a deep hypnotic sleep, causing full amnesia throughout the body.

James Braid and James Esdaile where among the first who could be called ’scientific’ in their research and use of hypnosis. These pioneers removed hypnosis from the realms of mysticism, and started experimenting with what could really be done with it to help people with their disorders. Other scientific pioneers include, Liebeault, Bernheim, Brewer and Freud. Unfortunately the great man himself, Freud, was responsible for hypnotherapy being shelved by many for some time when he abandoned it’s use for a while.

Acceptance of hypnosis as a healing art

Amongst those individuals who have been fundamental to the current view of hypnosis are: Milton Erikson, Ormond McGill, Charles Tebbetts and Dave Elman.

Ormond McGill was, it is true a stage hypnotist, but he preserved the public interest in hypnosis, but then the great Charles Tebbetts was involved in stage hypnosis in the early part of his career, but these were different times to those we live in today and stage hypnosis brought about a desire to know more about this curious art and therefore introduced many of the people who moved the therapeutic use of hypnotherapy forward through the last (20th) century.

Dave Elman brought some measure of acceptance to hypnosis from the medical profession in the USA when the Council on Medical health of the American Medical Association accepted the use of hypnotherapy in 1958.

Probably the most important contributor to the acceptance of hypnotherapy as both an art and a science, was the grandfather of hypnotherapy - Dr Milton Erikson. Dr Erikson was a psychiatrist and hypnotherapist with outstanding professional credentials and because of his solid medical background he had credibility within the medical profession. Other people worthy of note for their contribution to the advancement of hypnotherapy as a healing art and as a science in the 20th century are: Rosen, Abramson, Menninger, Shenek, Magonet, Wolberg, LeCron, Bordeaux, Wetzenhoffer, Erwin and Simonton, who continues to do amazing things with cancer patients using mental imagery and focusing on beliefs and belief systems amongst other things.

©2005 Alan Crisp. All rights reserved.

Alan Crisp DHP, has a busy Clinical Hypnotherapy practice in Beckenham, kent England. He specialises in stress and anxiety related conditions including panic-attacks, phobias, IBS, etc. Alan can be contacted to arrange a free of charge initial consultation on 020 8658 4290 or alancrisp@yourtruth.co.uk. http://www.yourtruth.co.uk

Diets will not allow you to achieve your fitness goal. Your fitness goal can only be achieved by a major lifestyle change that includes nutritionally balanced meals and regular exercise. However, when most people think of being on a diet, they immediately think of eating less, or doing without with their favorite foods. Eating less simply to lose weight is a flawed dieting technique, that usually accomplishes a short term weight loss, followed by long term weight gain.

A diet’s success or failure is really governed by the same laws of physics that rule all energy transformations. A calorie is a unit of energy, and the law of conservation of energy states that energy sources can neither be created nor destroyed, the calories you eat must either be expended or conserved.

So if you eat too many calories the excess is stored in the body as fat. If you eat too few calories to support your daily needs, you’ll have to reach into where your excesses are stored in order to maintain an energy balance. Your body must maintain an equal energy balance (Homeostasis) or gains or losses will take place. If calories are restricted, your body will do whatever it needs to do in order to achieve a balance in energy and fat reserves.

When calories are restricted, your body will begin to break down other nutrients to compensate for the lack of energy. Your body however, doesn’t selectively break down just one nutrient, it breaks down them all, stored fats, protein and carbohydrates. If you are trying to lose fat, it’s good that your body is breaking down the fat stores, but it is also breaking down protein, which is stored in your muscles and carbohydrates are broken down from muscle glycogen stores. Your body breaks down all three to get the energy supply that it needs.

Your body can’t keep breaking down muscle forever so what it does is reduce your Basal Metabolic rate to conserve energy. Your body will now need less energy to achieve the energy balance it needs. Now the restricted amounts of calories that were once helping you lose weight are no longer doing the trick.

One of the more popular and most dangerous methods for weight loss is to reduce or eliminate the amount of carbohydrates you consume. When Carbohydrates are reduced or eliminated you will lose weight, basically because one gram of carbohydrates needs 2.7 grams of water for storage. When you restrict the amount of carbohydrates you eat, you’ll not only use up your carbohydrate stores to meet energy demands, you’ll also lose large amounts of water during this process, not to mention the lean tissue mass that will be lost. You should also know that you cannot store fat unless insulin is released by your body and the only way your body can produce insulin is when you eat carbohydrates.

About 24 hours after you stop eating carbohydrates, your body begins to break down fat at a very rapid rate in order to receive a substitute for the carbohydrates it is not getting. This is extremely dangerous and could result in death if allowed to progress too far. During this process of turning fat to energy, Ketones are created and you are known to be in a state of Ketosis. In a mild state of Ketosis, your body is depleting fat stores faster than any other type of diet. You can even eat large amounts of Fat and Protein while on this diet and still lose weight. Low Carbohydrate diets which include 50 grams or 200 calories of carbohydrates can cause weakness, apathy, fatigue, vomiting and dehydration. You should not even consider this diet without consulting your family doctor.

If you lose muscle mass, your metabolic rate slows and you burn fewer calories. If you gain muscle mass your metabolic rate increases and you burn more calories. In fact one pound of Fat burns just two calories a day to maintain itself, whereby one pound of lean body mass burns 30 to 50 calories a day to maintain itself.

Exercise, especially weight training, will stimulate and maintain lean muscle mass if you are eating a balanced diet. If you are exercising and not eating properly, your body has no choice but to reach into your muscles and get the nutrients it needs. This will cause you to lose what you are trying so hard to build, muscle mass.

A Typical Dieter Case Study:

Let say our person starts out weighing 150 pounds with a 25 percent body Fat level. (37.5 lbs. of Fat and 112.50 lbs. of lean body mass)

For one reason or another our person overeats and gains 20 lbs. of fat. This persons body fat composition changes so that they now weigh 170 lbs. with a 33.8 percent body fat level. (57.50 lbs. of fat and 112.50 lbs. of lean body mass)

In a panic to lose the weight quickly, our typical diet occurs, with our dieter eating less than 1,000 kcal. a day and skipping meals. When crash dieting to lose the 20 lbs., remember your body composition will change because the 20 lbs. you will lose will not be the same 20 lbs. you gained. Your weight loss will be part fat and part muscle. Your back to weighing 150 lbs. but your body fat level is no longer 25 percent it’s 30.3 percent. (45.5 lbs. of fat and 104.5 lbs. of lean body mass)

Our typical dieter eventually falls back into old eating habits and before you know it, they’ve gained back the 20 lbs. they lost. Once again the weight gain is Fat, and they’re back weighing 170 lbs. with a body fat percentage of 38.5 percent. (65.5 lbs. of fat and 104.5 lbs. of lean body mass)

Once again our person diets, losing the 20 lbs. and returns to their weight of 150 lbs.(53.50 lbs. of fat and 96.5 lbs. of lean body mass) The person is back to their original weight, but throughout the years, their body fat composition has changed from 25 percent to 36.6 percent!

This person is getting fatter with each dieting episode. Part of the reason for this is the persons metabolic rate has slowed down because they have lost muscle mass. Yet they continue to eat like they always did. Without changing your eating habits and the number of calories you consume, you are doomed to gain your weight back. Even when you look in the mirror, you may be your original weight, but your body composition has changed so much through years of dieting that you don’t like your reflection. The feeling now is, that you must continue to diet to achieve a better image.

As long as typical dieter seek immediate gratification and tries to shed weight as quickly as possible, there is virtually no chance they will ever achieve their fitness goal.

Another pitfall is your bathroom scale. It shows gains that aren’t really there and can’t tell the difference between fat, water and muscle. Your weight also fluctuates by several pounds throughout the day and weighing yourself too much is not only confusing but discouraging as well. You can’t help but be affected by the numbers. If you must weigh yourself do it only once a week and at the same time of day, in order to get consistent results. Don’t let the bathroom scale rule your mood or determine the degree of your success and the key to your success is a strong foundation.

Adopting a healthy lifestyle doesn’t happen overnight. If you want it to last, you need to adopt healthy habits and perform them one step at a time.

Glenn Freiboth is a Certified Health Advisor that lives in Naperville, Illinois and has helped many lose weight. Medifast Weight Loss products and programs can be found at
http://www.GetYouHealth.com

AbGONE is another new product to hit the shelves as an abdominal
fat-buster. Slick marketing by so-called belly-bulge busters has
always been effective because the marketing relieves the guilt
of the overweight person by ad-libbing, “You are not
responsible. It’s not your fault you’re overweight, ‘Cortisol’
is the culprit.” Cortisol is a stress hormone, which in excess
levels leads to fat deposition and obesity.

AbGONE too toes this marketing line with the claim: “AbGONE is
designed to support healthy abdominal fat loss and help minimize
cortisol levels that have been linked to abdominal fat and can
cause fat gain.” About AbGONE

The manufacturer of AbGONE, Biotech Research, has referred to
abdominal fat research conducted at various institutions
including: Yale, University of Pittsburgh and UCLA. It is true
that there has been much research conducted regarding abdominal
fat deposits and how to reduce it - i.e., substances identified
that contribute to decreases in abdominal fat stores. AbGONE
claims to have these fat reducing substances, however, these
claims are a bit vague, as they are not substantiated with any
specific supportive data. The manufacturer has not made explicit
reference to any particular ingredient, or to the combination of
ingredients that can reduce abdominal fat. AbGONE professes to
contain three components that are vital to reducing abdominal
fat, however the product information and marketing never states
which component is actually responsible for reduction in
abdominal fat. Biotech Research’s marketing would be more
authentic and more helpful if they provided more information
regarding the product components. On one hand, however, it is
very comforting to know that AbGONE does not contain any harmful
stimulants, including Ephedra.

So what’s in AbGONE?

The list of ingredients contained in AbGONE includes: Chromium,
Dandelion Root & Leaf powder, AbGONE blend of Phosphatidylserine
& CLA (conjugated linoleic acid oil L-Leucine L-Isoleucine
L-Valine). The amount of each of the product ingredients is not
divulged, as it is stated by Biotech Research to be a
“proprietary blend.”

Let’s take a look at the ingredients to determine the intended
use of each:

1) Phosphatidylserine is a compound known as a phospholipid. It
is has been found by at least one study to reduce muscle
soreness - possibly due to its cortisol suppression, as,
cortisol is known to break down muscle tissue. The normal dosage
of phosphatidyleserine for enhancing sports performance is up to
800 mg per day. It is not an essential nutrient supplement, as
your body makes all that it needs. Phosphatidylserine is not
contraindicated with any known medication and its long-term use
is safe.

2) CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) is a free fatty acid derived
mostly from safflower oil. Studies have shown that CLA is
considered a safe weight loss product that can increase lean
body mass and decrease fat. It occurs naturally in whole milk,
cheese and red meat. L-Leucine is an essential branched-chain
amino acid important for hemoglobin formation.

L-Isoleucine, an isomer of Leucine, is an essential
branched-chain aliphatic amino acid found in many proteins; it
is important in hemoglobin synthesis and regulation of blood
sugar and energy levels.

L-Valine is a branched-chain essential amino acid that has
stimulant activity; it promotes muscle growth and tissue repair.

3) Dandelion Root & Leaf Powder is useful as a mild diuretic -
i.e., reducing excess water retention.

4) Chromium Picolinate is very useful for balancing blood sugar
levels.

AbGONE asserts that it is a major breakthrough product
containing ingredients that target fat and water that accumulate
in the abdomen causing a potbelly. This claim is solely based on
the mere inclusion of ingredients like Phosphatidylserine,
Dandelion Root & Leaf Powder and Conjugated Linoleic Acid. Where
is the clinical evidence to support this fact? As a sidebar,
based on available research studies we know that the typical
dosage of phosphatidylserine for enhancing sports performance is
approximately 800 mg per day, however, we do not know the amount
of phosphatidylserine or any of the other ingredients in the
AbGONE formula because of its “proprietary blend.” It is
therefore difficult to assess if there is enough of any
particular ingredient in this product to achieve positive
results. It would be to Biotech’s advantage to disclose
additional product information in order to dispel any doubts
created regarding the composition of the product.

Bottom line on AbGone. The product is big on promises and
delivers no scientific validation to support the claim that it
will truly decrease abdominal fat. This product hardly impresses
me.

It is a fact that over 75% of people who lose weight put that weight back on within a year and of those who put it back on a further 50% will actually put on more weight than they started with in the first place!

How is that for a scary fact?

What I am about to tell you will help you to reduce your weight and help you to keep it at a level you are happy with. You will notice I have put the word help in bold text, this is because this is just the start to reducing your weight and it is without doubt the most important gift you could give to your body to help that weight reduction.

Do you know what a ph scale is?

A ph scale is a measurement guide to acidity and alkalinity. It is a sliding scale from 1 to 14 where 1 is completely acidic and 14 is completely alkaline. This means that 7 is completely neutral, neither acid nor alkali.

Why is this so important? Well our bodies are a fine balance between acid and alkali and the optimum level for our bodies to be at is 7.36 which is just slightly alkali. If you are over weight I guarantee that you body is acidic because that is basically what fat is, stored acid that your body has not been able to break down.

When you start to get your body back towards the optimum level of 7.36 your body will automatically react to get rid of some of the waste acid it is currently holding on to. But your body needs help to become more alkaline and to get rid of this waste.

Fortunately there is a product which is a solution to both of these areas and it is called ‘water’ that’s right - water.

I am sure that you have heard people say many times ‘you should drink at least 6-8 glasses of water per day’, do you take any notice?
I am guessing that you are now in one of the 3 following categories:

1. You have heard people say this and you now do drink this amount of water per day.

2. You have heard people say this but you just can’t be bothered because it means you will go to the toilet more often.

3. You have heard people say this and you just don’t believe them.

I am here to tell you that you absolutely must drink at least 2 litres (3 would be better but do not exceed 3) of alkalizing water (bottled mineral water preferably) per day. This water will re-alkalize your body therefore giving your body chance to get rid of the excess acid it has been storing and it will help get rid of this waste through your natural systems (again I am not going to graphic on this).

I guarantee that if you start to drink at least 2 litres of water per day you will start to feel the effects within a fortnight. But before you rush off to get a glass right now…………. No actually go get yourself a nice big glass full I will wait for you…….

Are you back, excellent.

There is something else you can do to help your body’s alkali levels and that is to drink green drinks. You can either get these ready made or you can get powders to mix with your water to produce a green drink.

Green drinks are made from all natural ingredients that are high in alkali levels which is obviously superb for your body. Search the net for green drinks there are numerous ones out there.

I personally drink 2 to 3 litres per day of green drinks and since I started I have found a massive difference to my life.

So there you have it, you now know the greatest gift you can give to your body to help you reduce your weight.

Graham Nicholls 2006

Graham Nicholls is an expert in weight reduction. His expertese comes from personal experience having reduced his weight by over 4 stones (56 pounds)
Check out his website at;

http://www.change-your-diet.com

PINEAPPLE AND PAPAYAS

Medical authorities say that pineapples and papayas can relieve arthritis pain.

Research shows that pineapples and papayas have potent anti-inflammatory properties from high levels of bromelain and papain, which are natural enzymes. These enzymes reduce the inflammation in two ways.

First, the enzymes neutalize hormones in the body called prostaglandins. These are chemicals that spark pain in the body’s nerve cells.

Second, they reduce painful pressure from fluid buildup in the joints. This is achieved by the enzyme dissolving joint debris, like tiny bone chips, calcium deposits, dead tissue and blood cells that can clog joints, leaving them stiff and swollen. University teams have found that eating the fruits can diminish inflammation by 25%.

Bromelain and papain can turn a leathery-tough steak buttery soft, so you can imagine what they will do for stiffened joints. It will loosen them and restore movement. One of the most important functions of bromelain is to neutralize free radicals, the destructive compounds produced when the body uses oxygen.

Pineapple is also rich in vitamens B1 and B6, which also helps to ease arthritic pain, while papaya is one of the highest sources of vitamin C. Both of these fruits are low in calories - 40 to 80 calories per cup - and promote good digestion and the elimination of toxins and waste in the body.

GINGER

Ginger contains proteolytec which is a digestive enzyme similar to those found in papaya and pineapple. Ginger stimulates circulation in the digestive tract, helping to speed up the delivery of nutients to the bloodstream and increases muscle tone in the stomach. Ginger’s proteolytec enzymes are also valuable for nutritionally supporting the joints. Ginger has been successflly used for centuries as an anti-inflammatory.

Ginger tea compresses may be used to relieve arthritic pain and headaches. Keep a batch of ginger tea ice cubes in the freezer for making the compresses. This way, both hot and cold ginger remedies are readily available. For arthritic aches, soak a wash cloth in warmed ginger tea and apply to the site of the pain. Repeat as necessary.

For tension headaches, soak a clean wash cloth in melted (but still cold) ginger tea ice cubes. Place cold compress on the back of the neck or shoulders for 15 - 20 minutes. Repeat with fresh cool tea as necessary.

Ginger is naturally rich in assorted phytochemicals that work collectively to nourish and support the entire cardiovascular system. Functions such as blood pressure, cholestral absorption, blood clotting, and circulation are all nutritionally benefited.

To read the rest of the article please go to:
http://naturesway.50webs.com/

June Parker lived in Hawaii for forty years where she studied and practiced herbal healing and lived a drug free, organic life style.
http://naturesway.50webs.com/