Some of the Related Articles Recently Published by Stephen Lau:
Good Food Planning Means Good Weight Control
Little Things May Make a Big Difference in Weight Loss
The Frustration and Futility of Weight Loss
Avoid Processed-Food Obesity
Diet and Your Orgasm
For more articles b Stephen Lau, click here.
GOOD FOOD PLANNING MEANS GOOD WEIGHT CONTROL
(Published: 29 January 2009)
Copyright© 2009 by Stephen Lau
In contemporary living, weight control is difficult: nowadays, the busy and hectic lifestyle demands so much of your time and energy that you may frequently skip your gym sessions, or easily grab something in lieu of a proper nutritional meal on your way to work or on the road.
Dieting is indeed a difficult endeavor. Without dieting, weight control is even more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Without proper planning, your food and fitness choices will be more limited, making your dieting difficult to follow through.
Therefore, to be successful in dieting or weight control, you should not leave healthy eating to chance. This is where food planning plays a pivotal role in weight loss. Planning means taking time to prepare your meals in advance. Even for snacks, you should get them ready at your office desk or in your car, so that you will not be munching cookies or chips. Good food planning takes away the daily stress, which often contributes to binge eating.
Supermarkets are designed in such a way to entice you to shop longer and spend more. Some grocery stores' layout requires you to navigate through aisles of tempting food items. Good food planning means you shop with a list, so you would know exactly what to buy - or what not to buy. You need not browse through different shelves to get what you want. Never shop when you are hungry. Resist the temptation of items displayed on the check-out lanes, which are either sugary or loaded with fat. Always plan ahead in your grocery shopping to reduce the number of trips to the supermarket to save you money as well as to help you lose weight.
Prepare your meals at home rather than eating the packaged food items, which are often loaded with calories and chemicals. If you cook your meals yourself, you can make them healthy and control how much you are going to eat. This is an important component in any weight-loss program.
Break the habit of eating only certain types of food at a certain time of day. A bowl of oatmeal can be your lunch too! If you don't have time to sit down for breakfast, you can have a turkey sandwich with whole grain bread and some fresh vegetables both for breakfast and lunch. That saves you time and hassle.
Planning meals ahead of time (do your planning on weekends) helps weight control. Decide what you want to eat for the whole week, and then go to the supermarket to get all the ingredients you need for the week. Prepare your meals in advance. Store and freeze your leftovers in individual containers.
Having food cravings is not uncommon. Prepare yourself for your cravings for sugary and salty food by planning ahead and having healthier alternatives available, such as low-fat soy crisps (120 calories), an apple (80 calories), and a bag of skittles (250 calories). Always include a healthy treat into your weight-loss plan, so you would not feel deprivation or hunger. Plan to have ready-to-eat food items, such as a bag of baby carrots, strawberries, or grapes. Plan to have foods which provide some protein, fiber, and good fats within the 200 and 250 calorie range.
Food planning means you keep a list of healthy foods, snacks, and meals you enjoy. Plan to have several options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Good food planning provides you with more freedom and variety to make dieting a joy not a pain.
LITTLE THINGS MA MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN WEIGHT LOSS
(published: 23 January 2009)
Copyright © 2009 by Stephen Lau
In weight loss, people tend to look at the big picture, which is to shed those extra pounds, and losing those pounds focuses on diet - more specifically, on what to eat, and what not to eat. However, weight loss is more than just that. As Oprah Winfrey told People magazine: "My greatest failure was in believing that the weight issue was just about weight." Weight loss is a very complex matter. As such, even little things may make a big difference in your weight loss.
Brushing your teeth may help you lose a few extra pounds. If you think you cannot stop eating or unable to resist the temptation to continue eating, brushing your teeth will change the flavor in your mouth, and thereby instrumental in ending the binge eating. Brushing your teeth earlier before bedtime may also change your mind about snacking before going to bed. Always take travel-size tooth brush with mint-flavor tooth paste wherever you go. This may help you shed a few extra pounds.
Spices may help weight loss by making you eat less. For one reason, when you eat a hot chili pepper or hot curry, you tend to drink more water, and water gives you a feeling of fullness, which may curb your appetite. For another, spices help you stop your sugar cravings. When you cook dessert, such as baked apples, pears, and sweet potatoes, always add clove, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla. These spices may satisfy your sugar cravings without giving you the fat, sugar, and calories that will add to your weight.
Studies have shown that people have a tendency to eat much more (about 40 to 70 percent more than they normally do) when eating with a group of people. The explanation is simple: people tend to follow the eating behaviors of the majority; on these occasions, the mealtime is usually protracted with social conversation and interaction, conducive to an environment of drinking and eating. To overcome this eating behavior, be the last person to start eating; let others start the high-calorie appetizers, and leave them to finish what is left on the dining table. Adopting this simple eating behavior pattern will help you reduce many unnecessary calories.
If you love chocolate and cannot resist the temptation of chocolate, simply switch to dark chocolate, instead of milk chocolate; this simple switch will save you hundreds of calories.
People who have a weight problem usually love to eat, and those who love food always prefer different varieties to satisfy their palate. Accordingly, food manufacturers have come up with a variety of flavors to lure consumers into trying each and every one of them. For example, one leading manufacturer of snacks produces as many as 150 different types of chips with different flavors and different texture in different packs, while another soda drink company offers hundreds of different flavors. Avoid falling into these traps. Stick to only one flavor - your favorite one. Don't even attempt to try every other flavor, thinking you will settle for the one you like best. The reality is that you may end up loving several ones, and this only gives you the excuse to eat more.
Trying different varieties may also apply to the combo in fast food restaurants. Go for a burger (the advice here is, of course, to avoid eating one totally) only, and not the fries and the milkshake. A cheeseburger with large fries and a milkshake will give you a whopping 1800 calories - more than what you will need for the whole day.
Going to bed 15 minutes earlier than you normally do may also help you lose weight. The reason is that sleep deprivation may reduce your body's production of leptin, a hormone that suppresses your appetite. By going to bed before your normal bedtime may help you get more sleep to increase your leptin. Also, you burn calories while you sleep.
Weight loss is more than just eating less. Every little thing you do may help you lose more.
THE FRUSTRATION AND FUTILITY OF WEIGHT LOSS
(Published: 14 January, 2009)
Copyright © 2009 by Stephen Lau
Nowadays, everybody wants to lose weight. Weight loss has become a fad and fancy. You see so many credible testimonials, and so many before-and-after pictures of individuals who have ultimately achieved their goals in weight loss.
Are they for real? Are they "real" people who have "real" results in weight loss? You just wonder. Well, to give them the benefit of the doubt, they may be real, but they are few and far between. In the real world, unfortunately, there are millions who have fallen victims in the battle of the bulge. Not only are they frustrated in their futile attempts to lose weight, but they are also much worse off than they were when they began the process of weight loss.
Indeed, to lose weight is frustrating and futile. Seeing others' success and witnessing your own miserable failure is a devastating experience.
The problem of weight loss may look complex, but it is simple in reality. Your ancestors did not have a problem with losing weight. However, the problem may look complex nowadays because it has become insurmountable. Indeed, weight loss is difficult and almost impossible to many. As such, there are myriads of approaches to the problem of losing weight, resulting in an array of programs purported to solve this seemingly-insolvable complex problem of contemporary society.
In spite of medical advancement, man has yet to come up with a pill that can eradicate all weight problems. But we are getting very close to that: medical science has enabled us to do almost anything with our body system, such as stopping food cravings, eliminating excess fat, changing body metabolism, and decreasing appetite. To date, it has not come up with something that will guarantee weight loss permanently.
On the market there are innumerable programs telling you to eat less or not at all (fasting), to cut calories, to consume more or less fat, to exercise vigorously, to use food combination, such as protein and carbohydrate, among others. To name a few, you have the Atkins, the South Beach, the Weight Watchers, and even Cabbage Soup, Peanut Butter, and Ice Cream diets. The consumer is at a loss as to what to do with their weight problems. Some decide to give up totally, ignoring their weight problems, and continue with their current lifestyles and eating habits, while others pursue these programs diligently. Unfortunately, they all end up with more or less the same result: ultimate weight gain.
So, what is the problem with weight loss?
The problem is that we all want a "quick fix" to the problem of weight gain and weight loss. Worse, we want it right away. You could have a Botox injection a few hours before you go to a social occasion, and you would look gorgeous. But you may have difficulty in losing your extra pounds and fitting yourself into the dress you wish to wear on a special occasion, such as a wedding, a few months down the road.
The problem with all these fad diets and gimmicks of eating is that they only address the symptoms and not the causes. Most of them promote weight loss through loss of water from the body, while the body fat remains. So, once you resume "normal" eating, you are back to square one - at an unhealthy weight.
The problem with most dieting is that it targets only the physical side of eating.
But weight loss involves more than the physical body: the mental, the intellectual, the emotional, and the spiritual aspects of the self have to be taken into consideration. Weight loss is not just about your body: it is all about YOU - a unique individual. How eating affects the mind, the emotions, the thinking, and the attitudes to living may vary in different individuals. And that explains why some come out triumphant in the struggle against weight problems, while others emerge totally frustrated and disappointed.
AVOID PROCESSED-FOOD OBESITY
(Published: 6 January, 2009)
Copyright © 2009 by Stephen Lau
If you are serious about weight loss or weight management, you should avoid all types of processed food, which is flooding supermarket shelves.
Yes, eating processed food makes you fat! In fact, it plays a pivotal role in the obesity crisis in the United States, where one out of every three adults is obese - that is, 20 percent over the ideal weight for height.
What is processed food?
Any food item that comes in a box, bag, or carton is processed. Basically, it is high-calorie and low-quality food .You can easily get it not only from fast-food restaurants but also from supermarkets. On average, an individual spends at least 60 percent of his or her money on food to buy processed food.
What is wrong with it? And how does it make you fat?
Take a loaf of white wheat bread that you pick up at a supermarket.
The manufacturer removes the outer shell of the grain of wheat of that loaf of bread. By doing so, your white wheat bread has little or no fiber because it is the outer shell of the grain that provides fiber to your body. Fiber makes you feel fuller and less hungry, and therefore you eat less. In the process of removing the outer shell of the grain of wheat, essential fats and vitamin E are also removed.
What remains in the loaf of bread is the starch of the grain, which is then ground into fine powder, and subsequently bleached white. In that process, most of the remaining vitamins and nutrients are lost.
The loaf of white bread is essentially deficient in vitamins and minerals. To make it qualified as "food", the manufacturer has to add fortified man-made vitamins and minerals, which are only chemicals aimed at meeting the requirements of FDA to be qualified as "food".
To make it palatable to the consumer, the manufacturer has to add sugar, salt, artificial flavorings, and partially hydrogenated fats to that loaf of bread. To extend the product's shelf-lifespan, preservatives are also added.
So, you can see why eating a loaf of white bread does not satisfy your hunger: it provides only empty calories. In other words, you have been short-changed in your purchase. When your body does not get the nutrients it requires, it tells you to eat more. The more processed food you eat, the more nutrient-deficient you become, the more you would want to eat, and the more weight you would gain. The result is obesity.
Weight gain can be explained by the way your body stores fat. When you eat too much carbohydrates and sugars (which are usually the main components of processed food), your body increases its production of insulin from your pancreas to lower your blood sugar when it becomes too high. However, insulin not only causes your body to store fat but also prevents your body from burning fat stored for energy. This double whammy results in rapid weight gain.
In the above scenario when your pancreas secrets more insulin to lower the elevated blood sugar, your blood sugar may become too low that it may affect the functioning of your brain, which needs glucose. When your brain does not get the glucose it requires, it automatically sends signals of food cravings, hunger, and mood swings - which are symptoms of food addiction. You want to eat more sugar and starch. Thus, begins the vicious cycle of binge eating.
Eating processed or convenient food only conveniently makes you fat. Eat naturally to avoid processed food obesity.
DIET AND YOUR ORGASM
(Published: 22 December, 2008)
Copyright © by 2008 Stephen Lau
Sex is an important aspect of life. Sex is a complex matter: it involves many of your body organs in order to produce the desire that culminates in the sexual act that produces the sensations of sex and orgasm.
Diet plays a pivotal role in your sex and orgasm. First and foremost, you must be healthy in order to perform (in the case of men) the very sexual act, and to enjoy sex (orgasm in the case of women).
Orgasm or the enjoyment of sex is based on the sensation of pleasure, which is preceded by the enhancement of anticipation and desire. Yes, it is all in the mind. But the body affects the mind as well, and accordingly your diet has an overall impact on your sex life.
According to research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), fish oil not only improves your cardiovascular health but also reduces depression and aggression. In other words, fish oil elevates the dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter of the sensation of pleasure. Dopamine holds the key to female sexual pleasure or orgasm. In addition, male erection is contingent on a healthy heart to send sufficient blood to the male organ to produce the desired erection necessary to accomplish the sexual act.
Saturated and monounsaturated fats (from meat, poultry, and dairy products) also enhance the dopamine in your body. Therefore, a fat-free diet may help you lose not only your weight but also your sexual desire. Fish oil is a safe, healthy, and non-addictive way to effectively elevate the dopamine levels in your body to give you the desire, the performance, and the orgasm in sex. Trans fats (synthetic fats manufactured from other fats) in junk food and commercial basked goods will negate the effect of the fish oil you consume.
In addition to dopamine, serotonin is another neurotransmitter responsible for better sex in that it improves your overall mood and relieves stress that may result in performance anxiety in men and prevent women from reaching an orgasm.
That said, too much serotonin may not be good. Depressed individuals are often prescribed antidepressants to artificially raise their serotonin levels, resulting in lower libido and orgasmic capability. Remember, anything that produces a high is generally followed by a low - which could be damaging to sex. Therefore, avoid caffeine in tea, coffee, sodas, and chocolate. Even a diet of carbohydrates with no protein may spike the serotonin level, upsetting the balance. The key is to maintain a balanced serotonin level in your body for maximum enjoyment of sex.
The American culture is affected by the billion-dollar soy industry: you find soy in everything - from tofu, soy milk, to snack bars. Protein is important to your diet and your sexual health, but it need not come from soy alone. Soy may be good for menopausal women, but too much soy may adversely affect your testosterone levels, and testosterone governs sexual desire.
Changing the way you eat, and eating right will invigorate your sex life. Eat more fish - not the farm-raised ones. If you plan to take the fish oil supplement, get the "fish oil" rather than the fish oil with a particular fish, such as "salmon fish oil" or "cod liver oil." A word of warning, overdosing on fish oil can lead to a risk of hemorrhage due to the blood-thinning properties of fish oil, so be careful. A balanced diet makes you sexually healthy.
Good Food Planning Means Good Weight Control
Little Things May Make a Big Difference in Weight Loss
The Frustration and Futility of Weight Loss
Avoid Processed-Food Obesity
Diet and Your Orgasm
For more articles b Stephen Lau, click here.
GOOD FOOD PLANNING MEANS GOOD WEIGHT CONTROL
(Published: 29 January 2009)
Copyright© 2009 by Stephen Lau
In contemporary living, weight control is difficult: nowadays, the busy and hectic lifestyle demands so much of your time and energy that you may frequently skip your gym sessions, or easily grab something in lieu of a proper nutritional meal on your way to work or on the road.
Dieting is indeed a difficult endeavor. Without dieting, weight control is even more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Without proper planning, your food and fitness choices will be more limited, making your dieting difficult to follow through.
Therefore, to be successful in dieting or weight control, you should not leave healthy eating to chance. This is where food planning plays a pivotal role in weight loss. Planning means taking time to prepare your meals in advance. Even for snacks, you should get them ready at your office desk or in your car, so that you will not be munching cookies or chips. Good food planning takes away the daily stress, which often contributes to binge eating.
Supermarkets are designed in such a way to entice you to shop longer and spend more. Some grocery stores' layout requires you to navigate through aisles of tempting food items. Good food planning means you shop with a list, so you would know exactly what to buy - or what not to buy. You need not browse through different shelves to get what you want. Never shop when you are hungry. Resist the temptation of items displayed on the check-out lanes, which are either sugary or loaded with fat. Always plan ahead in your grocery shopping to reduce the number of trips to the supermarket to save you money as well as to help you lose weight.
Prepare your meals at home rather than eating the packaged food items, which are often loaded with calories and chemicals. If you cook your meals yourself, you can make them healthy and control how much you are going to eat. This is an important component in any weight-loss program.
Break the habit of eating only certain types of food at a certain time of day. A bowl of oatmeal can be your lunch too! If you don't have time to sit down for breakfast, you can have a turkey sandwich with whole grain bread and some fresh vegetables both for breakfast and lunch. That saves you time and hassle.
Planning meals ahead of time (do your planning on weekends) helps weight control. Decide what you want to eat for the whole week, and then go to the supermarket to get all the ingredients you need for the week. Prepare your meals in advance. Store and freeze your leftovers in individual containers.
Having food cravings is not uncommon. Prepare yourself for your cravings for sugary and salty food by planning ahead and having healthier alternatives available, such as low-fat soy crisps (120 calories), an apple (80 calories), and a bag of skittles (250 calories). Always include a healthy treat into your weight-loss plan, so you would not feel deprivation or hunger. Plan to have ready-to-eat food items, such as a bag of baby carrots, strawberries, or grapes. Plan to have foods which provide some protein, fiber, and good fats within the 200 and 250 calorie range.
Food planning means you keep a list of healthy foods, snacks, and meals you enjoy. Plan to have several options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Good food planning provides you with more freedom and variety to make dieting a joy not a pain.
LITTLE THINGS MA MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN WEIGHT LOSS
(published: 23 January 2009)
Copyright © 2009 by Stephen Lau
In weight loss, people tend to look at the big picture, which is to shed those extra pounds, and losing those pounds focuses on diet - more specifically, on what to eat, and what not to eat. However, weight loss is more than just that. As Oprah Winfrey told People magazine: "My greatest failure was in believing that the weight issue was just about weight." Weight loss is a very complex matter. As such, even little things may make a big difference in your weight loss.
Brushing your teeth may help you lose a few extra pounds. If you think you cannot stop eating or unable to resist the temptation to continue eating, brushing your teeth will change the flavor in your mouth, and thereby instrumental in ending the binge eating. Brushing your teeth earlier before bedtime may also change your mind about snacking before going to bed. Always take travel-size tooth brush with mint-flavor tooth paste wherever you go. This may help you shed a few extra pounds.
Spices may help weight loss by making you eat less. For one reason, when you eat a hot chili pepper or hot curry, you tend to drink more water, and water gives you a feeling of fullness, which may curb your appetite. For another, spices help you stop your sugar cravings. When you cook dessert, such as baked apples, pears, and sweet potatoes, always add clove, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla. These spices may satisfy your sugar cravings without giving you the fat, sugar, and calories that will add to your weight.
Studies have shown that people have a tendency to eat much more (about 40 to 70 percent more than they normally do) when eating with a group of people. The explanation is simple: people tend to follow the eating behaviors of the majority; on these occasions, the mealtime is usually protracted with social conversation and interaction, conducive to an environment of drinking and eating. To overcome this eating behavior, be the last person to start eating; let others start the high-calorie appetizers, and leave them to finish what is left on the dining table. Adopting this simple eating behavior pattern will help you reduce many unnecessary calories.
If you love chocolate and cannot resist the temptation of chocolate, simply switch to dark chocolate, instead of milk chocolate; this simple switch will save you hundreds of calories.
People who have a weight problem usually love to eat, and those who love food always prefer different varieties to satisfy their palate. Accordingly, food manufacturers have come up with a variety of flavors to lure consumers into trying each and every one of them. For example, one leading manufacturer of snacks produces as many as 150 different types of chips with different flavors and different texture in different packs, while another soda drink company offers hundreds of different flavors. Avoid falling into these traps. Stick to only one flavor - your favorite one. Don't even attempt to try every other flavor, thinking you will settle for the one you like best. The reality is that you may end up loving several ones, and this only gives you the excuse to eat more.
Trying different varieties may also apply to the combo in fast food restaurants. Go for a burger (the advice here is, of course, to avoid eating one totally) only, and not the fries and the milkshake. A cheeseburger with large fries and a milkshake will give you a whopping 1800 calories - more than what you will need for the whole day.
Going to bed 15 minutes earlier than you normally do may also help you lose weight. The reason is that sleep deprivation may reduce your body's production of leptin, a hormone that suppresses your appetite. By going to bed before your normal bedtime may help you get more sleep to increase your leptin. Also, you burn calories while you sleep.
Weight loss is more than just eating less. Every little thing you do may help you lose more.
THE FRUSTRATION AND FUTILITY OF WEIGHT LOSS
(Published: 14 January, 2009)
Copyright © 2009 by Stephen Lau
Nowadays, everybody wants to lose weight. Weight loss has become a fad and fancy. You see so many credible testimonials, and so many before-and-after pictures of individuals who have ultimately achieved their goals in weight loss.
Are they for real? Are they "real" people who have "real" results in weight loss? You just wonder. Well, to give them the benefit of the doubt, they may be real, but they are few and far between. In the real world, unfortunately, there are millions who have fallen victims in the battle of the bulge. Not only are they frustrated in their futile attempts to lose weight, but they are also much worse off than they were when they began the process of weight loss.
Indeed, to lose weight is frustrating and futile. Seeing others' success and witnessing your own miserable failure is a devastating experience.
The problem of weight loss may look complex, but it is simple in reality. Your ancestors did not have a problem with losing weight. However, the problem may look complex nowadays because it has become insurmountable. Indeed, weight loss is difficult and almost impossible to many. As such, there are myriads of approaches to the problem of losing weight, resulting in an array of programs purported to solve this seemingly-insolvable complex problem of contemporary society.
In spite of medical advancement, man has yet to come up with a pill that can eradicate all weight problems. But we are getting very close to that: medical science has enabled us to do almost anything with our body system, such as stopping food cravings, eliminating excess fat, changing body metabolism, and decreasing appetite. To date, it has not come up with something that will guarantee weight loss permanently.
On the market there are innumerable programs telling you to eat less or not at all (fasting), to cut calories, to consume more or less fat, to exercise vigorously, to use food combination, such as protein and carbohydrate, among others. To name a few, you have the Atkins, the South Beach, the Weight Watchers, and even Cabbage Soup, Peanut Butter, and Ice Cream diets. The consumer is at a loss as to what to do with their weight problems. Some decide to give up totally, ignoring their weight problems, and continue with their current lifestyles and eating habits, while others pursue these programs diligently. Unfortunately, they all end up with more or less the same result: ultimate weight gain.
So, what is the problem with weight loss?
The problem is that we all want a "quick fix" to the problem of weight gain and weight loss. Worse, we want it right away. You could have a Botox injection a few hours before you go to a social occasion, and you would look gorgeous. But you may have difficulty in losing your extra pounds and fitting yourself into the dress you wish to wear on a special occasion, such as a wedding, a few months down the road.
The problem with all these fad diets and gimmicks of eating is that they only address the symptoms and not the causes. Most of them promote weight loss through loss of water from the body, while the body fat remains. So, once you resume "normal" eating, you are back to square one - at an unhealthy weight.
The problem with most dieting is that it targets only the physical side of eating.
But weight loss involves more than the physical body: the mental, the intellectual, the emotional, and the spiritual aspects of the self have to be taken into consideration. Weight loss is not just about your body: it is all about YOU - a unique individual. How eating affects the mind, the emotions, the thinking, and the attitudes to living may vary in different individuals. And that explains why some come out triumphant in the struggle against weight problems, while others emerge totally frustrated and disappointed.
AVOID PROCESSED-FOOD OBESITY
(Published: 6 January, 2009)
Copyright © 2009 by Stephen Lau
If you are serious about weight loss or weight management, you should avoid all types of processed food, which is flooding supermarket shelves.
Yes, eating processed food makes you fat! In fact, it plays a pivotal role in the obesity crisis in the United States, where one out of every three adults is obese - that is, 20 percent over the ideal weight for height.
What is processed food?
Any food item that comes in a box, bag, or carton is processed. Basically, it is high-calorie and low-quality food .You can easily get it not only from fast-food restaurants but also from supermarkets. On average, an individual spends at least 60 percent of his or her money on food to buy processed food.
What is wrong with it? And how does it make you fat?
Take a loaf of white wheat bread that you pick up at a supermarket.
The manufacturer removes the outer shell of the grain of wheat of that loaf of bread. By doing so, your white wheat bread has little or no fiber because it is the outer shell of the grain that provides fiber to your body. Fiber makes you feel fuller and less hungry, and therefore you eat less. In the process of removing the outer shell of the grain of wheat, essential fats and vitamin E are also removed.
What remains in the loaf of bread is the starch of the grain, which is then ground into fine powder, and subsequently bleached white. In that process, most of the remaining vitamins and nutrients are lost.
The loaf of white bread is essentially deficient in vitamins and minerals. To make it qualified as "food", the manufacturer has to add fortified man-made vitamins and minerals, which are only chemicals aimed at meeting the requirements of FDA to be qualified as "food".
To make it palatable to the consumer, the manufacturer has to add sugar, salt, artificial flavorings, and partially hydrogenated fats to that loaf of bread. To extend the product's shelf-lifespan, preservatives are also added.
So, you can see why eating a loaf of white bread does not satisfy your hunger: it provides only empty calories. In other words, you have been short-changed in your purchase. When your body does not get the nutrients it requires, it tells you to eat more. The more processed food you eat, the more nutrient-deficient you become, the more you would want to eat, and the more weight you would gain. The result is obesity.
Weight gain can be explained by the way your body stores fat. When you eat too much carbohydrates and sugars (which are usually the main components of processed food), your body increases its production of insulin from your pancreas to lower your blood sugar when it becomes too high. However, insulin not only causes your body to store fat but also prevents your body from burning fat stored for energy. This double whammy results in rapid weight gain.
In the above scenario when your pancreas secrets more insulin to lower the elevated blood sugar, your blood sugar may become too low that it may affect the functioning of your brain, which needs glucose. When your brain does not get the glucose it requires, it automatically sends signals of food cravings, hunger, and mood swings - which are symptoms of food addiction. You want to eat more sugar and starch. Thus, begins the vicious cycle of binge eating.
Eating processed or convenient food only conveniently makes you fat. Eat naturally to avoid processed food obesity.
DIET AND YOUR ORGASM
(Published: 22 December, 2008)
Copyright © by 2008 Stephen Lau
Sex is an important aspect of life. Sex is a complex matter: it involves many of your body organs in order to produce the desire that culminates in the sexual act that produces the sensations of sex and orgasm.
Diet plays a pivotal role in your sex and orgasm. First and foremost, you must be healthy in order to perform (in the case of men) the very sexual act, and to enjoy sex (orgasm in the case of women).
Orgasm or the enjoyment of sex is based on the sensation of pleasure, which is preceded by the enhancement of anticipation and desire. Yes, it is all in the mind. But the body affects the mind as well, and accordingly your diet has an overall impact on your sex life.
According to research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), fish oil not only improves your cardiovascular health but also reduces depression and aggression. In other words, fish oil elevates the dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter of the sensation of pleasure. Dopamine holds the key to female sexual pleasure or orgasm. In addition, male erection is contingent on a healthy heart to send sufficient blood to the male organ to produce the desired erection necessary to accomplish the sexual act.
Saturated and monounsaturated fats (from meat, poultry, and dairy products) also enhance the dopamine in your body. Therefore, a fat-free diet may help you lose not only your weight but also your sexual desire. Fish oil is a safe, healthy, and non-addictive way to effectively elevate the dopamine levels in your body to give you the desire, the performance, and the orgasm in sex. Trans fats (synthetic fats manufactured from other fats) in junk food and commercial basked goods will negate the effect of the fish oil you consume.
In addition to dopamine, serotonin is another neurotransmitter responsible for better sex in that it improves your overall mood and relieves stress that may result in performance anxiety in men and prevent women from reaching an orgasm.
That said, too much serotonin may not be good. Depressed individuals are often prescribed antidepressants to artificially raise their serotonin levels, resulting in lower libido and orgasmic capability. Remember, anything that produces a high is generally followed by a low - which could be damaging to sex. Therefore, avoid caffeine in tea, coffee, sodas, and chocolate. Even a diet of carbohydrates with no protein may spike the serotonin level, upsetting the balance. The key is to maintain a balanced serotonin level in your body for maximum enjoyment of sex.
The American culture is affected by the billion-dollar soy industry: you find soy in everything - from tofu, soy milk, to snack bars. Protein is important to your diet and your sexual health, but it need not come from soy alone. Soy may be good for menopausal women, but too much soy may adversely affect your testosterone levels, and testosterone governs sexual desire.
Changing the way you eat, and eating right will invigorate your sex life. Eat more fish - not the farm-raised ones. If you plan to take the fish oil supplement, get the "fish oil" rather than the fish oil with a particular fish, such as "salmon fish oil" or "cod liver oil." A word of warning, overdosing on fish oil can lead to a risk of hemorrhage due to the blood-thinning properties of fish oil, so be careful. A balanced diet makes you sexually healthy.
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A Handbook for Both Men and Women
YOUNGER AND HEALTHIER FOR LONGER
Stephen Lau
Stephen Lau