Weight loss tip 1:
Decide how much weight you need to lose - Most people start their
weight loss journey by claiming to be xyz kilos overweight. This isn't a
healthy way to project or aim for weight loss. Calculate your desired
weight against your height by using reliable methods like the BMI, and
set a healthy weight loss target. This is often half the battle won.
Weight loss tip 2:
Time management - This is quite often overlooked. Decide which part of
your day will be dedicated to exercise, when in the week you will stock
up on groceries, and when you will do the cooking - all within your
current work and home life routine. If you don't do this now, your days
will be rushed and unplanned, and you won't be able to sustain your
weight loss efforts.
Weight loss tip 3:
Stock your kitchen - Keep your house well-stocked with fruits,
vegetables, healthy meats, grains, cereals, spices, and flavourers.
Follow our tricks to healthy cooking, cooking vegetables for the week,
and low-fat cooking posts to understand how best you can stock your
kitchen with healthy and delicious ingredients. All of this will go into
helping the next step - cooking healthy meals at home.
Weight loss tip 4:
Eat healthy homecooked meals - Whether it's you who's cooking, a family
member, or house help, ensure that every one practises healthy cooking
methods, and ingredients. Ask any person who's lost weight the healthy
way, and you will always hear about how healthy homecooked meals were a
big reason behind it. Use less oil, low salt, fresh produce, and you'll
start seeing results in no time.
Weight loss tip 5
: Start a cardio + weights workout - A healthy weight loss programme is
incomplete without a good exercise routine, and weight training mixed
with cardio is the best way to lose weight. Of course, variations and
forms exist, but any workout that stresses on muscle tone and increased
heart rate will always help you lose weight and keep it off. You can
either start a home workout today, or rely on gyms for fitness training.
Weight loss tip 6:
Alter your snacking habits - At Health Me Up, we have several healthy
snacking ideas for you. Set those French fries aside, skip that aerated
drink, and ban those unhealthy deep fried samosas. Explore the healthy
snack world and you will find several appetisers, party snacks, movie
snacks and meal accompaniments that'll satisfy every craving of yours.
Weight loss tip 7:
Have at least one active hobby - It isn't sufficient to rely on just 30
to 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Moving from bed to office
chair, and back to bed, isn't a healthy way to live. Buy a motion sensor
gaming console that lets you enjoy social games with friends and
family, plan weekend trips, clean your house once a week, dance, play
sports, the list is endless. Get out of the coffee shop and dining table
rut, and you'll have fun along with the healthy weight loss.
Weight loss tip 8: Find a
solution to combat stress - As we pointed out in our post about stress
and weight loss, stress is always detrimental to healthy weight loss in
the long run. Find ways to combat stress and you'll soon realise that
your diet and exercise aren't sabotaged anymore, and that you truly do
see results. Look at yoga, meditation, deep breathing exercises, or
simple hobbies like reading to fight stress.
Weight loss tip 9:
Drink plenty of water - You've known that your body relies heavily on
water for all important bodily functions, and yet you skimp on drinking
adequate quantities of water every day. Well, it's time to stop that.
Check out some exciting ways to make water interesting and you'll be
packing it away in no time. Do not forget to carry a water bottle to
your workout, and take a few sips after every 2-3 minutes of exercise.
Weight loss tip 10:
Plan healthy vacations - Why go all the way with healthy weight loss,
when one tiny vacation will just come along and topple it all? Healthy
vacations aren't impossible. Take a look at how you can eat smart on a
holiday, and then at bodyweight workouts that you can carry with you
wherever you go, to understand how to holiday right. Above all, remember
that these are lifelong habits that'll help you stay fit forever and
not short term weight loss quickfixes.
Could an Indian herb or an extract from the bark of a French pine tree help keep our brains in good nick? Melbourne researcher Con Stough, of Swinburne University's Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, has his fingers crossed. He is leading a government-funded study to see if these supplements improve cognition in 500 healthy people aged over 65.
One group will take Bacopa monniera (also called brahmi), a herb used in traditional Indian ayurvedic medicine for improving memory. Although this study is focused on older brains, earlier research has shown improvement in cognition in younger people, Stough says. The centre will soon begin a trial of Bacopa involving children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder in Australia and India.
''We're starting to get good evidence that Bacopa is helpful for the brain,'' he says. ''Unlike drugs that tend to have a potent but single action, herbs often have multiple actions, and we think Bacopa does a few different things. It has a strong antioxidant effect, which may help remove the beta-amyloid plaques thought to contribute to Alzheimer's disease. It also has a strong anti-inflammatory effect and appears to improve blood flow to the brain.''
A second group in the Swinburne study will take Pycnogenol, a patented extract from the bark of a French maritime pine found to improve working memory in a pilot study of 100 healthy people between the ages of 60 and 85. ''It's not clear how Pycnogenol works, but one theory is that it is by improving blood flow to the brain,'' Stough says.
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The ability to boost the brain's blood supply made another herb, Gingko biloba, look promising for warding off memory loss, but research results for preventing Alzheimer's have been disappointing. However, there is evidence the herb is helpful for treating dementia and improving cognition in younger people.
The Swinburne study also aims to find out if extra B vitamins can help older brains. A third group in the study is taking a supplement that combines B vitamins with other nutrients.
''As we get older our levels of B vitamins diminish, although it's not clear whether this is an effect of ageing, diet or both. But a British study from Cambridge University showed that vitamin B12 improved brain shrinkage,'' Stough says. ''There is also emerging evidence that vitamins B6 and B12 may help reduce blood levels of homocysteine, an amino acid linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's.''
But before we dash to the health-food shop to load up on brain pills, there are things to consider. For a start, more research is needed to confirm if these supplements work. It's also hard for consumers to know which products might be effective, because the quality of herbal medicines in Australia is so variable, Stough says. While many products contain Bacopa, for instance, only a few have been studied. These include a Bacopa extract manufactured by Flordis, the subject of the Swinburne research, and another Bacopa product made by Natural Remedies found to improve memory in older people in a Southern Cross University study.
Just because complementary medicines are registered with the government's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is no guarantee a product works. Manufacturers must prove to the TGA their products are safe, but not that they work. If anything is proven to prevent dementia, it's likely it needs to be taken earlier, rather than later.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/brain-boosting-plants-20130207-2dzcl.html#ixzz2KwtVRYDN
