Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

As the holidays approach, a feeling of dread creeps in. Not only is money getting tighter, but your pants are, too. It's the same old story. Colder weather keeps you stuck indoors, while the yummy holiday cooking fattens you up. Not this year. Not me! I refuse to gain those holiday pounds and you can, too. No, you don't have to sign any contracts at an expensive gym. You can get the body you want on a limited budget.

You may not realize it, but workout videos are more fun and exciting than they used to be.

Workout videos are also much less expensive than a gym membership or buying home workout equipment like a treadmill or elliptical trainer.

If the thought of buying workout videos reminds you of leg warmers and striped leotards, you've got some catching up to do. You're not stuck with the boring workout videos of the 80s and 90s anymore. Believe it or not, the same sought-after trainers who get paid the big bucks to train celebrities can be on call to train you in your own home for pennies a day.

Some of the newest fitness trends are available on video.

Ballet:

Have you always envied a ballet dancer's lean and graceful body? Several ballet videos are now available as workout videos. One of the most popular choices right now was created by the famous New York City Ballet. Although you won't learn to be the next prima ballerina training with exercise video at home, you will shape and lengthen your muscles for a graceful body.

Belly Dancing:

Shimmy your way to a great waistline. Whether you want an instructional video to teach you proper belly dancing technique or you just want to exercise with belly dance moves, you'll find a wide variety of videos available.

Exotic Dancing:

You read that right. If you've ever thought it would be fun to learn sexy moves, then this is for you. In the privacy and safety of your own home, you can bump and gyrate to your heart's content. I have also heard that laughter is good for your abs, so you'll have that covered as well, especially if you have a mirror in your workout room.

Yoga or Pilates:

If you're looking for a sleek, lean body, firm core, or more flexibility, then there are hundreds of yoga and Pilates videos to choose from. You'll find yoga for adults as well as yoga for kids. Yes, kids get stressed, too. Yoga is a great way to teach them to relax.

Fitness videos for kids:

Oftentimes kids can be the best motivators. If you put in a Sesame Street dance video and your three year old asks you to dance with Elmo, you can hardly say no.

Once you've chosen a trend or video you are interested in, set a specific time each day to meet with your personal trainer. It's best to rotate at least two different forms of exercise (or videos) to avoid repetitive use strains. You can do different videos each day, or alternate a walk, bike ride or other activity you enjoy on your non-video days. As long as you are moving, you're keeping those spare pounds from firmly attaching to your body.

So, don't sign that costly gym membership agreement just yet. Blow the dust off the exercise videos in your cabinet, get some good walking shoes, or check out the hottest trends at your favorite online store. It's the frugal way to go.

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Fitness and Exercise-Finding the Right Program for You

Garland Valley RN,BSN

Fitness and exercise are gaining popularity in our culture for many reasons. Reactions against the sedentary lifestyles Americans have lived for decades, a rash of type two diabetes with people engaging in fitness and exercise to improve their conditions, parents encouraging youngsters to get up and away from the television and work out, and the baby boomers, pursuing fitness and exercise as they age, to allow them to enjoy their advanced years. Regardless of the reasons, many Americans take fitness and exercise very seriously.


A healthy body is what most people are striving for. We are inundated constantly with images of slender, toned people. Be it on television or on a billboard as we’re driving down the street.  Fitness isn’t all about the weight that the scale says or the dress or trouser size you wear. Fitness is about how healthy you are.

Exercise is vital in the quest for body fitness. Many people join a gym for the convenience of having all the equipment they feel they need to work out. There are machines there to strengthen and tone every muscle in your body. With the onset of personal trainers, the process can be almost effortless. In that case, the exerciser is given a prescribed routine of exercise that will help them achieve the fitness level and body weight that they desire.

Fitness and exercise aren’t restricted to the confines of a gym. Any type of movement can be considered exercise. By taking those movements, a step further a person can work towards their own personal fitness goal.

For a person who lives in an apartment building, the decision of whether to take the stairs or the elevator might seem inconsequential, but those steps up to their floor everyday equal a leg workout. Choosing to hike it up the flight of steps gives not only the legs a chance to stretch, but it also gives the heart a chance to beat faster. By choosing this everyday, the body would begin to respond in a positive way.

The same can be said for walking as opposed to driving. Often when a destination is close people feel inclined to get in their car and drive there and then drive the route back. Lacing up a pair of walking shoes and heading out the door on foot is considered exercise and the benefits aren’t only restricted to the gasoline that will be saved. The entire body will feel the results and if that walk is taken several times a week, perhaps even daily, the fitness level of that person increases.

Exercise can occur in almost every environment. It’s up to the health-conscious person to grab those moments and seize them. By mowing the lawn, the legs and arms are being worked out. Carrying the laundry is akin to lifting lightweights and chasing a toddler eventually equals a few laps around the running track. Paying attention to these same details and using them to their fitness advantage will result in so many health benefits.

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Close the Gateway to Obesity: Take Didrex

Obesity is not merely indulging into overeating and having a bulky body. It is more like a gateway to severe health diseases. Obese people should not be ridiculed; rather they should be taken care off. Obesity is calculated according to the body mass index (BMI) of a person’s body. Dividing the weight of a person in pounds by the square of his height in meters we get the BMI calculated. If an individual’s BMI is 30 or above then he falls under the category of an obese.

Obese people develop certain diseases such as high cholesterol, hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis etc. Besides having these health problems, they find it difficult to adjust themselves in the society. They develop stress and can even fall into depression.  Hence, obesity is such an alarming condition that if ignore can lead to grave consequences.

Earlier, joining a fitness centre was the only solution to reduce weight. But today the scenario has changed. Medical science has come up with various weight reducing drugs in the market. Didrex can be an appropriate medication for you if you want to reduce weight in short span of time.

Didrex is the brand name for Benzphetamine. It falls under the category of an anorectic drug. It is recognized as an appetite suppressant that is used along with proper diet, exercises and behavior therapy. It decreases the appetite by stimulating the brain and increasing the heart rate and blood pressure.

One pill of didrex should be taken empty stomach daily with a full glass of water. This medicine is usually taken for 8-12 weeks. Do not take the medication more than as prescribed by your doctor as it can be habit forming and can make you physically or psychologically dependant on it. Do not suddenly stop taking this medicine without consulting your doctor, if you have been taking it since long.

The side-effects of didrex are quite similar to those of any other weight reducing drug. One may experience breathlessness, irregular heart beat, restlessness, anxiety, nervousness, severe headache, blurred vision etc.

Be cautious while driving, operating machinery, or performing other hazardous activities as didrex can cause dizziness. If you are a pregnant lady, do not take didrex because it can cause birth defects in an unborn baby.

Nursing mothers should consult their doctor before consuming didrex. It can be harmful for your child as it can pass into breast milk.

Didrex if taken during late hours can lead to insomnia. Therefore, one must avoid taking it late in the day.

In case you miss a dose just take it the moment you realize you have missed it. Do not try to double it by taking two or more doses at the same time.

Didrex give you the opportunity to reduce tremendous amount of weight within a short span of time. Take the medicine and realize the change in your personality.

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Dangers of South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet is considered to be a healthy diet, which is concerned on the right carbohydrates and the right fats for a healthy body. As such, many people were drawn to it believing that the South Beach Diet is really the best diet for them.

However, out of this good reputation that the South Beach Diet maintained, still there are some attacks and bad comments about the diet. Well, we don’t need to be surprised about this, for this is how the world is set.

What then is the importance of the principle of ôyin and yangö if there is only one side for everything? There could be biases, prejudices, and imbalances, right?

So, even though there is really no noted ôbigö South Beach Diet danger, still there are certain resources which hold that the South Beach Diet danger surface when the improper application of the diet is made.
Lack of Information and Understanding

Numerous resources have noted that part of the South Beach Diet is the lack of information or understanding about the diet. From the word ôlackö alone, a sort of South Beach Diet danger is then viewed.

According to many studies, the South Beach Diet danger surfaced for the reason that the South Beach Diet is very demanding for those that are accustomed to carbohydrate-rich diets.
Lapsing Into the Old Eating Habits

In line with such view for the South Beach Diet danger, it is also noted that one of the largest South Beach Diet dangers surface when there is a lapsing into the old eating habits.

This was considered to be a South Beach Diet danger for the reason that this lapsing will result in speedy weight gain. Along with that, this part of the South Beach Diet danger may then be a new way of life.
Lack of Willpower

In relation to such fact, another support states that a great South Beach Diet danger will also surface when there is a lack of willpower exerted for the diet, especially from the carbohydrates lovers.

In fact, it is a common view that there is always the South Beach Diet danger of lapsing back into old eating habits and increasing the carbohydrate consumption without even realizing it.
Steps To Overcome These South Beach Diet Dangers

So to battle this one of the common South Beach Diet dangers, Dr. Arthur Agatston himself recommends that the dieters who do lapse and end up on placing some of the weight back on should then be immediately switch back to the first phase of the South Beach Diet for a short while.

This recommendation is given not only to battle such South Beach Diet danger but also to prevent from the occurrence of several South Beach Diet dangers. It is also interesting to know that if this South Beach Diet danger is not prevented earlier, this will lead to an excess in weight gain.

With such mentioned possible South Beach Diet dangers, the South Beach Diet then received mixed reviews from most dieters. Despite the South Beach Diet dangers, many people still consider the South Beach Diet as an updated version of the Atkins diet that is a far more balanced diet.

Only one thing that this diet plan does do is really to educate the dieters in eating the correct food to reduce heart disease, high cholesterol levels, and other South Beach Diet dangers.

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Can Breathing Help You Lose Weight?

We all know that obesity is on the increase, we see it every day on TV and in magazines. The problem seems to be spiraling out of control. Common sense tells us that weight gain is just down to the plan and simple fact of eating too many calories and the wrong food choices but this problem can also be because of low self esteem and being in situations where you are under constant stress and use found the wrong food both as a comforter and a quick energy pick me up.

So what can we use to turn that to turn your weight gain around? What if I told you that you could make a big difference to your health from the proper breathing technique both in increased energy and relieving yourself in stressful situations?

We all know the benefits of the proper breathing technique. If you’re breathing improperly your body isn’t gaining the full benefit of the lungs and you body suffers in the same proportion. This problem gets worse when you consider that most people also don’t exhale properly and a lot of waste products and gases are left to accumulate there.

This sluggish feeling can start a vicious where the victim goes from having no energy to snacking on sugar filled pick me ups, which contain extra calories, which add to the weight gain, which add to the feeling of a lack of energy and the cycle goes on and on!

By using the proper breathing technique you can increase your intake of oxygen to the body. Because oxygen is so important, (we can live for a couple of days without food and water but only minutes without air, we can see how much our bodies rely on it) All the organs require oxygen to function properly even the process of digestion needs oxygen to process the food and burn up the waste products.

So as you can see if your bodies not getting its quota of oxygen you can never expect it to perform to the best of its abilities.

Plus the benefits of breathing exercises are that you can do them anywhere (even if you’re sitting in traffic) and you don’t have the added expense of exercise equipment or gym membership.

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Body Wrapping And Obesity

Many spas and salons offer a process called ôbody wrapping.ö

This procedure claims to remove inches from the waist, thighs, hips or other parts of the body.

The process includes the use of special wraps or clothing and can sometimes be used with special lotions or creams that are applied to the skin.

Customers are usually told that they can lose ôinchesö as opposed to pounds and that fat will melt away bringing about a loss of inches in about an hour. One of the claims is that wrapping will work because cellulite is ôwater logged fatty tissue.ö

What overweight person wouldn’t love to find a product that will render them slim and trim while they sleep?

Unfortunately, many people think that body wrapping is a relatively ônewö procedure and jump on the bandwagon quickly.

The truth is that the body wrapping craze has been around for some time.

Over two decades ago, government ôwatchdogsö reported:

ôWho can blame the fretfully flabby for being lured by the promise of losing inches without doing anything more strenuous than popping a pill or wrapping up the offending flesh? Who can resist ads for body wraps that promise ’to burn away fat even while you sleep,’ to ’lose 4-6 inches the first day?

What do these wraps consist of?

Some are plastic or rubber garments worn around the waist, some cover the waist, hips and thighs, and others cover nearly the entire body.

Some are to be worn while carrying out routine activities, others while exercising, and some while sleeping. One is inflated with air from a vacuum cleaner. Another uses an electric hair dryer to blow in warm air. Some are used after a cream, gel or lotion is applied or after the wrap is soaked in a solution.

The garments and wraps, with or without lotions and creams, say that they reduce body dimensions by removing fluids. Most medical experts agree that such treatment will cause a loss of inches and perhaps pounds due to profuse perspiration. But the reductions are temporary. The fluid is soon replaced by drinking or eating.

Remember, rapid and excessive fluid loss is potentially dangerous because it can bring on severe dehydration and can upset the balance of important electrolytes in the body. Reputable spas are aware of any potential hazards such as this, so do your homework and select a spa with a good reputation.
Some people have tried using ôplastic wrapö as body wrap material. In fact, that was a very popular practice several decades ago.

Body wrapping has evolved since those days, becoming much more sophisticated. Prices for a body wrap range anywhere from $40 an hour up to as much as several thousand dollars at some of the upscale spas.

Some advertising claims that body wrapping will eliminate, or at the least reduce, cellulite but we’ll leave that up to you to determine. What we can tell you is that visiting a spa or salon for body wrapping may be a wonderfully rejuvenating experience, leaving you rested, relaxed and refreshed.

And who wouldn’t like to have a few hours being pampered and fussed over in a relaxing environment regardless if it helps the cellulite problem.

Some spas advertise herbal and other natural wraps. In fact, the methods and products applied are widely varied. Let’s explore some of the components that make up a good ôwrapö experience.

Herbal wraps. Some of the higher end spas go so far as to grow their own ôherbsö for use in their body wraps, but that isn’t necessary for a good body wrap experience. Herbs can be fresh, or dried and usually organically grown is best.

Each herb has a specific effect. Some increase circulation, another may soothe the skin and so on.

The herbs are steeped in very hot water (almost boiling) then special muslin sheets are soaked in the solution. It is these herb-infused sheets along with other insulating layers that wrap around the body.

How the treatments work is interesting. The goal is to create a condition not unlike your body when you have a fever. We all know that when we have a fever, our body eliminates toxins by sweating.

It’s the same principle with body wraps. The results vary. Some people report a very intense detoxification while for others it might be mild.

Methods of application and content vary as well. Seaweed, mud and salt are popular body wraps. Most often, the subject is wrapped from neck to toe with the arms set close to the sides of the body. This can be uncomfortable for someone who suffers from claustrophobia.

The easiest correction for this is to keep the arms free from the wrap. Most people who are claustrophobic find the works and that all they need to be able to feel free to remove themselves if they choose.

Whatever type of body wrap you select make certain that you feel comfortable with the spa and that a technician is always close at hand.

Care should be taken when selecting a salon or spa. Some things to consider:

How long have they been offering body wraps?
Do they have a licensed clinician whose sole purpose is massage and/or body wraps?
Where do their herbs and other contents come from?
Do they offer any special pricing for new clients?
Will they allow a tour of their facilities prior to purchase?
Have they had any unresolved complaints reported by the Better Business Bureau?
Do they have any package pricing for multiple visits?

Watch your local publications for coupon offers. This can be a good way to try out a service at a bargain.

Ask your friends if they have had a body wrapping experience and whether they enjoyed it and what kind of results did they experience. You may even want to check for ôtwo for oneö specials and try it out with a friend!

Whether the experience reduces your cellulite or not, if you follow the guidelines you are in for a pleasant experience. Who knows, you might just like it enough to include it in your long term personal care budget!

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Calorie counting done the right way = weight loss? Absolutely!

You and I know that losing fat and staying in great shape is a difficult task because it is so hard to stay motivated and it is so tempting to cheat, especially when you can hide the cheating. We dieters have all been in a starving situation when dieting and our mind reasons very quickly why that extra piece of pie is not going to hurt us. We take it, forget about it and then wonder next day why we didn’t lose weight.

For most of us dieting is a constant battle between emotion and reason and when hungry, reason is out of the window and emotion just wins. We do not see the immediate effects of our behavior and therefore our brain is fooled into thinking that everything is all right. On the other hand, let’s say you would get very sick when eating more than you need, overeating would stop very quickly.

Getting sick after a little bit of overeating does normally not happen therefore we need to find a different way to show the consequences of our behavior. We need to show this in a factual manner, an immediate visual display of the results of our cheating. It is not punishment right away, but over time our brain will be conditioned such that taking an extra piece of pie will give negative weight loss results. Then we will start to understand why we don’t lose weight and can pinpoint the causes.

What should this visual display look like?  First I like charts, they are very easy to understand and can show trends and correlations between variables. In this chart I would like to see over a period of time, the average calories that I take in per day compared with the average calories that I burn per day. If the chart shows that the intake calories are lower than the burned calories, I will lose weight and vice versa I will gain weight. Correlate that with a chart that shows your weight or BMI (Body Mass Index) over time and I have the tool that helps me regulate my food consumption versus my daily activities.

If I add my hunger levels before and after the meals, I can fine tune my meal plans and daily activities. In this way I can sustain my dieting for a long time and preferably it will become my way of life. I have minimized the hunger pain and increase the pleasure of losing weight and feeling more attractive.

There is abundance of free online food calorie calculators. These calorie counters just display nutrition facts and are not going to help you lose weight. Nor is a simple calorie calculator that tries to calculate your calories burned solely based on your weight and average activity level. These are simple little gimmicks that are a waste of your time.

Only when you seriously can track and correlate your calorie intake and calories burned over time, depending on your age, weight, gender, height and individual activity intensity levels can you precisely measure your calorie balance. Seeing visually that your weight loss program works is a big motivator to stay on track. Also you can see immediately when you are off track and you can adjust your situation accordingly.

Acquiring great health is a complex task. Interrelating factors like diet, nutritional facts, meal plans, calorie balance, body reading measurements, supplement and medicine intake, exercise routines, daily activity intensity and costs will make it very difficult for you to see the forest for the trees.
Well designed software that keeps track of all of the above factors and can correlate them will make it very easy to manage your health, fitness, weight loss, muscle mass gain or any goal you have set...

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The story of my health and wellness

For many years, my weight and consequently my health and well-being, were completely out of control and unmanageable. I tried numerous diet programs and never found one that worked to my satisfaction.   It wasn’t until a Doctor, who eventually became a very close friend of mine, set up a program for me that worked extremely well.

It wasn’t a program that was to quickly solve my weight and health problems, but it was and has been the greatest direction that I could have possibly chosen to take. I was overweight at 220 lbs. (Now I’m 170 lbs and loving it) It used to be that I seldom did any exercise, even walking, as I just never had the energy - no ambition at all. I really was a couch potato and could barely find the energy to get up and go to work. The low energy levels affected both my work as well as my home life. My wife (being slim and active) was pretty much fed up with me.

I never thought it could be possible to change and be a happy, healthy and active person again, but was I ever wrong, as now I have achieved success in all these areas once more.
My wife and I now have a renewed and wonderful life together, thank heavens. My children can’t believe the change in me. Now you ask, ôHOW DID I ACCOMPLISH ALL THISö?

So what did I do to change my situation? With the direction from my Doctor friend, I changed my - DIET, LIFESTYLE, EXERCISE HABITS And all for the better. For many of you, time is fast running out.  To control your life, and lifestyle, you must make a choice - and not let life control you any longer.

While it may sound easy to some of you, in reality it really is not easy, as you do have some hard decisions to make if you are to be successful in improving your lives, as I was able to do.

To be successful in changing your lives, I think you all know that if you wait any longer, then at some point, for some of you, your problem could become irreversible, then it really will be too late.   Are you going to remain as you are, and choose to let life basically pass you by, or are you going to make the best decision you have ever made, and take control of your life from here on out?  The choice is yours and only yours, as no one can decide for you.The sooner you make a positive decision and stick to it, the sooner you will enjoy a - ôHAPPY and HEALTHY LIFEö

HERE’S WISHING YOU GOOD HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND MUCH PROSPERITY FOR YOUR  FUTURE.

To share in my good fortune, you may visit the link below for details -

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Changing Your Subconscious Self-Image For Permanent Weight Loss

The most important picture you will ever change in your subconscious mind is the picture you now have of yourself right now. You will start with this image. You will start recreating your subconscious imagery by recreating your existing body picture. Before starting your imagery training, it is important that you become totally relaxed in order to focus your mind. Once you have accomplished this, you will find it is quite easy to engage all of your senses, making it possible for you to create a new body image. Once you feel you are completely relaxed, I want you to see a picture of your body in your subconscious mind. When you have your body in focus, I want you to reshape it, to exactly how you want it to look.

See your new body down to the smallest detail; make it become so real that it seems that you have already accomplished your weight goal. Once you have your new body picture completed, place yourself in a physical activity that you know you would enjoy and will be beneficial in helping you attain your new weight goal. This activity can be anything from a brisk walk to an aerobics class, to playing tennis, to completing an unfinished task. Your new body is now capable of performing any activity that you find enjoyable.

The emotional states that drive you to overeat or eat when you are not hungry are fear, guilt and anger. These emotional states are responsible for depression and low self-esteem. When creating your new self-image, you must exchange these negative emotional states for your most powerful emotional state. Love is your most powerful emotional state especially when directed to your new self-image. It is essential that you practice reproducing your new active body imagery on a daily basis. It is only through daily practice that your new body picture will become a permanent part of your subconscious, thus allowing you to reproduce this picture without a moments thought. The power of Burris MIND/FITNESS is in the ability to change programmed emotional states that do not work for you, for programmed emotional states that DO work for you.

Regardless of weather your goal is a change in diet for weight loss, an increase in your fitness program or to take control of an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. In the end the question you need to ask yourself isàAm I completely happy with the mind running itself or do I need to take control of it? If your answer is I need to take control of it, then Burris MIND/FITNESS is the answer.

The health of your body is dependent on your mental health and taking control of the subconscious is the key to lasting permanent change of any behavior.

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Cashing on with Acomplia to Reduce Obesity

Some things in your life need not be changed but those extra pounds are not one of them. It is human tendency to have more and more of anything. Having excess intake of food is one of them. But it is a tendency which can give way to more fat than your body needs, that way making you obese.

The obesity is termed as a disease. Science today has progressed so much that it has given way to multiple ways to deal with obesity. The major ways to deal with obesity are exercises, controlled diet, surgery, obesity removal pills and liposuction. Amongst them surgery and liposuction are costly affairs. Exercises and controlled diet program are the best and sure way to success but are time consuming.

So, the best way to put forward is a combination of diet pills, exercises and a controlled diet program. The diet pills give a short term solution to remove obesity. And if it is used in conjunction with exercise and controlled diet one can rest in peace of the fact that he would be losing weight in no time and will be sustained for long.

Amongst the various diet pills available Acomplia is in the news these days. Acomplia (Rimonabant) and is developed by Sanofi-Aventis. It is approved for sale in the UK and the EU and is waiting for approval from FDA for sale in the USA. But it is hard to get Acomplia from local pharmacy or online pharmacy as it is just introduced. But there are certain online pharmacies which sell Acomplia. It would be worthwhile to go and search Acomplia from online pharmacies rather than running around the pharmacies in your locality in the quest for losing weight.

This is how Acomplia works - there is a receptor called CB1 which is activated by endogenous cannabinoids and Acomplia helps in blocking the endogenous cannabinoids. It releases chemicals such as anadamide which increases appetite. But as Acomplia (Rimonabant) blocks the endogenous cannabinoids the appetite becomes lower.

As stated earlier, Acomplia (Rimonabant) is a short term weight loss drug so, it is imperative that a person should not continue it for long. If you are thinking of taking it you should consult a doctor before taking it. It has side effects like depression, nausea and irritability. But the side effects are mild and for short period only. It is advised that a person consult a doctor in case any side effects or symptoms appear after taking the drug. There is saying that goes this way ôLook before you leapö and it applies in case of taking Acomplia too.

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Become Healthy And Lose Weight By Walking Your Dog

This article is about weight loss and how to live a more healthy life, I hope you find it interesting to read and beneficial. I have had a lot of problems with my weight over the years and by the age of twenty-two had had enough of being obese. In the article I write about how I eventually lost my excess pounds.

I have always struggled to keep my weight under control. Being over-weight affected my whole life, I was unable to wear the clothes I wanted to and I often felt guilty after eating certain foods. I was adamant that if only I could lose a couple of stones my confidence would increase and that I would ultimately be a lot happier.

I read many books and attempted to follow a range of diets. For whatever reason this did not seem to help me, mainly because I could not stick to their weight loss programs due to my love of fatty foods.

One day I was talking to a neighbour who was not only very nice but also quite thin. She looked very fit and healthy and I enquired as to how she kept so trim.

This neighbour who is called Gillian seemed quite taken aback and even flattered by my question and went quite coy. She stated that at one point in her life, she had also had a weight problem and had not been happy about it. What she was about to say was quite a shock to me, however would eventually change my life.

She went on to say that wherever she went to at this stage of her life, she would travel to by car. Gillian had realised that in an average week, she did very little exercise and at times did none at all. She then went out and bought a dog and would take this pet for a walk at least twice a day. This was not a choir for Gillian and over the next few years even resulted in her meeting a number of new friends. Previously, Gillian had seen exercise as a hassle and very time consuming but on various days she would take her dog on four walks, she enjoyed it that much.

Gillian quickly noticed that not only was she losing weight but that she also felt a lot healthier. It was not long before she was at a weight she was happy with.

After listening to Gillian's story I decided to follow her weight loss program. Yes I went and bought a dog and am happy to report that it has also worked for me.

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Exercise At Home Or Gym

Making the decision of where you will go to exercise is a very important step in reaching your goals of fitness.  A lot of factors will go into this  decision, and each one should be evaluated well before you start exercising.  Once you have made  a decision on where you will go to exercise, you can move on to deciding how you plan to work out.

As you probably know, exercising at home has many advantages.  The finance department is one of the best advantages.  With the gas prices being what they are today, it is quite obvious that you'll save money on fuel as well as wear and tear on your vehicle by choosing to exercise at home.

Memberships to a gym can often be quite expensive and may include other things that you don't need such as child care or swimming pools.  You also won't need to be concerned about the latest  trends of exercise gear as you most likely will be exercising by yourself at home.

Keep in mind that working out at home does  require a bit of financial obligation.  Even  though you may plan to run, it is very important that you have high quality running shoes.  This statment applies to any type of equipment that  you may purchase to use at home.  If you go out and buy cheap equipment, you'll probably end up getting hurt or getting frustrated because you aren't making any progress.

Along with the financial gains, exercising at  home may also help those who don't like to work out in public.  If you are worried about how you look in gym clothes, it is very comforting to know that the only person who has to be with you when you exercise at home is you.  Also, when you exercise at home, you don't need to worry about time at all.

Those of you who are motivated by being with people you know or come to know while working out away from home, a gym may be a better idea than working out at home.  At the gym, you'll  also more of a selection of equipment as well, far more than you'll have at home.

If you need other services than just weights and equipment, the gym may have just what you need. If you plan to swim a triathlon, you'll find the swimming pool at the gym to be just what you need to prepare yourself.  Swimming is also a great  exercise for your body and cardio, as it will work muscles in your body that you probably didn't even know you had.

Gyms will also offer you classes that you may find very motivating.  If you attend class on a regular basis, you may be motivated enough to continue so you don't have to defend yourself when asked where you've been or what you have been doing. You can also meet new people in class, or just help others along if you choose.

All in all, making the choice of exercising at  home or at the gym is a choice you should make based on your goals and personal preference.  The most important decision you'll need to make is to determine what type of environment you want to be in and how you want to accomplish the fitness goals in your life.

Once you have given it some thought and weighed out the pros and cons, you'll have no problem making the choice.  Always keep in mind that once you've made your choice, you can always switch if you aren't happy with the choice you made.

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Losing fat is usually not a big deal when you go to the gym

Advantages of SmartLipo: Smarter Results

Losing fat is usually not a big deal when you go to the gym or spend hours on your treadmill or cardio equipments. But there are always chances that you may lose some fat here or there without losing an inch on the bigger and problematic zones or body parts. How often do you workout hoping to get a flat tummy or respectable looking thighs? Fat when sticks on to the body, has strange outcomes, such as body areas where it just won't budge off from. SmartLipo is a technology or tool of medical science which works towards removing all that stubborn fatty deposit on your body.

SmartLipo is similar to liposuction, but has greater advantages and is capable of giving smarter results or outcomes. Using a laser technique SmartLipo burns out or melts down the fat or obese body parts causing less or no side effects and distress or soreness. This new method of medical science has proved to be current revolution and is quite popular among people with heavy body sizes that just wont come down, no matter how hard they workout.

Following are some of the benefits or advantages of SmartLipo that makes it a better option than other treatments for reduction of fat from the body:

-Unlike any other treatment (such as Liposuction) SmartLipo has a quick recovery period, thus you do not have to go through those lengthy and time-consuming healing period.

-With the local anesthesia, the procedure of SmartLipo is less traumatic and less discomforting.

-The after effects of bruising or any swelling in SmartLipo is quite restricted and is there for a short period of time.

-SmartLipo also tightens or binds that lose skin on your body.

-This technique of reducing or removing fat from the body can be used to treat more than one fat loaded are on a body in one session.

-SmartLipo is also good in treating areas which were not possible to be treated for fat removal. Such as, knees, stomach and areas around it, face as well as under the armpit or forearms.

-The downtime or rest session required after the procedure of SmartLipo is minimal or very less, as compared to the downtime required by other treatment procedures, that is you can come back to your daily routine in a day or at times even on the same day.

SmartLipo has proved to be quite safe and effective method for removal or reduction of the stubborn and rigidly stuck body fat, but to utilize these benefits and the outcome of the technique you need to follow some simple instructions given by doctors.
And more than anything else, you always need to remember that this technique acts as a benefit only if you keep a healthy lifestyle, disciplined eating habits and a fitness regime on an active mode.

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Being Trapped in the BAGGIES!: Remember when you weighed over 300 pounds and you literally..

Remember when you weighed over 300 pounds and you literally felt ôstuffedö into your clothes?  Zippered pants and tailored shirts just weren’t your ôstyleö, or closer to the truth, you couldn’t find any zippered pants that fit you well or shirts that didn’t peep open of pop buttons!  Elastic became your closest buddy!  Do you recall how self-conscience you were to not bend over for fear of busting out your seat?  Or how about the way your large thighs would rub so much against the inside seam of your pants, you were glad that nobody could see that you had splitting material in between your legs?

Those are awful and painful memories of what life was like before your gastric bypass weight-loss surgery!  It almost feels as if those memories are a whole lifetime behind you now, doesn’t it?  And for those who have had the surgery and are still working toward their goal weight, those memories aren’t far enough away yet.

Many gastric bypass patients, as they slim down, do not know how to wear smaller-size clothing.  They find the freedoms of loose-fitting garments to be refreshing, less binding, and more relaxing.  They often adore this newly-found delight and are happy with the way their clothing ôhangsö on them instead of wraps tightly around their body.

These same patients who wear the loose clothing often have issues with thinking they have not lost enough weight.  They will say things like, ôthe scale shows I’ve lost weight, but when I see myself in the mirror, I still look so large.ö

For those patients who are feeling that way, I want to make a suggestion that just might be the simplest fix; I’ve dubbed this to be my ôGetting Rid of the Baggiesö campaign.

And I don’t mean sandwich baggies either!

Losing weight so quickly is an adventure, to say the least.  We go through a lot of size changes every few weeks.  I recall when I was losing, I was going to the thrift stores every three weeks to buy more clothing to fit me until the next drop in size came.  Not very expensive when they are ôusedö items.  It was something I had to do!

Some patients have no clue that they are trapped in their baggies until someone points that out to them.  This should be done in the kindest of ways, or in the manner that suits your friendship.  If you truly are friends with someone who is trapped in the baggies, then you can be blunt and to the point by saying, ôGet out of those baggies!ö  Others may require a gentler tone if you are to remain friends.

What if nobody is telling you that you’re trapped in the baggies?  Does that mean you’re not?

NO.  It probably means that they are too afraid to tell you at risk of hurting your feelings.

This is where I jump inà I’m going to give you some clues right now as to how to judge whether or not you are still wearing baggy clothes unnecessarily.

You know you’re trapped in the baggies when:

You’ve lost 50 pounds and you haven’t put on the next smaller clothing size.  Fifty pounds is a LOT, and it SHOWS!

The shoulder seams are nearing closer to your elbows.

Your shirts or sweaters fit you like short dresses.

You can grab a huge fistful of material and still not be touching your body.

Your shirt or dresses fit you like oversized maternity wear.

Your shirts have leftover ôstretch bumpsö stuck in them where you don’t have bumps like that anymore.

Your feet shift back and forth inside your shoes when you walk.

Your pantyhose can be pulled up to almost your armpits.

You become tangled as you walk because your pant legs get knotted up in between your legs.

Your half slip falls right off of you and unto the floor.

Your tank tops have become slings for theà
Your sleeves flap in the wind like sails.

Your turtlenecks are now tortoise-necks that don’t’ even touch your neck.

Your rings are falling off.  Put them AWAY until you can get them resizedà I’ve seen the tears of people who’ve lost their rings!

Your socks stretch above the knees.

The rump of your pants sag low and appear to be harboring pockets of air.

Getting the idea now?  If you are guilty of any one of these baggie symptoms, I strongly urge you to go to your nearest store and buy a smaller size!

I can promise you, that if you get out of the baggies, you will feel so much better about yourself, you weight-loss achievements, and begin to appreciate in a deeper sense what the surgery has done for you.  It’s time to stop beating yourself up with unfounded criticism.

This certainly WAS a rough lesson on you, wasn’t it?  Well, at least you have a clue now and you didn’t have to get mad at a friend telling you!  And if one day your fiend DOES tell you that you’re trapped in the baggies, tell them ôthank youö and mean it by  wearing clothes that flatter you.

And for the FRIENDS who need to drop the bomb on someone trapped in the baggiesà. if you’re too shy to tell them to their face, mail them this article!

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Beating Food Cravings

Everyone, regardless of how disciplined they are with their diet, will from time to time fall victim to cravings for one food item or another. For people trying to lose weight, these cravings are even more of a challenge to deal with than for someone simply maintaining their weight. Regardless of whether or not you are trying to lose weight however, cravings can be the one thing that makes you break your normal dietary habits and overdo the calories you usually try to do without.

Most people know that getting some kind of exercise and eating healthy, low-fat foods is the key to maintaining good health, but with the hectic and hurried schedules so many people have these days, sometimes eating right and getting exercise can be easier said than done. The best way to insure against dietary disaster when you do get those cravings throughout the day is to plan ahead and use a little strategy.

For one thing, try to plan 5 to 6 small meals with one to be eaten around every 3 hours of the day and make it a point not to miss any of them. It takes an average of 2 ? hours for the human body to digest a meal, so by the time you start to feel a craving coming on, it’s almost time for your next meal anyway.

Make it a point to drink plenty of water. Quite often, feelings of hunger between meals are really your body trying to signal thirst. By keeping a bottle of water with you all day and making it a point to take constant ôsipsö throughout the day, you will keep hydrated, feel better, and eliminate one common cause for cravings to happen.

When you are at home, always try to keep some fresh fruit on hand. If you are hit with a craving, fruit is a better choice than cake or chips. Also, make a fat-free dip and cut up some fresh veggies like carrots and celery and keep them in the fridge. This will give you another quick and healthy snack that you can just grab and eat during a craving.

Never go to a party, a meeting, or any event where there will be food available on an empty stomach. This will set you right up to over eat when you get there. Always eat a small meal or at least eat a good, healthy snack before you go as this will help to stop cravings from hitting you while there.

If there are certain snack foods that you really enjoy, don’t try to completely cut them out. You will only overindulge in them when you can’t control the urge to have them later. Plan these snacks into your day, and just make them snacks that you have once in a while and in moderate amounts when you do.

Remember that just because certain food items are fat-free does not mean they are calorie free. When turning to fat free snacks, be careful of how many calories they contain and adjust your portions accordingly. It is very easy to assume fat-free is ôsafeö and go way overboard on them.

The next time you are hit with cravings, remember these little guidelines and you will be able to deal with them without ruining your efforts to maintain healthy eating habits.

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Cardiovascular Effort for Optimum Health

Aerobic exercise is advantageous to you by strengthening the lungs to be more effective by raising levels of oxygen to the cells and the heart by enabling it to use that oxygen more effectively. The definition of aerobic translates to with air, or with oxygen.  Work outs that are less intense and longer in length is aerobic. With aerobic work outs, a person implements the same big muscle group in a repetitious movement from between fifteen to thirty. A  heart rate of about sixty to eighty % is the objective to maintain. Swimming, cycling, jogging, and walking are some aerobic exercises. These sessions need to be able to be done without someone having to gasp for breath. If you are incapable of carrying on a short conversation while working out, you might be moving it up a level by exercising anaerobically.

The goal while exercising aerobically is to reach your target heart rate and maintain that for the entire time you are exercising that group of muscles. This exercises the heart more efficiently and makes the body burn more calories. Sometimes exercisers will reach the aerobic curve. This is when you start exercising and raise your intensity level to the peak then slow down gradually. It is more efficient to maintain that constant rate as your heart rate is increased. This will train the heart and lungs to last longer and work more efficiently. People that perform aerobic exercise on a regular occasion will have to work harder to reach their target heart rate as their endurance increases. People who are only beginning will get to their target heart rate quickly until their body gets used to the exercise.

People who want all the perks of aerobic exercise and are unsure of where to start may get started with an aerobics class. In a class, you can do high or lower intensity cardiovascular. The class instructor should be able to show class members how to perform these moves either way. How high you take your arms and legs up during the work out is what measures the intensity. Athletes should do the level of intensity according to their abilities and the frequency of their work outs sessions.

To think that often we avoid aerobic exercise is unbelievable because of it's many advantages. It maintains and lowers body fat, raises our whole endurance, gives us extra energy, helps our resilience to exhaustion, increases our muscles, and increases our lean body mass. It also helps us mentally by elevating mood, decreasing anxiety, reducing depression, decreasing tension, and making us rest more soundly at night. Who can't benefit a little from all that?These are benefits that people could all use.

Anaerobic exercise is different from aerobic because it is often shorter in time span and greater in intensity. The body depletes faster and develops muscle more actively with anaerobics. Football, soccer,  skiing, basketball, and weight lifting are sports considered anaerobic exercises. Sprinting or running is another activity. A person will more likely experience soreness at the conclusion of anaerobic exercise.

Muscle groups get extra blood and oxygen from the body while in an aerobic exercise session. It is bad to stop all of a sudden from an exercise session. Cramping and dizziness can occur from this. It is usually a great thought to have a cool off period after a fairly intense aerobic work out. If someone gets too exhausted during an aerobic session, they can run in place for a few moments until able to continue.

Aerobic exercise may be somewhat difficult to do at first, but it is absolutely obligatory for cardiovascular health. It is an ongoing process and takes regular aerobic sessions to keep a fit body. Three times a week is generally how frequently a person should work out if they are already in fairly good cardiovascular shape. Four to five intervals a week should be the intervals of people who are attempting to lose weight and elevate their degree of health.

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Dieting: I Can't Afford To Lose Weight!

We are so eager to lose weight that we swallow the promises of every diet guru on the planet and eagerly plunk down our hard earned cash, praying that this time it will work.

What are the costs of the popular diets? The initial cost is to buy the ôBibleö for the diet or join the program. Those initial fees range from $20 or $30 for a book to several hundred dollars for a personal program.

Then there’s the food. Studies have shown that the average cost of a week’s food purchases, per individual, is slightly above $50. To start the South Beach Diet, tack on an additional $25 per week. For the Zone and Weight Watchers Diets, the additional cost is about $40, for Atkins $50, for NutriSystems almost $60 and for Jenny Craig about $85!

Wait a minute, you say. I’m losing weight by cutting back on eating. Shouldn’t that SAVE me money?

Looking at it logically, you would certainly think so. But we don’t try to lose weight logically, we approach the whole process through our emotions. It is our emotions that lead us to buy things on impulse, to sign up for programs we know we’ll never complete, and to join projects we’ll never actively pursue.

Our emotional thinking is our weakness and it has nothing to do with intelligence or education or social level. We all get suckered into scams at some point in our lives and we all occasionally suffer from buyer’s remorse û it’s a part of the human experience.

The marketers and ad men know it well and spend their days devising tricks for which we all too often fall. How often have you eagerly dialed an 800 number during one of those brilliant infomercials only to receive something that doesn’t work as it did on TV, is either shoddily made or just too complicated, and you stick it in the back of a cupboard where it gathers dust until you finally toss it?

When it comes to our weight, our emotions reign supreme. We so desperately want to be more attractive, more respected, and more desirable. We will even subject ourselves to painful and sometimes dangerous surgery to bring our reality closer to our ideal. And we will rob our piggy banks, deplete our bank accounts, and run up our credit cards for anything that promises us a slender future.

Do we get what we pay for? Sometimes. There are a few successful disciples in every program. It is their pictures and stories that are prominently displayed in promotional literature.  It is the old ôbeforeö and ôafterö trick that sucks us in. Our logic (and a tiny footnote) tells us that the featured results are not typical.

The wary left side of our brain wonders if a little airbrushing might have been employed. Then the right side explodes, filled with desire, well-meaning intentions, and an overwhelming urge to believe. And we fall for it again.

Notice that we never hear or see about the failures, the hundreds of thousands who start a diet with such high hopes yet live the rest of their lives overweight. All the diets have their failures but never bother to mention exactly what their percentages are. They may caution that their program must be followed exactly if it is to work, but let’s be realistic.  How many of us can follow an unswerving routine for the weeks, months, or years it is going to take to reach our ideal weight? We may be creatures of habit but life seldom fits into one unsquishable box for very long. We adapt the routine to meet our immediate needs and everything falls apart.

Sadder, wiser, guilt-ridden and self-critical, we vow to start again until, eventually, we give up. Is there a better way?

We can start by realizing that it really doesn’t matter what diet we choose. The secret is to address our emotions, that infatuation with food that has, nationally, reached crisis proportions. We have to break off our affair with what we eat and restore food to its rightful place û something that keeps us alive and healthy, not our primary source of excitement and self-satisfaction.

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Exercise Back Pain Away

According to past research and studies, nearly 80% of all Americans will experience some type of back pain in their lives.  The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons believes this as well, as they say 80% of us out there will encounter some type of problem with our back before we die.

Traditionally, the treatment for lower back pain is increasing core strength to increase flexibility on muscles that are tight, which will provide better stabilization of the spine and exercises to correct the imbalances of the muscles.  The muscles that surround the spine will provide stability and support of the spinal column.

Every muscle between the hips and shoulders are  included as well, as these muscles are referred to as the core muscles.  Back pain can be a result of muscle imbalances caused by any of these core muscles.  If the back of your thighs are weaker than the front of your thighs, there will be an uneven pull on the front of your spinal column.  

There are some effective ways that you can integrate core strength training exercises into all of the exercises you perform, rather than doing just the traditional crunches and sit-ups.  One such way is by breathing effectively.  Deep breathing will utilize your diaphragm muscles which will help  support the spinal column and lengthen the spine, which is great for your lower back and supporting you when you walk or run.

The tummy tuck and bridge lift can also help you to reduce back pain and strengthen the core  muscles as well.  The tummy tuck exercise is a simple pelvic tilt that draws the abdominal muscles away from the floor.  Do perform a tummy tuck, simply lie face down on the floor and squeeze your glutes to strengthen your spine.

Instead of pressing into your thighs, you should instead reach your tailbone down towards your heels.  Perform 15 reps of each exercise and alternate them until you have completed a couple of sets.  

For the bridge, place your feet on a bench or on the floor and scoop your pelvis upward, as your rib cage should stay low to reduce any irritation to your spinal muscles.  The bridge will help to relieve stress on your back and focus the muscle contractions into the glutes and the hamstrings.

Other exercises for lower back pain are the lumbar side stretch, hip flexor stretch, and calf stretches, as all three can help to alleviate pull on your spinal column.

Hip flexor stretch When doing a hip flexor stretch, bring one foot forward in a bent knee, 90 degree angle, while your other leg is on the floor behind you with your foot pointed upwards toward the ceiling.  The hip flexor stretch will help to open up the  muscles of your back on the side of the spine near your hips.  You can also squeeze your glutes as  well to deepen the stretch with each breath you exhale.  You should begin to feel a stretch in your back leg, in the thigh front and the hamstrings on your front leg.

Lumbar side stretch This stretch will bring your legs wide with your  knees bent while you sit or stand.  Simply bring one hand down towards your foot on the inside of  the thighs and your other hand behind your head.

The last stretch will open up your Achilles tendon, which is the most distant pull on the spine.  For this, place an object under your foot and lean the weight of your body forwards.  Maintain a fluid breath while you hold stretches for 30 seconds or so.  After a while, you should begin to feel a  stretch behind your knee and shin.

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3 Ways to Increase HGH (Human Growth Hormone) Amounts in Your Body

HGH has been touted lately for it’s anti-aging possibilities.  The amount of HGH in our body peaks in our early 20’s and goes down drastically from that point.  Many people are rejuvenating themselves, and swearing by the results, by increasing HGH into their system

There are three delivery systems that add HGH into the system: homeopathic sublingual sprays, pharmaceutical injections, or pills that stimulate the release of HGH from the pituitary gland. With all three choices the goal is the same: to raise the measurable IGF-1 levels in the body in order to gain the youthful benefits. The short discussion below on all three therapies will help you discover which protocol is right for you.

Human Growth Hormone Pills:

When you buy a pill form of HGH you should know right up front that there is no HGH in the product.  Read the ingredients.  There are only stacked amino acids and other assorted stimulants.  Even though the product name might be “HGH Releasor,” or “HGH Precursor,” there is no HGH in the product.  It works by stimulating your Pituitary Gland into producing more HGH.

There’s good news and bad news.  The good news is that it actually works.  The bad news is that it only works for 4-8 weeks.  Then your over-stimulated Pituitary Gland says, “no mas,” and stops being stimulated.  It’s really a terrible tease because just when you start saying to yourself, “hey this is great,” everything shuts down.  Just when you realize what you’ve been missing, you lose it again.

Additionally, I was scared away from this therapy by reports that taking stacked amino “growth hormone pills” can raise cortisol levels in your body, which is extremely unhealthy. So the choice then came down to putting the actual hormone into my body by way of shots or via oral sprays.

Human Growth Hormone Shots:

Almost all the HGH sites will tell you that the cost for shots ranges between $10,000 and $20,000 per year. It doesn’t. You can easily find it available for around $3,000 per year and even lower if you go through Mexican pharmaceuticals. Needles today are very safe and generally painless.

But sticking myself twice a day, twenty days per month, didn’t seem like a routine a healthy person should be doing, no matter how quick and easy it is. Call me squeamish if you like, I don’t care. This might suit some people, and if it does, you can consider going for it. Not me.

Those taking HGH injections should be aware that a few problems have been reported with “high” or “over” dosages, so anyone using this protocol would be wise to be clinically monitored on a regular basis by a physician.

HGH Oral Spray:

So the HGH spray option was the one I chose, especially considering the fact that I didn’t know if the product would deliver what retailers were claiming. It seemed to be the most benign, risk free, gentle, therapy that produced excellent results, and was reasonably priced between $500 and $1250 per year.

The amounts of herbal and nutritional contents listed on a product label can be most misleading. What’s important is not the nutritional content listed on the label, but rather how much of that nutrient is actually absorbed into the cells of the body.  Sprays provide excellent absorption when micro-sized beads or droplets of a nutrient are taken into the body through the tissue lining of the mouth or nose. Blood capillaries are extremely close to the surface in these areas and readily absorb HGH into the bloodstream. The flow of absorbed nutrients from this area of the mouth is to the Carotid Artery, then to the brain, and then on to the heart within 22 to 30 seconds. Within minutes, it is totally dispersed throughout the body.

As far as which spray is the best, it’s my belief that if and when independent clinical trials are made of all the spray products they will all basically be close in effectiveness. They all contain the same amounts of Somatrophin (Human Growth Hormone). Some add a little bit of female this, some add a little bit of male that. I chose the one I thought was most homeopathically prepared because I knew more care would have been taken in its manufacturing and it would probably be more gentle on my system.

Learn as much as you can about Human Growth Hormone and make your own decision about which way you want to go. No matter what age you begin taking HGH you will enjoy the results.

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5 Tips To Improved Skin Care

Your skin is the first thing that people notice about you and that is why a proper skin care regimen is so important.  There are many products that claim to help improve skin tone and promote a flawless complexion, but the truth is that there is no such thing as instant results.  An effective skin care regimen is one that is done consistently over a time before results will begin to develop.

Skin Care Tip 1:
Always use some type of exfoliation product, which will help to remove old skin cells and other debris and particles from your skin.  This will expose the healthy cells and rid your body from the old ones.

Skin Care Tip 2:
If possible, avoid constant sun exposure and tanning beds.  In addition to being dangerous where health is concerned, these may also lead to early signs of aging.  Everyone loves a suntan, but there is no reason to sacrifice your skin or your health in order to achieve it.  Therefore, many individuals opt for a self-tanning lotion instead.  Back in the day, these products had a tendency to turn the skin orange, but that is no longer the case.  Improvements have helped to give self-tanning products a more natural, streak-free look.  Before applying the lotion to your entire body, apply it to a small test area just to make sure there is no irritation.

Skin Care Tip 3:
If your lips tend to become chapped in the winter months or wind burnt at other times, using lip balm or lipstick will help to protect the lips from nature’s worst.

Skin Care Tip 4:
Dry or cracked skin can be very unbearable.  Not to mention the discomfort of tight red skin, it can be downright embarrassing.  A container of Pacquin Plus hand & body cream will eliminate soreness, redness and help to add moisture back to dry skin.

Skin Care Tip 5:
Do not use products that irritate your skin in any way, including soaps that have harsh ingredients.  If possible, use a moisturizing soap or that which is designed for sensitive skin.
In addition to these tips, skin care products are available as commercial or prescription based treatments.  A dermatologist is often consulted for matters relating to acne or other skin disorders, especially if they are severe.  Many skin care enthusiasts also believe in using plenty of moisturizing body lotion in order to replenish the skin’s natural moisture, which is often stripped in today’s harsh environment.

The information in this article is to be used for informational purposes.  It should not be considered as, or used in conjunction with, professional medical advice.  Consult your doctor prior to beginning any skin care regimen or if you have been diagnosed with any disorder involving the skin.

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Exercise Bikes Are Not What They Used To Be

Do you remember the days when exercise bikes were just bikes held up off of the ground? When exercise bikes were no more complicated than your regular everyday outdoor bike? It seems like a million years ago but in fact it was just yesterday. In an amazingly short amount of time exercise bikes have changed the way we exercise and they way that we stay in tip top shape.

Gone are the exercise bikes that are like outdoor bikes, not we have spinning machines and exercise bikes with TVs on them. We have exercise bikes that will take us up hills and down them to add some spice to our workouts and exercise bikes that will monitor your heart rate and your breathing. It is truly amazing just how much these amazing fitness machines have changed over the last few years. And the best part is that all of these changes to the exercise bikes of today mean that you get a better, more personalized workout each and every tie that you get onto on.

What makes exercise bikes so great and so popular is that they offer so much variety but you never have to leave the house. Many people do not like going to a public gym to exercise in front of all kinds of people. It makes you uncomfortable, who wants others to see them sweating? I know I don’t. And when you have home exercise bikes you never have to take this kind of thing into consideration, you can do all of your exercising in the privacy of your own home.

That is not the only plus to exercise bikes though, there is more. If you had a regular bike, what would you do when it snowed or it was raining really hard? It is not safe to ride a bike outdoors in that kind of weather. Not only could you slip and fall off, but others driving could have a hard time seeing you. This can lead to all kinds of dangerous situations but when you have your own exercise bikes indoors, you can exercise at any time of the day r night, in any weather with perfect safety. Safety should always come first and with these kinds of exercise bikes it always does.

When it comes to choosing the exercise bikes that are right for you, it will take some serious shopping around. You need to take into consideration why you are looking for indoor exercise bikes. Is it to burn fat? To promote good heart health? Better circulation? These types of considerations will affect the kind of exercise bikes that you should be looking at. Since there are so many add ons and extras that you can get these days you need to make sure that you are looking at the exercise bikes that have what you need.

For example, if you want to work on your heart health then you need to look at the exercise bikes that will have heart monitors and perhaps some more of those kinds of add ons.

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Celiac Disease and Loosing Weight

Many celiacs lose weight before they are diagnosed; indeed it is often one of the reasons people go to their doctors in the first place.

Once on a gluten-free diet the symptoms disappear, and as a result of better absorption or simply eating more, some people gain too much weight.

Losing weight should be based on eating sensibly rather than lurching from one diet to another.  Be wary of low carbohydrate diets, as high protein diets can cause acidosis, which in turn can lead to calcium being lost from the bones.

You should always check the ingredients of any low calorie / low fat / low carbohydrate products as they may use ingredients containing gluten to thicken or stabilize the product.  These are often wheat based.

Moderation is the key.  Don’t deprive yourself but be honest with yourself.  Snacking and raiding the fridge can add huge amounts of empty calories.

Consider the relationship you have with food – if you are using it to compensate for feeling unhappy it is better to deal with the underlying problem rather than use food.  You end up with both the unhappiness and a weight problem.  

It is quite useful to keep a food diary for a week before attempting to change your diet. (This refers to weight loss only, you must stick to your gluten-free diet at all times.) Look for empty calories, hidden fats and sugar.  How much alcohol are you drinking?   Be absolutely honest.  Cut down on convenience foods as they are usually high in fat, sugar and salt.

The best way to lose weight is to:

Eat regular meals, particularly breakfast.

Consider your portion control, and use a smaller plate.

Don’t feel you have to eat everything on your plate.  Always stop eating when you are full!

Eat lots of fruit and vegetables – at least 5 portions a day,

Fill up on vegetables - if it is green and leafy or red you can eat as much as you like

Eat potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes and parsnips in moderation

The way you cook food is important  -

Remember frying, roasting or putting loads of butter on vegetables adds lots of fat and calories - beware

Cut out the snacks - they are often very high in fat and or sugar.  If you must eat between meals eat fruit, carrot or celery sticks

Be sensible with carbohydrates –chose wholemeal rather than white bread, rice and pasta as it takes more calories for the body to digest, you feel full for longer and they have a higher level of vitamins and minerals.  Eat them in moderation

Trim fat off meat and don’t eat the skin of fish or poultry – there is a high concentration of fat just under the skin

Beware hidden calories in drinks / snacks – a single tin of non- diet fizzy drink contains the equivalent of 7 teaspoonsfull of sugar

Crisps / biscuits / cakes / chocolate / sweets should be a treat they are laden with fat, salt and sugar

Alcohol is high in calories; approximately 80 calories for a small glass of wine. (1 unit).

Cut your intake of salt – sodium can increase blood pressure.

Eating and weight are like the seesaw at the park.  One end represents the calories you take in – what you eat.  The other end is the calories you use in your daily activities including exercise.

If you eat more calories than you use you will put on weight.  The seesaw will go up – as will your weight.

If you eat fewer calories than you use you will lose weight.  The seesaw will go down – as will your weight.

Drink plenty of water – it will purify the system and help to make you feel full.
Drinking ice-cold water will burn off more calories than drinking water at room temperature.

It is vital that you follow a sensible balanced diet when you are trying to lose weight, ensuring you get enough vitamins and minerals if you want to remain healthy. We all know that is good advice, but for celiacs yo-yo dieting can seriously damage your health!

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Allergies - Antihistamines and How They Work

In this article we're going to discuss probably the most common form of treatment for allergy sufferers; the use of antihistamines, what they are and how they work in the body to rid people of their allergy symptoms.

The first question most people ask about antihistamines is what they are.  The reason is because when they see these little wonder pills advertised they are seeing the brand name and not what the pill actually is.  The most popular brand names of antihistamines are Clarityn, Zyrtec, Allegra and Benadryl.  There are plenty more though.  The antihistamine industry is a multi billion dollar a year industry because of all the allergy sufferers but this still doesn't tell us what an antihistamine is.

The best way to explain what an antihistamine is and what it does is to actually break the word down.  Antihistamine is composed of two words, anti and histamine.  Anti means to be against something or act against something.  Which leaves us with what a histamine is.  A histamine is something that your body produces in defense to an attack of allergens.  It is these histamines that bring on the terrible symptoms of sneezing, itching, watery eyes, etc. that we suffer from when we are attacked by these allergens.  Thus, an antihistamine is something that works against the histamines that our body produces.

Your common antihistamine comes in a little pill.  How it actually works is quite amazing.  What these pills do is release a chemical in our body that is very similar to and looks like a histamine to our body.  These look-alike histamines make our body think that we basically have enough of these and keep the receptors in our body from working against them.  In other words they stop the histamines in our body from working, thus relieving the symptoms.

What most people don't know is that this is not the only function of histamines.  They also play a very important role in the brain, keeping us attentive, alert and awake.  So, if we stopped all of the histamines in the body from working we would basically fall asleep.  This can be especially dangerous when driving a car or operating heavy machinery and in fact, this is exactly what happens when we take old antihistamines.  So if you have any of these laying around in your home, please get rid of them and do not take them.  Those expiration dates on antihistamines are there for a reason.

The good news is, newer forms of antihistamines have a much better effect on your allergies with less effect on your brain.  How this is accomplished is actually very simple.  Some medicines barely make it into the brain from the blood.  This is actually not a good thing with antibiotics for brain infections.  But when research workers figured this out they started to make antihistamines that also had the same properties as antibiotics, thus making it so that very little of the drug makes its way to the brain.  If you read most antihistamine labels today it will say right on it, "non drowsy".

In our next article in this series we'll discuss the safety concerns of antihistamines.

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Exercise Can Help Relieve Lower Back Pain

If you are one of the millions of people that suffer from lower back pain, then you need to know that exercise can do wonders for you. When it comes to relieving lower back pain, exercise provides more long term relief than any back pills that your doctor can give you. The fact is, pills only serve to mask the problem by providing temporary relief of the pain, but the problem that is causing much of the pain is still there. Exercise will strengthen the muscles that support your back and improve flexibility thus greatly reducing the chances of future attacks.

You should be doing a three fold program of exercise which includes aerobics, resistance and stretching exercises. Aerobic exercise like walking and bike riding will begin to get your body conditioned properly because it strengthens your heart and lightly works your muscles. Resistance exercise like weight lifting will strengthen the muscles that support your back. Stretching exercises will increase flexibility giving your back a greater range of motion. Your doctor can guide you as to when and how much of each type of exercise you should be getting.

For people with lower back pain, the best aerobic exercises to do are low impact ones like swimming, walking and bike riding. Jogging, dance aerobics and step aerobics all produce repeated impact on your back and on your knee and hip joints as well. In order to get in good condition, start out with 15 minutes of light aerobic work per day, 2 to 3 times per week, and then gradually build yourself up to 30 to 40 minutes per day, 4 to 5 times per week.

You should be working enough to raise your heart rate to be in between 65% to 85% of your maximal heart rate. You determine your maximal heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Regardless of whether you are walking, bike riding or doing any other aerobic exercise, always maintain good posture. This means sit up strait, stand strait and do not slouch or lean forward. Good posture is essential to any good exercise program.

When it comes to resistance exercising, you always want to concentrate on the abdominal muscles. These muscles play a major part in giving your lower back support and the stronger they are, the more relief for your back. Also important is to do exercises that are designed to specifically strengthen the lower back muscles themselves. You will best benefit from working each muscle group 2 to 3 times per week. You may want to hire a qualified fitness trainer to help get you on your way by designing a resistance program that is right for you.

Remember that while resistance exercise is great for strengthening the targeted muscles being worked, there should never be any pain involved. Some discomfort should be present in the muscles being worked while performing the exercises for them, but should subside very shortly after completion of the exercise. If there is any pain during the exercises or if discomfort persists for some time after, it is a sign that something is wrong and exercising should be discontinued and your doctor should be consulted immediately.

As far as stretching is concerned, 10 to 15 minutes of moderate stretching per day is usually enough to get the job done just fine. Here you really want to concentrate on stretching your hamstrings which are the muscles in the back of your upper legs. The looser your hamstring muscles are, the better range of motion your back will have as flexible hamstring muscles do not put the strain on your lower back that tight ones do.

 Stretching the lower back muscles is also a must and sitting on the floor with your legs flat on the floor in front of you while you slowly reach for your toes until you can’t go any further, hold for 10 seconds, and sit back up is a great exercise to stretch both your hamstrings and your lower back. Repeat this stretch 2 to 3 times each day.

While there are no miracle cures for lower back pain, you can make living with a lower back condition much easier to deal with by simply incorporating some exercise into your life each day. It is worth the effort in the long run give up 30 to 40 minutes per day, 4 to 5 days per week to exercise away your lower back pain.

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Don’t Let Your Exercise Get Stale

I have noticed at the gym and on the internet discussion boards, that many females don't get the respect of hard-training athletes like most men do. I would love to blame it all on you guys out there for being sexist and disrespectful, but unfortunately, I feel if we as females don't get the respect we want from our male gym counterparts, it is largely our own fault. So many women have fallen victim to the mind set that we don't have to train hard to get ""Toned"" Or maybe most think there are certain exercises that are MAN exercises and there are those that are ""Girl"" exercises. Lets get something out of the way here - when it comes to changing our bodies men and women are the same. We can make our fat bigger or smaller, and we can make our muscles bigger or smaller - that's about it. Men have the ability to do this on a much larger scale due to the hormonal differences. Women, if you think you are going to train your arms heavy and hard and wake up one day and have biceps like Arnold , you're not.

The ""Toned"" look that we all desire, is a result of increased muscle mass, and decreased body fat. Our muscles usually have to get BIGGER to achieve this look. In this article I am going to share some of my views on how to get that athletic, yet ""Feminine"" figure that so many of us are after.

First off, what do we as a society look at and consider, ""Feminine?"" 36-24-36? Maybe not those numbers exactly, but that type of body shape still holds true with most. Now how do you make this athletic-looking, without detracting from the female shape? Each person is different of course, but choosing certain body parts to emphasize over others can really help here. For example, it seems acceptable for a woman to have very round and shapely deltoids, but if the biceps and forearms as well as traps are too developed, it's seen as ""Manly."" So wisely choosing which body parts to maximize and which ones to minimize can go a long way. Here are my three key principles for looking strong, athletic, and yes, like a woman!

1) Maximize your shoulder to waist ratio. For those that have teeny-tiny waistlines, this could be very simple. Maybe just training deltoids first in your schedule is all that is needed. For those of us that are not 24"" or less in the waist, this might take quite some effort. I feel deltoids MUST be trained first, very hard, and frequently to get the desired look. Back width also plays a big role in making the waist seem smaller than it really is, so it is a close second. Keep in mind that this part of it is exactly the same as what a bodybuilder would try to do, so one shouldn't get caught thinking they have to do ""Girl"" exercises, or feel restrained from doing heavy weights. I have personally been as high as 55 lb dumbbells for both overhead presses and laterals trying to get my delts to grow. I also don't understand why most females don't strive to do wide grip chin ups, other than they are hard. Don't shy away from hard heavy exercises for delts and back.

""We are not going to get those perky round glutes by doing leg kickbacks and butt squeezes!""

2) Pump up that butt! How many women have said in the same breath ""I don't want my butt to get any bigger, but I don't like the way it sags."" As a woman I can tell you they mean they don't want their rear to get any""Fatter"",and ""Bigger"" means ""Fatter"" in their minds. So many women have given in to the idea that it is just a genetic trait that can't be changed. Well guess what? Glutes are just like biceps - you guys out there know if you want impressive arms, you have to train progressively on certain exercises and force the muscles to develop. Girls, it's the same for us. We are not going to get those perky round glutes by doing leg kickbacks and butt squeezes! We have to do exercises that allow for progression in weight and reps both. If you've been doing say walking lunges with no weight for the past year and still aren't happy with the way things look from behind, you need more stimulation. Add some weight to the exercise and PROGRESS! You want the glutes to get bigger while simultaneously stripping the fat away. Have you ever seen a girl with a really tight butt and think its still too big? Probably not.

""I believe you are what you eat, and someone that eats 2000 calories of mostly protein, healthy fats and complex carbs, will look much different than one that eats 2000 calories of crap-carbs and greasy fats.""

3) Control your bodyfat! I will admit that a woman who is 20% bodyfat with no muscle, looks smaller and better in clothes than one with the same amount of fat and much more muscle. To have that athletic look, most of us end up in the 12-15% range. I will cover in detail my methods of fat-loss in up coming articles, but in a nutshell, I will tell you to eat your protein and veggies. I believe you are what you eat, and someone that eats 2000 calories of mostly protein, healthy fats and complex carbs, will look much different than one that eats 2000 calories of crap-carbs and greasy fats. I don't believe its about the numbers, its about the quality of the foods. Cardio is also a key element in bodyfat reduction and control. This is where people differ the most I've found. Some women can get by with 20-30 minutes 3-4 times per week. I often have to do 6-7 days a week and usually for 45-60 minutes each time. I have trained some girls that have had to do double sessions 7 days a week to achieve 12% body fat. So go with what works for you and your body type.

I hope you ladies reading this are ready to go to the gym and hit it hard and heavy. Keep in mind that heavy is a relative term, if 5 lb dumbbell presses are all you can truly do, push them hard and you will get stronger. In the process you will earn the respect of those around you that are doing the same. It is not where you are at now, its about where you are going! And I hope that the guys reading this will show some gym etiquette to those ladies that may not be as strong as you, but pushing just as hard to get better.

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Diet Pills Are They Magic or Just a Placebo?

With today’s corporate marketing firms, specialized nutrition companies are really selling the powerful weight loss elements that their newest product contains. But what is true and what is false? And does there really exist a magical weight loss pill. The answer may surprise you.

For the past 10 years or so, I’ve taken all sorts of diet pills and ôsystemsö to help with my own weight loss. What I’ve come to determine is that yes, some pills were work BETTER with your body structure than other pills. For me, personally, my body reacted quite well to a combination of ephedra, synephrine, and caffeine. Sometimes I would add aspirin to the mix as well so as to thin my blood out so that the effects of the pills would become more apparent, faster.

But before the ephedra rage, other diet pills also worked. For the most part I attributed it to the caffeine contained in the pills. I’m not a coffee drinker, so my body more readily was affected by the sudden boost in thermogenics. But, I really did well with the pills when I used them in combination with exercise and proper eating.

No, I don’t mean ordering LESS when you eat out, but changing the way you look at eating. Let’s face it, just because we order a diet coke doesn’t mean we’re eating better. Drinking water is eating better (well, drinking that is). By forcing your body to adapt to new eating patterns, increasing your cardiovascular activites, AND supplementing with some kind of thermogenic pill, you could definitely benefit from all of them combined.

It’s like the team concept. Sure, you could have a star quarterback, but he needs someone to throw too..the receiver! And who tells the quarterback which plays to call? The coach! By themselves, sure they’re good at what they do, but all together they’re awesome. Just something to think about in the grand scheme of being healthy.

And another thing to consider- diet pills may or may not be for you. Only your doctor can say for sure whether something is healthy for you take based on the physical condition you are in. If you need any support or have any questions that need to be answered, don’t hesitate to stop by my official website- http://www.dietdiscussions.com . We’re a friendly bunch would be happy to help you out. Take care!

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Adopting A Low Carb Diet

Diets have appeared in many different forms, especially fad diets. Among the problems with these fad diets is that as well as often leaving you feeling very hungry they can also be unhealthy and only work for a short space of time. Research has indicated that the most effective diets are those that can be adhered to over long periods of time. In the case of fad diets, weight tends to be very erratic and while you may lose weight initially it is not unusual to put that weight back on and eventually increase your weight.

One of the huge benefits of a low carb diet is that you do not need to feel hungry. This may seem like it avoids the point of a diet, but it doesn’t. The aim of dieting is not to eat less but to lose weight or eat more healthily. The most famous of all low carb diets is the Atkins diet and this remains popular because it allows you to eat good-sized meals and is proven to help you lose weight.

The basics of a low carb diet are that you can eat as much food as you like until you are full, as long as you only eat the allowed foods. Generally speaking, this includes meat, cheese, fish, eggs and poultry. You are also allowed a certain amount of green vegetables each day. As well as being a healthy way to lose weight, a low carb diet will give you a sustained weight loss meaning you can continue to lose weight even after the initial push and you will keep the weight off once it is gone.

It will also lower your cholesterol and blood pressure as well as stabilize your blood sugar level. You should supplement a low carb diet with multi vitamins because your body will become partially starved of these essential vitamins.

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Avoid the Take-Home-Box Overload

After you’ve had the RNY surgery, there is one thing you immediately begin to notice.. and that’s what I call the ôTake-Home Box Overloadö.  This is what happens inside your refrigerator as a result of you brining home all of those take-home boxes from restaurants because you cannot finish the meal.  Even prior to surgery, you couldn’t often finish the meal when some restaurants serve such large portions.  So packing up the leftovers after an eat-out meal seems natural to you, so you do it often.

PROBLEM ONE:  The Take-Home Boxes can actually establish huge neighborhoods inside your fridge!

PROBLEM TWO:  You feel you MUST NOT throw all of that food out because you have been taught from the early days of your crib that you SHALL NOT WASTE FOOD because of all the starving children elsewhere who certainly would appreciate the food you are wasting, right?  Frankly, when you heard that guilt-phrase that was supposed to motivate you to gobble up, didn’t you feel even MORE compelled NOT to finish eating and MAIL your uneaten portion to those starving children?  I never really understood that philosophy of telling me I better eat because some poor children don’t have enough to eatà. A puzzlement.

PROBLEM THREE:  Because of the guilt, you decide that you’ll just ôsnackö on the food in the take-home boxes.  So you snack, snack again, snack some more, and HOORAYà you’ve eaten everything in the box and you didn’t waste the food!  OH, but you’ve done yourself a BAD turn!

Bad turn?  How?

Let’s consider that the food in that take-home box could contain 1500 to 2000 calories.  So what?  Well, when you eat those leftovers, you are consuming those ADDITIONAL 1500 to 2000 calories that you DON’T need in your eating routineà especially if you eat them as SNACKS and not meals.  It is a DANGEROUS thing to leave those take-home boxes in the fridge when they scream at you to be consumed.  Don’t listen to them!

Here’s what you need to do instead:

If you truly plan on eating the leftovers as ôanother meal portionö, then you should wrap them according and place them in your FREEZER for eating LATER.  You know that adage, ôout of sight, out of mind?öà well, this is that basic concept.  By doing this regularly, you’ll be able to rotate your frozen meal portions for a better variety rather than eating the leftovers time after time.  How appealing is it to eat six servings of chili in a row?  It’s notà so freeze the portions and eat them later.

The FREEZER is your solution to curb the ôsnackingö out of those take-home boxes.  So use it as your new best friend, you new best meal-planner buddy, and your calorie-saver!

Getting use to the idea of tossing out food is a hard one, but it’s something you have to get used to as well.  The dog or cat will always be there to volunteer to eat what you can’t’, and the animals will show you a deeper devotion that ever imaginable!  And your household loved ones often appreciate you giving them an open invitation to anything they find in the take-home boxes.

Get a grip on this early so you won’t sabotage yourself with those additional calories that will creep up on you if you fall pray to snacking or through guilt-eating.  As an RNY patient, you are only to consume a minimal amount of calories anyway.. so don’t fall into the trap of eating more than you need.  This could be a factor as to why you seem to not be losing enough weight or why you are gaining some back after awhile.

Bottom Line:  Take-Home Boxes can be Dangerousà  Tame them before they do you harm!

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Acomplia is Waiting For The Test For Time in The UK and EU

Acomplia (Rimonabant) was approved for sale in the UK on June which means the introduction of this drug is new. Acomplia has not yet got FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval for sale in the US. Sanofi-Aventis is the manufacturer of Acomplia, which is a French pharmaceutical firm. The drug is prescribed for suppressing appetite in an obese person. The suppression of appetite helps in lowering calorie intake thereby reducing obesity. During its trial period the manufacturer also claimed of this drug having smoking cessation effect.

As the introduction of this drug is new the success of this drug remains to be seen. But the real problem is the availability of the drug. At present only a few numbers of pharmacies are keeping it with them as FDA has not approved its use as a weight loss pill. Till the moment when FDA approves the drug, the pharmacies in US would be having tough time assuring the customers of its arrival soon.

The clinical results of Acomplia (Rimonabant) for 2 years showed much promise for this new weight loss drug. In the clinical trials around 40% of the sample lost 10% or more weight as a result of taking the drug. Apart from that the cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors related to obesity are minimised. These all are leading to a wide spread notion that Acomplia would help an obese person get slimmer when taken. The initial results of the effects of Acomplia from EU and UK is satisfactory to Sanofi-Aventis standards. But the success stories which are remaining to be unfolded from UK and EU where it has been launched last month, would only state whether this diet pill Acomplia would stand the test of time.

Howsoever successful the effects of Acomplia may be as a weight loss pill there certainly would be some side effects like nausea, dizziness, insomnia and stomach upset etc. which a user might have to deal with. But the side effects have much lower intensity than other similar diet pills. The pill must be taken with consultation of a doctor to get its maximum effect on weight loss. A person with heart disease, blood pressure, diabetes, allergy and hypertension should tell a doctor first before going for the drug. Children, pregnant woman and breast feeding mothers too should consult doctor if they are to take the pill.

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