Fat Genes and Menopause

Hormonal Changes and Menopausal Weight Gain

Women between the ages of 35 and 55 will soon experience menopause. It is not a disease but rather a phase in life where the female will no longer be able to conceive a child. One of the symptoms associated with this phase is weight gain. In fact, 90% of women will gain a few extra pounds which are not a direct result of overeating but rather a shift in your hormones.

Those who are already going through with menopause will probably notice a change in their physical body shape. Majority will gain between 10 to 15 pounds but this will not happen overnight. It will happen gradually like one or two pounds per year during premenopause and a little faster for those who are in early and surgical menopause.

The areas where you will see a physical change will be in the abdomen thus making you look fat when you look at yourself in the mirror. Again, this is not your fault but a fact of life because there are also already fluctuations in your hormones.
To explain this further, you have to understand that hormones do not only affect our behavior but also have a direct impact on our appetite, fat storage and metabolism.

Other factors that may cause weight gain during menopause could be attributed to insulin resistance and stress. Insulin resistance occurs when the body converts every calorie into fat. Stress can also make this happen as the body stores calories instead of burning as its way of saving on energy. So how will you be able to reduce menopausal weight gain?

A lot of experts believe that this will be difficult but not impossible. The most obvious is eating a balanced diet. You will have to give up food products that contain refined sugars and switch it to fruits and vegetables. You should also cut back on alcohol, caffeine and nicotine.

2 Easy Home Exercises That Help You Lose Pounds

Weight loss is not easy because you need to exercise in order to lose weight, and most people hate to exercise. In this article however I will tell you about two exercise that are not as strenuous as others. They are definitely worth trying out if you want fast weight loss. They are neither too easy nor too difficult, but the major advantage is that you don’t need to do these exercises for too long in order to get the desired results!

1.Mini-trampoline jumping: I personally find short workouts to be better than the longer ones. Why? Short and frequent workouts train your body in such a way that that your metabolic rate always remains high and you burn fat throughout the day no matter what you do! Plus they are less time consuming than the longer workouts! One example of such a mini workout is jumping on a mini-trampoline. It is an exercise you can do at home so you don’t need to hit the gym! Another advantage is that it involves your entire body in the exercise which means that you lose fat in all areas rather than in a particular spot!

If you are a TV buff, you know that most commercials are being crammed along the prime time programs. In essence, if you watch a television program for an hour, you are sure to be hounded by the commercials for at least twenty-two minutes, if not more. Instead of sitting on your couch waiting for the television program to resume after ‘break’, why don’t you do something useful during this time? I mean, if you jump on a trampoline for at least twenty minutes, you will be able to burn fat. Plus this exercise is not even rocket science; anyone can do it!

If you do this day after day you will soon see how easily and fast you are able to lose those chunks of fat that refuse to bulge with any other workout!

2. Hindu Squats: Here is another (but a bit harder than the first one) exercise for you – start squatting. Squat in such a way that your back is straight while leaning forward a bit, and your fingers touch the ground completely. Don’t you think that one or two squats would do the trick; you need to do at least 100 of these squats (at the rate of 1 squat per second) to lose weight fast. I know I know, it is tough, but you don’t need to do it all in one day. Start with 10 squats (but keep the same speed); then 20, 30 and so on. Eventually you will find that doing 100 squats is easy and the bonus is that you get to burn a lot of fat and get slimmer!

Yes, these exercises require self-discipline, but then, in order to lose weight, you need to discipline yourself anyway. These exercises are proven to help you lose pounds, and are any day better than the fad diet plans and useless workouts that burn your muscles rather than fat!

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Seven Nutrition Info Tips for Rapid Weight Loss and Low-Cal Healthy Dinner

Here are low cal healthy dinner tips Courtesy of the ADA

Are there any easy nutrition info weight loss tips to help me lose weight faster and eat a Low-Cal healthy dinner if I don’t want to cook?

1. You can make a smoothie with 1% or fat-free milk, frozen fruit and even adding wheat germ.

2. If you must eat a fast food burger, get the smallest burger with mustard and ketchup and forget the mayo and a no-calorie beverage. Then when you get home, add an apple or baby carrots for your fruit/veggie and fiber.

3. Do you like peanut butter. Make a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread. Add a glass of 1% milk and an apple or whatever fruit you enjoy

4. You can have in your freezer, precooked chicken strips and add broccoli topped with parmesan cheese. Yummy!

5. You can find in the frozen section of your supermarket a healthy frozen entree. Add a salad and a glass of 1% milk.

6. You can scramble eggs in a nonstick skillet or use egg substitute. Add some asparagus or any vegetable that you like in the microwave and then add a slice of whole wheat toast. Ask your doctor how many eggs you can eat per week.

7. You can take a bag of frozen vegetables heated in a microwave, and top with 2 Tbl of Parmesan Cheese and 2 Tbl of chopped nuts.

Watch for more Diet Tips. Always consult your doctor when changing your eating habits or starting a diet.

Stress, Weight loss, Sleep and Roses

Roses are surely beautiful and have been used throughout history to boost the immune system, smooth skin, get rid of toxins and even soothe your irritability and insomnia.

It now appears scientific research is confirming that, whether you get the benefits of roses from tea, oil or pill form, different parts of the rose, considered “queen of flowers” really can keep you healthy and feeling young.

This article is focused on how Roses can relieve stress and insomnia. You may have heard that the scent of lavender can promote faster, sounder sleep. Roses work just as well, and many people prefer the smell. Roses are rich in calming chemicals called esters. The next time you are having trouble sleeping or you just feel stressed out, either take a rose and just sniff the most luxurious fragrance or take a cotton ball containing a drop of rose oil and put it onto your pillowcase.

Can Roses help you lose weight? Well, when you are stressed out, maybe you run to food or cigarettes? Just smell the roses or rose oil to relax yourself and relieve that stress.

Does sleep affect your weight loss. It sure can. You need at least 7-8 hrs a night and if you don’t get that, your body can’t rejuvenate and release the proper hormones during sleep. When you wake up refreshed, you feel good.

So what’s the hormonal connection to sleep? “When you don’t get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food,” Breus tells WebMD.

So whatever it takes to get that good night sleep can affect your stress and possibly your weight loss.

Six Nutrition Tips for Healthy Weight Loss and Low-Cal Healthy Dinners

Here are low cal healthy dinner tips Courtesy of the ADA

Are there any easy weight loss tips to help me lose weight faster and eat a Low-Cal healthy dinner if I don’t want to cook?

1. Take a prebagged salad and top it with canned tunna, grape tomatoes, shredded low fat cheese and low calorie Italian dressing or whatever low cal dressing you like.

2. Try and keep lean sandwich meats, reduced fat cheese, whole wheat bread, sliced turkey or ham, mustard with horseradish, pickles if low salt or no salt.

3. You can heat up a good soup and add veggies to the soup.

4. Low sugar cereals, fruit and 1% or fat-free milk makes a good meal anytime.

5. You can try a veggie sandwich from Subway or any sub place.

6. You can keep yogurt in the frigerator and add precut fruit for a yogurt salad.

Watch for more Diet Tips. Always consult your doctor when changing your eating habits or starting a diet.