Friday, January 7, 2011

Supplements and How They Can Help With Fat Loss

The advancement of technology has brought innovations in physical fitness and weight loss. We have established that various diets have existed since the 1800s. However, one of the most significant changes in the methods of losing weight nowadays compared to those that existed a century ago is the use of fat loss supplements.
Supplements For All Your Dietary Needs
There are numerous kinds of fat loss supplements available today. In fact, if you search the Internet, you will see thousands of web pages selling and different kinds of supplements. This is also the case if you decide to visit any health nutrition store.
For a first timer, it can be confusing to select what supplement to buy, especially if you’re not aware of the various kinds along with their effects on the human body.
For starters, it is important to take note that all these supplements have the ability to help you lose fat. However, there are also supplements that can help you gain weight, if that would is your problem. As for those that can make you lose weight, you should understand that they basically differ on the process of how they could help your body get rid of fat.
As a guide, here are the general categories of weight loss supplements that have helped people lose fat over time.
Carb And Fat Blockers
These types of supplements are a great help in losing pounds since they help you avoid gaining them in the first place. Most fat blockers contain Chitosan, while Carb blockers have phaseolamin as its main ingredient. These kinds of supplements block fats from meals by binding to the nutrient within your digestive tract. In fact, Chitosan has the ability to absorb up to 7x its own weight.
Overall, they can be helpful when you’re on a diet and especially in times when temptation to eat unhealthy food hits you big time! However, these do not give you the license to eat whatever food you want, whenever you want and still expect that you can lose weight. They are only to be used occasionally, yet are very effective.
Thermogenic Supplements
These are probably the most effective and popular supplement available. These include a number of the most advanced supplements on the market along with the priciest ones. Most of these contain stimulants like caffeine and are specifically made to increase your body's metabolism to burn more fat by increasing the amount of calories your body burns.
However, stimulants increase energy. Thus, they can make you sleepless. They’re also not advised for hypertensive patients since such supplements could increase blood pressure. This is one reason why there are people who should not use Thermogenics.
Thyroid Supplements
This kind of supplement is designed to heighten your body’s natural thyroxin levels.  Thyroxin, which is produced by the thyroid gland, is the hormone that regulates metabolism. If increased, it could boost your metabolism, results in a greater amount of calories burned. Taking this kind of supplement leads your diet and exercise to be more effective. In return, you achieve fat loss.
Appetite Suppressants
If you eat less food, you lose weight. However, being on a restrictive calorie diet could make this difficult. So, “they” made appetite suppressants, which make your diet easier to control. In this way you can just eat your planned number of calories, no more excuses!
Some appetite suppressants can also help manage your body’s cravings for fatty or sugary foods. Basically, it can make your diet more comfortable.
CLA & EFA (Essential Fatty Acids)
CLA increases muscle mass and decreases body fat. Use of this supplement can also manifest anti-catabolic actions, along with antioxidant properties. Extra benefits would be assisting the immune system.
EFA, on the other hand, can give powerful thermogenic effects. They can increase fat burning, which makes the body burn stored body fat to be used for energy production.
AllAboutHealthWellness Recommends: Fight Abdominal Fat


Thursday, January 6, 2011

Body Fat And Genetics

Body fat has been society’s problem for the past couple of decades. Reasons why people tend to be obese, how they can lose weight along with the risk factors of being fat has been studied extensively. However, there are still issues that are not yet resolved, even by extensive research and even with the development of technology.
The Big Issue
One popular issue is whether body fat and genetics are related. This question has been bugging people of all generations, but most specially, today’s present generation. This is probably due to the higher incidence of obesity and the easier access to information by the public.
Taking Sides
Just like with any other kind of issue, there are two sides of the story here. Of course, there’s the school of thought that does support the claim that genetics have something to do with a person’s predisposition of being fat. However, there is also the school of thought which does not believe that genetics has something to do with obesity.
Back To Basics
Genetics is the study of DNA and how specific traits are inherited from parents to offspring. DNA is basically the blueprint that every individual has. This dictates what color and other characteristics of hair, eyes, skin, and a lot more body features you will develop as you grow up. Since, genes/DNA dictates everything that a person will be you can’t really blame those who suspect that it also has something to do with being fat or not.
What Believers Of This Theory Say
In the light of research many factions lay claim to the discover of “The Fat Gene”.  However, there is still no official substantiation for this claim since most of these studies have actually found different genes that are more or less related not to being fat but to having physical conditions that could be indirectly related to obesity.
Most tests are also administered to mice rather than humans. For instance, one team of researchers in San Antonio were studying brain injuries. They were able to delete an important defensive protein from a laboratory mouse. They ended up having rodents that had short stature and consequently grew fat in adulthood.
Additionally, another research team at Boston was able to find that creating a very small genetic change in DNA that they claim can be the cause of obese predisposition. The convicted gene, called INSIG2, has a vital role in producing fat. They also say that it makes an individual more prone to being overweight by merely changing its natural G-condition to a C-condition.
These are just two of the many studies that implicate obesity’s relation to a person’s DNA make-up. However, you should understand that most of them are still in the process of further examination and study.
What Non-believers Say
On the other hand, those who think that genetics is not related to being obese also have very good points that you can consider. Here are some of them.
They believe that genes have evolved in a way to protect humans from starvation, and not from an overabundance of food. It has only been within the last 100 years that being overweight became a problem and became evident in large groups of people. In fact, during ancient times, people who were obese were actually worshiped and admired since it was a sign that they had lots of food.
Additionally, the lifestyle of the human race has drastically changed during this century. Sadly, the majority of the genes of people today may not be fit for having a modern lifestyle. And since lifestyle is the issue, being obese is partially blamed on the conveniences that people have today such as computers, telecommuting, cars, elevators, remote controls, fast food, and the like.
Lastly, it is said that the fastest increasing population of obese people would fall into the impoverished category. They basically reason that those who eat cheaper, less nutritious food also have slower metabolic rates.  They believe that accounts for why they are more prone to being obese and not really due to their genes.
AllAboutHealthWellness Recommends: Fat Body To Fit Body

Heat Production and Fat Loss - Thermogenesis

In the world of weight loss there is an obvious link between fat loss and heat production. More often than not, you would find advertisements that encourage you to subject your body to heat so that you get rid of your fat easily. This is becoming a popular process of getting rid of fat commonly known as Thermogenesis.
How Does It Work?
Whenever you fry bacon, or simply heat it in the microwave, you instantly see oil coming out of the food, even if you didn’t add oil in the first place. As you can see, when subjected to heat, the fats in the bacon suddenly come out in the form of oil. This analogy is one good illustration of how Thermogenesis works.
It is actually the process in which your body generates energy or heat, by increasing your metabolic rate to above normal levels. Once you attain a rise in your metabolic rate, this is what you call “the thermogenic effect”. However, some schools of thought also refer to it as the “Specific Dynamic Action (SDA)” or “thermogenic response”.
How Can You Get Thermogenesis?
You are able to attain Thermogenesis via a number of methods, some of which include: supplements, exercise, nutrition, and cold exposure.
Nutrients And Their Thermogenic Effect
Among the nutritional sources of thermogenesis, the different macronutrients also have different effects in regard to the thermogenic response. Whenever you consume food, you experience an increase in your metabolic rate. In fact, it goes way above your fasting level.
As for protein, it is processed to be used as energy, which is in turn used for repair and growth of tissues. Conversely, carbohydrates and fat primarily function as fuel and are also used more efficiently by the body. Hence, fat and carbohydrates have lesser thermogenic effect compared to protein.
Heat Creating Supplements
Supplements that have thermogenic functions usually have key ingredients such as: ephedra, salicin and caffeine. Generally, they boost your metabolic rate, which makes your body burn more calories at a faster rate. They also help curb your appetite.
These agents are intended to counter your body's mechanisms for fat storage by making your body preserve a high metabolic rate. In consequence, it turns up your internal thermostat. Hence, you get to burn fat faster.
However, with thousands of supplements that fall into this kind of category on the market today, it could be very confusing to pick the best. Nevertheless, most thermogensis products have the same ingredients and may just differ with one or two special contents.
Keep in mind that getting the best thermogenesis products would mean achieving all its effects minus the side effects, which include: heart palpitations, jitteriness, or nervousness.
On Dosage And Caution
It doesn’t really mean that the higher the dosage of your heat creating supplement it will give you faster weight loss results. In fact, what happens is you do get the same effects, yet the side effects are increased.
Moreover, there are also precautionary actions that you should keep in mind, if you do undergo thermogenic supplements. First, you would not want to become dehydrated. Thus, you should drink more water. Another, you shouldn’t skip meals. This is because you’ll have low blood sugar when undergoing this kind of program. Lastly, don’t take these supplements at night. Keep in mind that they have caffeine content, which could lead you to being up and awake all night long.
Popular Heat Makers
One popular heat creator for the body is green tea. Drinking this kind of tea through the day could actually aid you in burning an extra 70-100 calories in a day via thermogenesis. Studies also show that EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), which is a chemical in this kind of tea,  is responsible for its fat burning properties.
Additionally, some studies show cayenne peppers have chemical compounds that are able to increase the body's thermogenesis. Hence, just like green tea, it is able to heighten your metabolism. Some research also shows that it can decrease your appetite, which is similar to what thermogenic supplements do.
AllAboutHealthWellness Recommends: Heat Blast