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The True Cost of a Healthy Diet and Weight Loss

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The-true-cost-of-a-healthy-dietThe diet and weight loss industry makes an estimated $20 billion a year in the US alone and although obesity is a rising problem across the globe and weight loss is encouraged, some of these weight loss trends can be harmful to your wallet. Society equates being overweight with being worthless, and with the latest obesity statistics being paraded across our television screens, laptops and newspapers, it’s no wonder that millions of people worldwide are turning to fads and drastic new methods of weight loss.

Among the frontrunners for some of the most costly diet fads around today are the South Beach and the Dukan diet. The South Beach diet involves exclusively eating foods with a low Glycemic Index (GI). Low-GI foods affect your blood sugar levels less than high-GI foods, thus keeping you fuller for longer and deterring overeating and snacking – two considerable causes of weight gain. In this diet, portion size doesn’t matter, however each meal on average will set you back $4.59, or $3340 a year. Similarly, the Dukan diet can cost you around $4.34 a meal, which adds up to $3,159 – not including subscription fees. This controversial, low carbohydrate diet consists of four phases; the first is strictly protein consumption and is designed to go on for no longer than seven days. The following phases then start to include carbs into the diet, starting with non-starchy vegetables and later starchy foods, like grain bread.

Both of these diets involve large amounts of protein, such as lean meat, and this tends to be quite expensive. Unlike carbs, which you can often buy in bulk for low prices, two quality chicken breasts can cost over £5 in the UK ($8.34). If you’re eating this twice a day or more, this mounts up and can cost at least £70 ($117) per week just in chicken.

At the other end of the scale, some of the cheaper diet options include the Alkaline and Vegetarian diets. Being Vegetarian is usually viewed as a matter of ethics; giving up meat and fish (unless Pescatarian) signals a protest against the inhumane methods used to slaughter animals. However, increasing numbers of dieters are turning to a vegetarian regime to lose weight. The lack of fatty meats and increased consumption of vegetables results in a naturally lower calorie diet with a lower cost, with an average vegetarian meal costing just £1.40 ($2.34). The lesser-known Alkaline diet aims to cut out foods which produce excessive amounts of acid in the body; coffee, red meat, dairy and alcohol all contribute to the production of acid in the stomach, which can then be turned into fat. This diet only costs £1.75 ($2.92) on average per meal, however, the diet itself is mostly pointless and an example of one of the many fads designed to hook dieters in through medical jargon and reasoning. The body should regulate its acid levels itself as part of a regular, balanced diet.

The cheaper diets tend to involve foods which you can bulk buy. Vegetables, for example, don’t need to be expensive. Frozen veg tends to be of an adequate quality, can be extremely cheap and results in less waste as they won’t rot while they’re frozen. Wholegrain pasta, eggs and rice are also reasonably priced and can be bought in mass.

 

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Vegetarian and 5 Reasons to Stay Healthy

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vegetarian

Vegetarian and 5 Reasons to  Stay Healthy

Not just good for the environment, going green is also great for your body. Cutting down on consumption of meat brings a whole lot of advantages and health benefits to your entire body. According to popular nutritionists and food researchers, an average American who alters his/her current diet from meat-based high cholesterol meals to a vegetarian diet will not only lose weight rapidly—if he or she is obese–but will also witness great improvements in blood sugar levels, cholesterol profiles, while cutting down the risk of heart disease and looking healthy and fit.

Here are five important reasons to go vegetarian today and do your body a whole lot good.

1. You could lose weight easily.

According to a comprehensive six-year study published by the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics last year, it was seen that individuals who refrained from eating meat had a far lower BMI than regular meat eaters. Furthermore, the report also revealed that vegetarians are far less obese than omnivores (10% versus 35%). In addition, a new report published by The Obesity Society in 2013 revealed that individuals who were extremely overweight or obese lost more weight while following a vegetarian diet, than those who consumed meat– in spite of both groups taking in the same amount of calories.

2. You could improve your heart health.

Consuming meals containing high amounts of saturated fats, primarily from meat and dairy-based foods, not only spikes the level of cholesterol in your blood but also increases your risk of cardiovascular disorder due to the high cholesterol levels. Getting rid of meat altogether in a diet can greatly cut down the amount of saturated fat, in turn reducing your risk of heart disease.

3. You could bring down high blood pressure levels considerably.

According to reports published in The Public Health Nutrition, it has been seen that vegans have far lesser incidence of hypertension than omnivores. Food nutritionists point out to the beneficial substances found in high intakes of fruits and vegetables in a vegetarian diet that cuts down the risk of hypertension.

4. You could cut down the risk of diabetes.

A study conducted by The American Diabetes Association revealed that individuals who follow a vegetarian diet had a far lesser chance of developing metabolic syndrome, which is a group of risk factors associated with heart disease, paralysis and type II diabetes. Participants enrolled in the study were refrained from eating poultry products and meat-based meals, and it was seen that they had much lower blood sugar levels, triglycerides and blood pressure levels, at the end of the study, as compared to those who regularly consumed a meat-based diet during the time.

5. You could experience increased levels of energy.

Eating legumes and greens, such as spinach, beans and kale and similar such vegetables can have a great impact on the body by making one feel more energised over a period of time. According to research, legumes and greens contain increased levels of dietary nitrates that provide a huge impetus to the body in the form of vascular benefits, reducing blood pressure and even enhancing the performance of exercise in healthy individuals. Foods rich in dietary nitrates not only help in opening up blood vessels but also permit more oxygen inside the body thus providing the ability of becoming more energised.

Carol is a health and fitness expert, having written hundreds of articles helping people improve their standard of living. She is associated with Nutra Pure HCG that promotes HCG diet drops as a way to lose weight in a healthy way.

Back Pain and Spinal Motion

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back pain

Back Pain and Spinal Motion

Your spine is an intricate system of muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments that allow you to move in a very complicated manner by working together. It is therefore remarkable. However, when something is not right, you can experience pain even when there is minimal micro-motion at a certain spinal segment. If you experience pain when you move, it is important for you to understand the things that are happening in your spine because this helps you to explain to your physician in a better manner. Hopefully, you can quickly find an effective treatment when you communicate better to your physician. The following are the most common ways in which motion causes low back pain.

• Twisting motions easily strain large spinal muscles:

The main reason motion causes low back pain is not because of your spinal structure. The ligaments or muscles that surround the spine in your back can tear or overstretch. Inflammation and pain occurs because of this while your body makes an effort to heal by limiting motion.

• Cartilage breakdown can occur because of motion:

Spinal arthritis is very common and people who are more than fifty years old are more likely to suffer from it. The mechanical breakdown of your cartilage that is between your aligning facet joints in your spinal back portion is known as spinal osteoarthritis. Inflammation occurs in the facet joints and more frictional pain occurs when the joints degenerate progressively. There is a decrease in the flexibility and motion of your spine when the back pain progresses.

• Compensation for excessive motion can occur because of the formation of bone spurs:

With osteoarthritis, there is a typical formation of osteophytes, which are also known as small irregular growths on your bone (bone spurs) on your facet joints that occurs in response to the instability of your joints that the degeneration causes.

Bone spurs are not responsible for directly causing pain because they can occur when you age. They may entrap or irritate your nerves that pass through your spinal structures by becoming large enough. Consequently, this may diminish the room for your nerves to pass.

Pain (and perhaps tingling and numbness) into your legs can occur when you walk because of most cases and you can relieve the pain with sitting.

• Pain from micro-motion occurs because of disc degeneration:

Degenerative disc disease is a syndrome in which chronic pain in the lower back occurs because of a painful disc, typically in people who are 30-40 years old. Excessive vertebral level micro-motion occurs because of the aforementioned symptomatic disease and it causes pain.

• Pain can occur because of motion in your lower spine:

There is a lot of motion in your lower back (lumbar spine) as compared to the four major regions that your spine has. This region carries all the torso weight and in effect, it makes it the spinal area that is injured most frequently.
There is a division of the motion in your lower back between five of your vertebral motion segments (all of which have facet joints that are covered by 2 cartilages and a disc). However, the lower segments (L5-S-1, L4-L5, and L3-L4) have a disproportionate amount of this motion.

You can help your doctors in the accurate identification of the specific cause of your pain by giving a better description of your symptoms when you understand better the pain that you experience owing to motion segment disorders. You should therefore use your EHIC to access appropriate and affordable treatment from them.

Author Bio:

Melody Cleo is a passionate blogger from Manchester, UK. In her free time, she writes articles on various topics such as technology, gadgets, travel…etc. As of now she is focusing on European Health Insurance Card, which provides health insurance services for the European people.

Top 4 Reasons Why You Should Include Yoga Into Your Fitness

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yogaYoga is one of the more comprehensive types of exercise, meaning that it excels in terms of delivering a full-body workout and improving more than just one muscle group.

In fact, yoga is designed to benefit not just your body, but your mind and thought process as well by providing a variety of meditation and stretching exercises that help you relax. While it certainly improves muscular strength, flexibility and cardiovascular strength, yoga’s benefits reach far beyond what a typical workout can deliver.

So, even if you already have a workout routine that you’re happy with, you should consider adding yoga because of how broadly it can benefit your body.

Particularly for those who might struggle with their flexibility, yoga can really help to improve other aspects of your workouts by making you more flexible.

To give a clearer picture of how yoga can help, you here are five ways it is the most beneficial:

1. Flexibility: Since yoga is primarily a series of stretches, flexibility is an obvious and primary benefit.

As we’ve already mentioned, those looking to improve flexibility should consider adding yoga simply for that fact alone. The increased flexibility you develop as a result of yoga can then translate into other types of physical activity, like other exercises or sports.

You’ll also reduce your risk of injury in other sports, since yoga stretches will tend to address nearly your entire body.

2. Posture: Posture is something that doesn’t often get discussed in casual exercise talk, but it’s extremely important if you want to get the most out of your workout and properly develop your muscles while maintaining a straight spinal column.

Yoga can help improve your posture by maintaining a straight spine and working the muscles that are responsible for poor posture in the first place.

Some might call this type of exercise as “corrective,” and can incorporate yoga or strength training, though yoga moves are a particularly effective way to improve in this area.

3. Breathing: You might find it hard to see how a stretching move could challenge your breathing, but yoga combines stretching, isometrics poses and posture, which, together can increase your heart rate and even build muscle strength.

It also forces you to control your breathing while performing the moves, which can help you while running or when engaging in other heart-strenuous activities.

4. Stress Relief: One of the reasons that yoga has become so popular is that it has become an effective tool for relieving stress and helps the mind and body to relax. While part of that is up to of how much you’re able to focus and relax your own mind, the poses are designed to help you do that and to keep your mind clear while you’re working out.

Relaxing and clearing your mind is an important component of any workout, so adding yoga to help boost that aspect of your routine is certainly a smart move, especially if you find yourself stressed out by exercise, but you still want to stay in shape.

Boosting Your Routine

Yoga can give your exercise routine a pretty significant boost since it addresses the entire body, while improving it in areas that will help you during other workouts.

If you are not already actively doing yoga, just start by including a few basic yoga moves into your workout routine and go from there. The more you’re comfortable with, the more you’ll be able to work into your exercise schedule.

Keep it simple at first and then move onto the more advanced yoga poses when you’re ready.

Virginia Cunningham is a freelance health writer for NorthWest and yoga enthusiast in Southern California. She personally practices yoga every day not only to increase her flexibility, but to keep her mind relaxed and to improve her posture. It’s something that she enjoys doing on a daily basis, and her kids love to join her as well!