How a Low Carb Lifestyle Can Help Your Entire Family

Posted by: Automan on Friday, May 9th, 2008

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The latest challenging fact to be learned about the great American obesity problem is that among children, the number of clinically obese children has doubled in the last two decades, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In fact, by 2002, NIH says that one in five children in the US is overweight.

Obese children are also developing diseases like Type 2 Diabetes that used to only occur in adults. And overweight kids tend to become overweight adults, continuing to put them at greater risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke. Perhaps potentially more devastating is that children who are teased a lot can develop low self-esteem and depression.

There are many households in which not only one or more children are obese, but frequently one or both parents are also obese. Many parents are also at risk for Type 2 Diabetes. Even members of a household who do not have these problems will benefit from a low carb lifestyle because all Americans are far too dependent on processed sugar and carbohydrates, putting all of us at risk for obesity and myriad other health problems. Does any of this sound like you?

Whats a concerned parent to do?

Adopt The Five Keys to Low Carb Success for your whole family. I sincerely hope you know by now that the first is Information. Find ways for whole family learn the principles of health according to low carb, including even the members of your household who may not be obese. At least those needing a lifestyle change should learn as much as they can about low carb and LowCarb-Lifestyles.Com helps us do that.

The Second Key is Motivation. We advise our members to find ways to motivate themselves when the going gets tough. Motivation helps us answer important internal questions for ourselves, such as, Why am I really doing this whats the payoff? Why do I need to stay the course? Who benefits from my being healthy, trim and peaceful besides me do I have a responsibility to anyone else? In a household setting you can go through this process and then show your children how to do the same. Then the whole family can pledge their goals to each other at a special family meeting.

The Third Key is, Nutrition. While seemingly simple, keeping a varied menu that the whole family looks forward to eating every day is not easy. Many low carb recipe books are turning up these days; LowCarb.Lifestyels.Com has literally hundreds of recipes for members to choose from. Use them to entice your whole household into a low carb lifestyle!

The Fourth Key is, Fitness. We can exercise with our significant other and children the family that exercises together But it is a wonderful thing to exercise together, even just you and one child. You can go together for walking, jogging, bicycling, tennis, golf, basketball and so on. There are numerous possibilities. The best part is, while you are building a healthy low carb lifestyle, you are also building your relationship with your child.

The Fifth Key is, Support. While LowCarb.Lifestyles.Com helps our member to build a support network in online forums and by emailing each other inside the community, your family is a natural support base! Act on the previous four Keys in your family, and your home will become your support base. Fantastic!

If you implement even one of the Five Keys in your home life, your will see definite results in a very short time, for your physical health and also for the emotional and spiritual health of your family.

Resource Box:
—————————————————— Henri Schauffler is the founder and webmaster of http://www.lowcarb-lifestyles.com, an online community that gives low carb dieters the tools they need to succeed - for life. Visit http:www.lowcarb-lifestyles.com to grab your free 7 day trial. ——————————————————-

Protein - its place in your weight loss program.Kay Blackiston

Any food that we take into our bodies is composed of macronutrients, micronutrients and water. The macronutrients (macro = large) are protein, fat and carbohydrates; the micronutrients (micro = small) are vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Macronutrients provide the calories that provide energy for life; micronutrients have no calories but are an essential part of our diet. Without macronutrients we would starve to death, without micronutrients we would die from health deterioration.

So, what exactly is protein?

Technically speaking proteins are any of a large group of nitrogenous (containing nitrogen) compounds of high molecular weight that are essential constituents of all living organisms. They consist of 22 biological compounds called amino acids. They provide the building materials for the basic cell structure of the heart, brain, blood, nails, hair, internal organs and skin in fact for every living cell in our body. You would recognise proteins better if they were defined as red meat, fish, poultry, dairy products, eggs and soy.

To understand the importance of protein as an aid for weight loss we also have to briefly define what carbohydrates and fats are: carbohydrates are basically sugars, usually referred to as either simple or complex. Simple or refined carbohydrates are the ones like sugar, honey, cakes, biscuits and white bread. Complex carbohydrates are whole grain breads and cereals, brown rice, some vegetables, beans and legumes, and certain fruits. Fats are technically triglycerides and are usually divided into two groups; saturated and non-saturated. Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature and include fats found in meat, dairy products, ice cream, milk and tropical oils. Unsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature and come in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated forms. Monounsaturated include oils from some nuts, olives and avocadoes. Polyunsaturated include oils from soybean, flax, sunflower, safflower as well as those fats that have been chemically transformed to make them solid like margarine.

But the most important thing to consider is what effect do proteins, carbohydrates and fats have on your body? Or more specifically what effect do they have on the production of insulin in your body. Insulin is essential to life, some of its many functions are to control the storage of fat, control appetite, regulate the retention of water in the kidneys and the synthesis of cholesterol in the liver and it also acts as a growth hormone.

Eating fat has little effect on your insulin levels, and it actually decreases your appetite. Also eating the right kind of fats can rebalance hormones and improve the way you look and feel.

When you eat carbohydrates your body produces digestive enzymes that break down the chemical bonds between the sugar molecules. These molecules stimulate the production of metabolic hormones including insulin and this is where the problems can start. If we have a diet too high in carbohydrates, particularly refined carbohydrates, the high levels of glucose cause high levels of insulin to be produced. This can cause insulin resistance, where the bodys cells become non-responsive to the insulin so the pancreas keeps producing more and more. It also means the body fails to burn the glucose as energy and instead it is stored as fat! If this happens constantly the build up of glucose in the blood can cause Type II diabetes. The high level of insulin also tells a gland in the brain, the hypothalamus, to send out hunger signals. So you could have just eaten a meal and you would still feel hungry, there will be nothing that satisfies that hunger.

Eating protein produces a moderate amount of insulin but also produces the hormone glucagon. This hormone stimulates the body to get rid of fat by burning it for energy; it also decreases the bodys production of cholesterol and stimulates the kidney to release excess salt and fluid. It also maintains your blood sugar level counteracting the effect of insulin, which lowers the blood sugar levels.

So, what should we be eating? Recent studies recommend 100g of protein for women and 150g of protein for men. An excellent way of getting the majority of your protein intake is by using a meal replacement product with extra protein powder if necessary. This takes all the guess work out of two thirds of your protein intake and when combined with a third meal of low fat protein (e.g. chicken or turkey) and low glycaemic vegetables gives the ideal diet to lose weight, gain energy, lower cholesterol and blood pressure and possibly reverse Type II diabetes.

Kay Blackiston has had an interest in health and nutrition for several years. She is now a personal weight loss coach supporting anybody who wishes to take charge of their lives and lose their excess weight.
http://www.from-flab-to-fab.com
kayblackiston@msn.com

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