Did you know:

The first historical event that we can point to as contributing to the rise in excess pounds was the development of agriculture. This now meant that we could have foods we wanted, not needed…this is what provided the foundation for over- indulgence.

The reason most diets fail is because most diets don’t reprogram you to think and eat automatically. So eventually you’ll go off the diet just as surely as you went on it.

The most recommended strategy for people trying to lose weight is eating a handful of nuts. This has been shown to help you stay full while skipping meals can be detrimental to your body. By skipping meals, your body will go into a fat-storing, starvation mode when it doesn’t have enough calories.

Cinnamon has been shown to be helpful for controlling weight. Cinnamon increases insulin sensitivity which helps enhance the satiety center in your brain and also reduces blood sugar levels as well as cholesterol levels.

High- fructose corn syrup doesn’t appear to turn off your hunger chemicals, so you do not feel full causing you to eat more.

In periods of extreme stress (as in the case of a car accident, or even exercise), your body turns away from hunger. Chronic stress (like a long line of looming deadlines or family problems) can make you crave feel-good carbohydrates.

Chronic stress makes your body store more fat, which contributes to the most weight gain.

To cut your appetite, the most recommended choice would be whole-grain foods; they are loaded with filling fiber.

The organ most responsible for your metabolism is the liver.

Calorie for calorie, Fiber will fill you up for the longest amount of time. A cup of oatmeal in the morning has been shown to prevent you from afternoon gorging.

The worst side effect of losing weight is yo-yo dieting. Yo-yo dieting not only has physiological effects because you end up gaining more weight after you’ve lost it. Yo-yo dieting also has psychological effects.

Muscle facts:
We need to build more muscle to be healthy and increase our metabolism. The metabolic rate is the rate at which the body burns calories. This is partly determined by the amount of muscle we have. The more muscle we have, the higher our metabolic rate; the less muscle, the lower the metabolic rate. This explains why a man, who has a very high proportion of muscle, has a faster metabolism than a woman. This also explains why a 20-year-old has a higher metabolism than a 70-year-old. Muscle also burns more calories than fat. When we lose muscle, our metabolic rate drops and we burn fewer calories. Research shows the body loses proportionately higher amounts of muscle with a very low calorie intake and this may considerably suppress the metabolism by up to 45%.

Muscle tissue is more solid and metabolically active, where as fat is the opposite. Fat simply sits there being lumpy and mushy, waiting in the event that it may be needed for some future emergency (such as a famine). It does not require any calories to be maintained. Muscle is compact and toned, it allows your body to bend, stretch, move and run, and burns more calories than fat, even while sitting still.

The number on the scale does tell the whole story – because of the difference in fat and muscle 2 people who weigh the same can be different in size because of the ratio of fat to muscle. As we grow older, we lose muscle mass. This means we can weigh the same but look bigger.

Our bodies require protein. Your lean body mass is the metabolically active part of you. It consumes energy, repairs the daily wear and tear of vital body structures and it replaces fluid and body chemicals. This is why our bodies need protein.