Fitness articles submitted by a variety of weight loss and diet experts. Learn how to lose weight, tone muscles, build muscles, and reach your goals.

How To Reduce LDL Cholesterol

Weight loss articles

How To Reduce LDL Cholesterol

By Alexander Holt

High cholesterol is a big concern these days and puts people at high risk for heart attack and other serious cardiovascular problems. The diseases of the heart and circulatory system are the leading cause of death in the U.S. killing more than 1.3 million people a year.

High cholesterol is one of the primary risk indicators of heart disease and effects nearly 50% of Americans. It's a silent disease - there are no symptoms until problems have already developed. The worst thing is that many people don't know they have it until their first sign is a heart attack.

It is vital to keep your cholesterol within healthy limits. A healthy diet and regular physical activity are necessary for maintaining cardiovascular health, but supplementation may also be needed in order to manage cholesterol levels.

What exactly is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a type of fat and most of it is generated by our bodies. It is made by your liver from the fats, carbohydrates, and proteins you eat. You also get cholesterol by eating animal products such as meat, eggs, and dairy products. We need cholesterol, but too much of it generates problems.

The term high cholesterol is actually a bit misleading because there are two types of cholesterol - HDL and LDL. HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is the good cholesterol and LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is the bad cholesterol. The good cholesterol (HDL), decreases the risk of heart disease while the bad cholesterol (LDL), increases the risk. Most cholesterol is unfortunately LDL.

LDL cholesterol can build up on the inside of artery walls, contributing to artery blockages that can lead to heart attacks. Most efforts to battle arterial clogging focus on lowering LDL. HDL cholesterol is good because it helps prevent arteries from becoming clogged. It transports cholesterol to the liver where it is eliminated from the body. Higher HDL levels generally mean lower risk.

How can Policosanol help?

Policosanol is a natural supplement derived from sugar cane or beeswax that has been shown to promote cardiovascular health by raising HDL, the good cholesterol, and keeping LDL, the bad cholesterol, in check.

Policosanol works by helping the liver control its production and breakdown of cholesterol. In addition to reducing dangerous LDL, it also inhibits abnormal platelet aggregation, protects against LDL oxidation and suppresses arterial inflammatory factors.

Clinical studies have shown that Policosanol works as well as FDA-approved drugs, only free of side-effects.

People with elevated LDL cholesterol as well as people with low levels of good HDL cholesterol may benefit from taking Policosanol.

To keep your cholesterol levels in the healthy zone, try Policosanol Supplement. Click here to find more Heart Health Supplements.

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Coenzyme Q10 And Heart Health

Weight loss articles

Coenzyme Q10 And Heart Health

By Alexander Holt

The heart is the most important muscle in our body, it's our life pump. It is one of the few organs that are expected to work continuously, without rest, for a lifetime.

The heart beats about 70 times a minute, 100,000 times a day and about 36 million times a year. It pumps the equivalent of 2,500 - 5,000 gallons of blood per day through approximately 60,000 miles (100,000 km) of blood vessels. During an average lifetime, the heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times.

Because of all that the heart muscle requires the highest level of energetic support at all times. And this is where Coenzyme Q10 comes into play.

We all get our energy from food. Food is eaten and than broken down into small pieces called glucose. The blood carries the glucose to every cell in the body, where it is broken down further, releasing energy into the cell.

Coenzyme Q10 is a substance that is involved in the production of energy in cells. Its main function is to carry electrons that are needed in the energy generation process. It is found in high concentrations in tissues and organs that require a lot of energy. And because the heart requires huge amounts of energy, CoEnzyme Q10 plays an essential role in maintaining a healthy heart.

Current research shows that heart disease may be connected to insufficient levels of Coenzyme Q-10. When deficiency occurs the heart may be the most affected organ, which can lead to some serious problems.

Coenzyme Q-10 is found naturally throughout the human body. Small amounts of it are obtained through the foods we eat (the richest sources are meat, poultry and fish), but the majority is created directly by the body.

The typical daily dietary intake of this compound is only about 2-5 mg, which is far below the amount needed for optimum health. Aging and illness deplete the body's stores even further. At the age of 50 we produce half the amount of CoQ10 as we did when we were 20.

Although CoQ10 is available from foods, it is difficult to obtain enough of it from diet alone, especially in our later years. However, it can be taken as a supplement.

Supplementing CoQ10 has many health benefits such as strengthening the heart, improving the immune system and lowering blood pressure. Increasing levels of coenzyme Q10 give cells in the heart the ability to make more energy for pumping blood, which increases strength and output capacity.

CoQ10 is also one of the most potent antioxidants known. It plays a key role in treatment of cardiovascular illnesses, including congestive heart failure. It can also help with a number of other diseases such as diabetes, kidney failure, migraine, Alzheimer's disease, and more. Some doctors recommend it after heart surgery to speed recovery.

To maintain cardiovascular health and provide your body with sufficient quantities of Coenzyme Q10, check out Coenzyme Q10 Supplement. Click here to find more Supplements For Healthy Heart.

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Starvation Dieting Is Not The Answer To Weight Loss

Weight loss articles

Starvation Dieting Is Not The Answer To Weight Loss

By Alexander Holt

Many people think that starvation is a good way to achieve weight loss. But when it comes to losing weight there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. I can assure you that starvation is not the right way. In fact, hunger should not be a part of dieting. Reduction diets such as low-fat, low-carb and low calorie diets are generally not a good idea. In this article I will try to explain why.

First some statistics - studies show that more than 95% of people who lose weight gain it back within five years. And 90% of those gain back more than they lost. One would think that when people spend so much time, energy, and money on dieting, they would lose weight. But in fact, they are getting fatter. How can this be?

This is because the majority of mainstream diets work by starving you. And that is not good. The human body sees food shortage as a threat to its well-being and will act accordingly. It has build in regulating system designed to look after its best interests. And its number one interest is to stay alive.

The body needs a certain amount of calories each day to function properly. When it senses that it's getting less calories than required, it goes into so called starvation mode. It shuts things down in an attempt to lower energy requirements and preserve fuel, that is - fat.

By starving yourself your metabolism lowers so that the body becomes more efficient, requiring fewer calories to function. Slow metabolism turns food into body fat very easily and makes losing weight almost impossible.

Another problem of slow metabolism is that when you start eating normally again, you will gain weight faster than ever. The body will usually gain back more fat that what was originally lost, with fewer calories consumed. This is why 90% of people gain back more weight than they lost.

But this is not all. When you don't eat enough, your body begins to consume itself. This is the simple logic of reduction diets. But when this happens, you are not only losing fat, you are also losing muscle, bone, and even brain tissue.

Starvation is the most cruel and unhealthy way to lose weight. You will certainly lose weight, but it's never long term and the health consequences could be really bad.

The key to healthy weight loss is not to limit the quantity of food, it's eating the right foods in the right patterns each day. This can be achieved with a new approach to weight loss called calorie shifting.

Calorie shifting is a method that works by constantly changing what you eat. Rather than reducing you are shifting the type of calories that you eat on a daily basis. This tricks your metabolism into thinking that you are not dieting, so it remains running high and burning a lot of fat.

Most people find shifting calories to be much easier that other diets because you eat four meals a day and never starve. This method is certainly one of the best and healthiest ways to achieve fast and long term weight loss.

To get more information about calorie shifting method, visit: Shifting Calories

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Calorie Cycling Weight Loss

Weight loss articles

Calorie Cycling Weight Loss

By Alexander Holt

Calorie cycling, also known as calorie shifting, is a new approach to weight loss that is based upon the idea that in order to lose weight you must keep your metabolism in high gear.

This is important because increased metabolic rate means you burn more calories and if you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight. Metabolic rate is responsible for how your body processes food and at which rate it burns up calories. The higher the rate, the more efficiently your body burns calories. Increasing your metabolism is the quickest way to succeed in losing weight.

But how do you do it? The answer is - with calorie cycling. Let me elaborate on how this works.

Calorie cycling means that you should consume different amount of calories each day but at the same time preserve the weekly norm. For example, instead of consuming precisely 1900 calories each day, you can mix it up. You consume 1500 calories one day, and 2300 calories the next and so on. This is better than constant calorie restriction and has a better effect on metabolism and your overall health.

The great thing about this method is that you don't feel deprived, because you are allowed to eat a reasonable amount of food. With this diet you eat at least four meals a day which will also prevent your body from going into starvation mode so you don't plateau.

With mainstream low-calorie, low fat or low-carb diets, people eventually end up plateauing. This is because the body goes into so-called starvation mode. That means the body automatically adjusts and begins to conserve as much energy as possible. It will become super efficient at making the most of the calories it gets. If you want to lose weight, that's the last thing you need.

Remember, a diet doesn't mean restricting your calories to dangerously low levels. It won't work, at least not in the long term, and it's certainly not healthy.

The bottom line - as long as a continuing calorie deficit is achieved, calorie cycling works! Remember this when choosing a new weight loss program.

For more information visit - Calorie Cycling Diet

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Yo-Yo Dieting - Why It Happens And How To Stop It

Weight loss articles

Yo-Yo Dieting - Why It Happens And How To Stop It

By Alexander Holt

Yo-yo dieting is a repeated loss and gain of body weight due to excessive dieting. It's a term often associated with fad diets that cause you to gain more weight than you initially lose. Sometimes it's also called weight cycling.

Yo-yo dieting is a huge problem and a health risk. Each time people lose weight and gain it back, they slow down their metabolism, which is the rate at which their bodies burn food. A slower metabolic rate means less calories are burned and more fat is stored. This makes each subsequent diet harder and harder and is the main reason why 95% of the people who lose weight gain it back?

The sad fact is that most people who go on and off diets end up heavier than when they started. Some people struggle with this for most of their lives.

Weight cycling is also harmful to general health. It can decrease immunity and increase the risk of developing high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

If you too have been caught up on the yo-yo dieting roller coaster, the following points may help you to break out of this vicious cycle.

Now that you know that dieting slows your metabolism it's time to get yourself back in balance. For effective and long term weight loss you need to boost your metabolism and turn your body into a fat burning machine.

One of the easiest ways to do that is to eat little and often. Each time you eat, you stimulate your metabolism for a short period of time, which means that small, frequent meals keep your metabolism burning throughout the day, ensuring that it's doing its job - burning calories.

It's always better to eat small, regular meals throughout the day, rather than one or two large meals. Did you know that around 10% of the calories we use each day go on digesting and absorbing food, so the more often you eat, the more calories you will use.

But, off course, you must eat right. Lots of fruits and vegetables, a healthy source of proteins like eggs, chicken, nuts, and so on. Sugar is bad. Junk food and soda drinks are to be avoided in all circumstances. And don't skip meals. Skipping meals will slow metabolism and can lead to over eating.

If you do this right, you will never again have to starve yourself with low-this, low-that starvation diets. All you need is to plan your meals and stick to the plan.

For more information on how to keep your metabolism running high, visit - Calorie Shifting

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