Holistic Weight Loss System

Incorporating holistic approach to weight loss solutions can work wonders in providing body the necessary nourishment. Now, plan to include holistic activities with gruesome workout schedules and dieting, to reap out maximum benefits.

According to Henri Roca, medical director of Greenwich Hospital's Centre for Integrative Medicine - Holistic weightloss program can help an individual develop healthy eating habits and stay fit all his life. She said that genetics, metabolism, hormones and physiological attributes can act as potential hitting blocks to a successful long-term weight management.

Stress alone can impact a human body more than what people realize. Chronic stress can lead to enhanced cortisol levels that can stimulate glucose production in the body. Excess of glucose then gets converted into fat and stored in the body - especially around an individual's mid-section. A chemical chain reaction can take place inside the body and weaken the best weight loss efforts.

When you cut back on calories intake and add or increase exercises in your daily routine, you can succeed in achieving weightloss, but usually according to statistics, these do not offer enough motivation to people who've had failed in achieving their weight loss goals before. Failure to reach the weightloss goal adds up to the already existing stress in person's mind and suppresses the weight loss to occur in him going further.

Hence it is really essential that you include proper meditation and other stress management techniques in your routine along with regular diet plans and exercise regime.

Taking Herbal Pills May Help you Loose Appetite

A research has shown that women can reduce their daily calorie intake by almost a fifth if they simply take a herbal diet pill. The supplement has also been shown to help those with a sweet tooth, reducing the temptation to indulge in sugary snacks.

Zotrim, which is based on three South American plants, was tested by scientists at the University of Liverpool.
They found that women who took the pill with their breakfast had a much lower appetite at lunch time, cutting their calorie intake by 17.6 per cent, reported dailymail.co.uk.
Of the 58 volunteers who were given either Zotrim or a dummy pill in the morning, those on the herbal supplement only picked at their afternoon meal.
The subjects, some of whom were overweight, were observed at a test lunch buffet where they were told to eat as much they wanted. Those on Zotrim ate on average 132 fewer calories. If the effects were replicated throughout the day, the pill would cut a dieter's daily count by 400 or 500 calories.

Zotrim is designed to make the user feel fuller for longer. But it also appears to take the edge off a sweet tooth, cutting the women's selection of biscuits and chocolate mousse from the buffet by 27 per cent.

"Zotrim has a robust effect on a dieter's appetite, which could help them lose weight," said Dr Jason Halford, an obesity expert.

The pill contains caffeine and other ingredients from herbs Guarana, Yerba Mate and Damiana. The cocktail delays the rate at which the stomach empties by about 20 minutes. The process is not dangerous because it merely extends the length of time taken to digest the food.

However, it makes it difficult for dieters to overeat because they feel uncomfortably full sooner. Previous research has shown that Zotrim can help overweight women lose an average of two inches from their waists in just four weeks. Some of those taking part shed five inches from their middles.

You need Good Sleep to Fight Fat if You are Dieting

A small research conducted in US states that getting too little sleep might prevent dieters from losing body fat.
The study that got issued in the Annals of Internal Medicine, adds to evidence that sleep habits play a role in weight regulation and suggest people embarking on a weight-loss plan may want to make sure they are catching enough shut-eye each night.

The research included 10 overweight men and women who lived in a sleep lab for two separate two-week periods. During both periods they followed the same calorie-restricted diet but for one period, the participants slept for 8.5 hours per night, while during the other they got 5.5 hours. Researchers from the University of Chicago found the dieters lost the same amount of weight under both conditions - just under 7 pounds, on average.
But during the sleep-restricted period, they mainly lost muscle rather than fat. When participants got 8.5 hours of sleep, more than half of their weight loss came from shedding fat. But when they got 5.5 hours of sleep, only one-quarter of their weight loss came from fat -- translating to a 55 per cent reduction in fat loss. The majority of their weight loss came from lean body tissue, which refers to muscle and any other body tissue that is not fat.
So, they lost the same amount of weight, but the composition was different. Dr. Plamen Penev, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, said that successful dieters always shed a certain amount of muscle but wanted to limit that loss in favor of shedding fat.
The study, however, has a number of limitations. Besides its small size, it also looked only at short-term weight loss. More research is needed to see how sleep duration might affect dieters' body composition over time. It was also unclear how well these findings from a tightly controlled sleep-lab setting might fit the "real world." A number of studies have found self-described "short sleepers" - typically defined as those who get less than 6 hours of sleep each night - tend to weigh more or gain more weight over time than people who get more sleep.

Lab studies have suggested sleep loss may alter people's levels of the "hunger hormones" leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is secreted by fat cells; low blood levels of the hormone promote hunger, while increases tell the brain that body is full and encourage calorie burning. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach to boost appetite.
Penev's study  found that under sleep-restricted condition, participants reported greater hunger during the day compared with the 8-hour sleep condition even though they consumed the same number of calories during both periods. They also had higher blood levels of acylated ghrelin, one form of the appetite-boosting hormone. Penev said there wsa no one-size-fits-all prescription for sleep and more studies are needed in real-world settings.

Your breakfast can decide your Weightloss

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Wondering, why your diet can't get you rid of those extra inches accumulated on the waistline? Well, your breakfast can help you a lot. Researchers have found that a breakfast of muesli with milk, tinned peaches and yoghurt can help weight loss. Experts at the University of Nottingham recommend that the low GI breakfast with apple juice helps the body break down fat better than a high Glycaemic Index start to the day of sugary cereal and white toast, reports The Daily Express .

Scientists discovered that the kind of food you eat, before exercise can directly affect your health. A research led by Dr Emma Stevenson surveyed young women after an overnight fast.

In one study period they were given a breakfast of food known to cause large rises in blood glucose - those with a high GI, including cornflakes and milk, white bread and jam and a fizzy, sugary drink. In another period, they breakfasted on food with a low GI, although both breakfasts had the same amount of calories, carbohydrate, fat and protein. The low GI breakfast was muesli, milk, yoghurt, tinned peaches and apple juice. Three hours after eating, the women walked for an hour on a treadmill. A lunch - the same in both study periods, was then provided. Throughout the day, blood samples and samples of expired air were taken.

After the analyses, researchers discovered that blood glucose levels were higher after the high GI breakfast than the low one, and had returned to normal by the time the women began to exercise. However, plasma free fatty acids (FFA), which show the amount of fat used up for energy, began to rise two hours after the low GI breakfast, the researchers discovered further. Exercises then led to a rapid increase in FFAs in both groups, but concentrations were higher in the low GI group. After lunch the concentration of FFAs was the same in both groups, but overall fat oxidation was higher in the low GI group than the high GI group.

Dr Stevenson said: "We concluded that consuming a low GI breakfast increases fat oxidation both at rest and during subsequent exercise. A low GI breakfast also had an impact on appetite, with test subjects feeling fuller for longer after they’d eaten these types of foods."

Formula for perfect hourglass figure revealed

Dreaming to have those perfect curves like those of Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren? Well, researchers have now calculated  and designed a formula for that perfect hourglass figure, which can help you mark your target.


Scientists, at the University of Manchester while working with the supermarket chain Asda have built this formula. Researchers said that the bust size and ratios of the thigh-height and hip-waist ratio are the crucial dimensions.


Nevertheless, the curviness and symmetry of the figure are also substantial, they said. In their opinion, a DD or E cup is considered the optimum bust size, while the ideal thigh-height ratio – calculated by dividing the thigh’s thickest circumference by total height – is 0.3.


The hip-waist ratio is arrived at, by dividing the circumference of the waist by that of the hips – with 0.7 being the optimum result – and scores of one to five are assigned for "body curve line" and "body symmetry" based on visual assessment.


The higher the total score, the more perfect the hourglass shape, said researchers. 
“The human curve has come to represent the healthiest and most fertile form, highlighting the most suitable breeding partner and has evolved to be universally attractive to males for that reason,”  the Telegraph quoted Dr David Holmes, a senior psychology lecturer at the University of Manchester as saying.


"The perfect curve also impacts on other females creating mixed responses of both respect and jealousy,” he added.


A survey conducted, as part of this research revealed that 72 per cent of men are attracted to curvier women – citing a full bust, small waist and rounded bottom as the most attractive physical features. Apart from this, 63 per cent of women would prefer to look like curvier celebrities such as Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet and Alesha Dixon than slimmer stars like Cheryl Cole.


The research was conducted to set the release of Asda’s new ‘Tummy Tamer’ dress and skirt, designed to hide and sculpt excess flab and assist women in cheating their way to the perfect hourglass shape.

Foods that can help you in shedding weight

It's time for a new slim-down funda: Eat more to weigh less. Eating the right foods help you shed weight by increasing your calorie burn and cutting down food cravings.

1. Steak : Contrary to popular perception, eating a beef steak may help you drop weight. In a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women on a diet that included red meat lost more weight than those eating equal calories but little beef. The protein in steak helps you retain muscle mass during weight loss.

2. Eggs : Dig in to eggs, yolks and all: Eggs do not harm your heart, they can help you trim inches. Women on a low-calorie diet who ate an egg with toast and jelly each morning lost twice as much weight as those who had a bagel breakfast with the same number of calories but no eggs, a study from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge reports. Egg protein is filling, so you eat less later in the day.

3. Oats : "Oatmeal has the highest satiety ranking of any food," Grotto says. Unlike many other carbohydrates, oats—even the instant kind—digest slowly, so they have little impact on your blood sugar."

4. Lentils : Lentils are a great tummy flattener. "They're high in protein and soluble fibre, two nutrients that stabilise blood sugar levels," says Tanya Zuckerbrot, R.D., author of The F-Factor Diet (Putnam Adult). Eating them helps prevent insulin spikes that cause your body to create excess fat, especially in the abdominal area."

5. Apples : An apple a day can keep weight gain at bay, finds a study from Penn State University at University Park. People who chomped an apple before a pasta meal ate fewer calories overall than those who had a different snack. Apples are high in fibre—4 to 5 grams each—which makes them filling. Plus, the antioxidants in apples may help prevent metabolic syndrome, a condition marked by excess belly fat or an "apple shape."

6. Chillies : A great reason to spice up your meals: You'll increase your metabolism. A compound in chillies called capsaicin has a thermogenic effect, meaning it causes the body to burn extra calories for 20 minutes after you eat the chillies. Plus, you can't gulp down spicy food. Eating slowly gives your brain time to register that your stomach is full, so you won't overeat.

7. Yogurt : Dietitians often refer to plain yogurt as the perfect food. With its trifecta of carbs, protein and fat, it can stave off hunger by keeping blood sugar levels steady. In a study from the University of Tennessee, people on a low-calorie diet that included yogurt lost 61 per cent more fat overall and 81 per cent more belly fat than those on a similar plan but without yogurt.

8. Parmesan : Women who had one serving of whole milk or cheese daily were less likely to gain weight over time, a study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds. Lowfat-dairy fans didn't experience the same benefit. Whole dairy may have more conjugated linoleic acid, which might help your body burn fat.

9. Avocado : Don't let the fat content of an avocado (29 grams) scare you—that's what makes it a top weight loss food. The heart-healthy monounsaturated fat it contains increases satiety.

10. Olive oil : Like avocados, olive oil has healthy fat that increases satiety, taming your appetite. But that's hardly its only slimming feature. Research shows it has anti-inflammatory properties.