Diet Supplement Blog

Belonging to a flowering plant family, Apocynaceae, Hoodia is one of the 13 species in the family. Often it is mistaken for a cactus because it looks like a cactus but actually it is a stem succulent. It reaches to a meter in height and has large flowers. Its flower has a tan color and has strong smell. They are naturally found in the Namib Desert of Africa spread across the Central Namibia to the southern Angola. Hoodia gordonii, one of the 13 species of Hoodia has been investigated for its use by local inhabitants as an appetite suppressant. Since then Hoodia oodia has been marketed extensively as a weight loss product across the world. The originators of this knowledge are the San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. The plant is harvested after it begins to flower which takes five years. The San Bushmen have been using the plant for centuries for various purposes such as indigestion and for the treatment of small infections besides being taken for long hunting trips as an appetite suppressant. 

The use of Hoodia gordonii by San Bushmen was noted by a Dutch anthropologist. The South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) commenced studies on the plant in 1977. It was successful in isolating a steroidal glycoside, the principal ingredient responsible for suppressing appetite. This ingredient was named P57. The patent for this discovery was obtained in 1996. CSIR formally recognized the San Bushmen as the originators of the knowledge only in 2002 when this non-recognition issue was raised. This made the San people eligible for getting a share in the royalties from the sales of Hoodia and any other products based on this knowledge. In 1995 Phytopharm received the license for P57 from CSIR. The company spent about $20 million for carrying out research on hoodia. P57 was sub-licensed In 1998 Phytopharm sub-licensed the rights to Pfizer for $21 million but returned the rights back to Phytopharm who is collaborating with Unilever.

Hoodia created a sensation when BBC reported on it in 2003 followed by 60 Minutes in 2004. Many products claiming to be Hoodia products began to be marketed. They are marketed in different forms such as capsules, tablets, liquid tinctures, coffee and infusions, syrups, protein shakes and even diet fruit bars. There are products such as Hoodia Supreme who claims pure Hoodia as its ingredient. 74

Recognizing that Hoodia is threatened because of the indiscriminate trade from Africa, CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) listed it under its Appendix II identifying it as a plant that should be brought under strict regulation. This certification also is proof of its genuineness.

Technorati Tags: diet, diets, fat loss, Health, Hoodia, increase metabolism, metabolism, Obesity, weight-loss

Are there ways through which metabolism weight loss can be achieved faster? There should be since we live in a fast age, right? The good news for those whose metabolism is not efficient enough is that solutions do exist for the problem unless there is a medical condition that prevents metabolism from working properly. For such cases only the doctor can tell what the causes and the remedies could be.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

The tricks and tips under discussion here are actually simple basic things that will, if applied, help your metabolism weight loss processes. One of these simple things would be for you to eat a bit more often. If you eat the same amount of food you normally eat on a day but in more ‘episodes’, spread out between other meals and snacks, you will see the improvement, even if it does not guarantee actual weight loss. You have to know that the digesting process burns off about 20% of your calories every day; therefore, by eating more often you will get your body to digest more often and, obviously burn more calories in the process. Thus the efficiency of your digestive system will surely improve.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Another metabolism weight loss ‘method’ would be drinking more water. We mean water, not healthy drinks which might not be as healthy as you were convinced to believe. Although this is known by probably everyone since we are always told to drink plenty of water, it is still useful to insist on it as water is a natural metabolism booster. Besides, the more water is drunk, the less excess water is retained in the body. And one more thing, how much water is enough? Experts say that somewhere between 1.5 and 2 liters of water per day should work just fine, but during the warm season you should drink up to 3 liters.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Last but not least, to ensure metabolism weight loss you must keep in mind that you have to combine a healthy diet including, vegetables, legumes, fruit and low-fat meat like chicken and fish with a good physical exercise routine. The minerals and vitamins as well as the fibers you take from food will help you a lot and the extra energy will be burned in physical activities. The physical exercise should not be excessive but something like 30 minutes of it every day. Mind you will have to make these part of your lifestyle if you do want to get the desired results and to make sure you will keep yourself in a good shape permanently.

Technorati Tags: diet, dieting, eating, Health, metabolism, weight, weight-loss

Although there are several dietary programs known under the name of metabolic or metabolism diet, the general concept of such a weight loss pattern refers to the possibility to burn calories without depleting the body of nutrients. Unlike a harsh diet that can be easily considered a form of self-imposed starvation, a metabolism diet complements the foods with the body needs in such a way that all the macro-nutrients are provided for a normal functioning of the system.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

The metabolism diet is the safe and efficient approach to weight loss. What many people don’t know is that when they take up a crash diet and they drastically reduce the food portions, the body slows down the metabolism in order to cope with the new feeding circumstances. Therefore, a basic rule of the metabolism diet is to eat enough so as not to be hungry. A metabolism start occurs in the morning at breakfast, and if you constantly skip this meal, you are very likely to become overweight.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Then, natural antioxidants are also known to boost up metabolism. Therefore, in order to accelerate a bit the fat consuming process in your system, a cup of coffee or some green tea could work wonders. Studies indicate that the substances in tea can enhance metabolism with up to 12% which is quite a lot if we consider the urge to burn the extra fat deposits. Other elements of the metabolism diet will also contribute to the energy consume.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Fibers and lots of liquids are other important elements of the metabolism diet. The increase of the fat burn is substantial if you manage to replace fat with fiber in order to lose weight in time. With three servings of fruit and vegetables things would look a lot brighter when you check your kilos at the end of the week. As for water drinking, statistics indicate that some six cups of cold water per day can shed some five pounds in a year. If you drink more and do some physical exercise, the weight loss will accelerate.

Protein and foods rich in iron should always be part of the metabolism diet because they provide quality energy to the system, and vital nutrients without which the body factory could not work. Then, without iron, the blood doesn’t oxygenate very well, and you risk to develop anemia together with a sagging metabolism. Talk to a dietitian for more tips and advice in order to learn how to best enhance your metabolism.

Technorati Tags: diet, Health, metabolic, metabolism, weight-loss

The need for metabolism boosters has become more obvious with an apparently paradoxical discovery. People who start crash diets and drastically reduce the number of calories, lose a few pounds in the beginning of the diet, and then, the scales suddenly stops moving in the direction you’d like. The problem with crash diets is that they force the metabolism to slow down, adjusting to a low energy production because you don’t give enough fuel to the body.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

The solution therefore may be not that of reducing calories to the minimum, but rather finding the right metabolism boosters. The benefits here are twofold: on the one hand you’ll have plenty of nutrients, lots of energy and a radiant health, and on the other hand, you’ll be able to enjoy good food and still lose weight. There are natural metabolism boosters that should not be overlooked or ignored, and they are a lot safer and more efficient than any of the weight loss supplements available on the market.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Oxygen, water and physical exercises represent the most powerful enemies of the extra pounds and the metabolism boosters you need to be in good shape. Physical activities demand a higher consume of energy, therefore, your body will burn food more rapidly to get to the optimal vitality level. Oxygen and water enhance metabolic reactions even more than physical effort, because where there is oxygen, there is energy burning.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

You can optimize the level of oxygen in the system by transforming breathing into one of the most efficient metabolism boosters. Most of us breathe shallowly, which prevents the full oxygenation of the system although we are not aware of the problem. The normal breathing is the one you can notice in the diaphragm, but very few people know how to inhale and exhale like that. If you’ll watch a sleeping baby, you’ll see what breathing should be like.

Metabolism boosters are also part of the daily diet if you know how to choose them carefully. This is the case with fruits and vegetables, that besides vitamins and minerals, also contain all sorts of enzymes, natural sugar and fibers. Such active principles have an incredible impact on how the body processes food and how metabolism remains at a balanced level for the best of health conditions. For those people interested in metabolism boosters it is probably a good idea to read as many materials as possible and build some solid living habits in time.

Technorati Tags: boost, boosting, diet, Health, metablism, weight-loss

Metabolism is the sum of chemical reactions/processes which occur in living bodies and whose aim is to maintain life; this means growing, reproduction, maintaining the organisms’ structures and responding to their environments adequately. Metabolism has usually two phases: anabolism on the one hand uses energy to make up cell components such as proteins and nucleic acids; on the other hand there is catabolism through which organic matter is broken down. The metabolic rate, or the speed at which metabolism performs its duties, is an important factor in deciding how much food an organism requires and which substances are nutritious and which are poisonous for the organism. Most of the structures which make up the living organisms fall into three basic groups of molecules: amino acids, carbohydrates and lipids or fats. One important aspect in maintaining your body healthy and in a good shape is to look at your lipid metabolism.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Lipids or fats are the most diversified group of molecules or biochemicals. The lipids’ main uses are both as part of biological membranes (for example the cell membranes) and as source of energy. They usually dissolve in organic solvents (such as benzene and chloroform). They contain fatty acids and glycerol. Steroids such as cholesterol are also a major group of lipids that are produced in the cells. Metabolism in general and lipid metabolism as well, is carried out by means of the chemicals called enzymes, which are created by the body. If the function of an enzyme is affected in some way by a genetic abnormality, then some disorders will occur, since there also occurs the inability to break down what must be broken down, thus allowing some toxic intermediate substance to build up.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

One serious set of disorders caused by weak enzyme activity is that manifested in lipid metabolism. The fat accumulation in the body is, under normal functioning conditions, constantly broken down and reassembled. The purpose is to balance the energy needs of the body with the available food. When the enzymes specialized in breaking down the fatty substances in the body do not work properly anymore, then, over time the accumulations of these substances become harmful to the body and its organs. These lipid metabolism disorders are called lipidoses. Another set of enzyme abnormalities which prevent the body from turning fats into energy lead to problems that are called fatty acid oxidation disorders. One upsetting condition caused by poor lipid metabolism is obesity in which excessive fat accumulates in the adipose tissue. One cause for obesity is the excessive calorie intake. Anyway, there are ways of dealing with lipid metabolism disorders at hand. You only have stand up against the condition.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Technorati Tags: diet, Lipid, metabolism, weight-loss

The concept of fat metabolism is used by many people perhaps without knowing exactly what the term refers to. Medically speaking, it makes reference to the biochemical process based on which fatty acids and substances get integrated and are used by the cells of the body. Fatty acids get into our body in the form of tryglicerides which are later transformed into glycerol.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

The body has the role of obtaining fats from fatty acids as well as glycerol from the excessive amount of glucose. Fat metabolism prevents our body cells from burning the fat that was obtained through the process afore-mentioned. In case one’s metabolism is fat, it is recommended that they try to control it by taking hormones such as insulin, growth hormones and glucocorticoids.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Fat metabolism is specific to women during pregnancy and the breast feeding period. Prolactin is a hormone present in a female body that leads to milk production. It is the one that should be blamed for the fact that most pregnant women or mothers have noticed a change in their metabolism. Once a woman gets pregnant, the level of prolactin helps fat metabolism install, which is completely false in the case of those who are not pregnant but still have a higher level of prolactin.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Apparently research has not been conducted to a satisfying degree for scientists to be able to say exactly how prolactin impacts on obesity. And since not much is known about how exactly the two relate, it is difficult to come up with a solution. What is known though is that prolactin results in fat metabolism by preventing the body find equilibrium in terms of what it can metabolize. Once the prolactin hormone sends off signals to fatty tissue, another hormone is produced called adiponectin which has a key role in metabolizing nutrients.

In order to set balance into your body again and increase your fat metabolism one should start focusing more on what they eat. It is important to resort to vegetables and fruit mostly because these can help you reduce fat; actually scientists call vegetables and fruit negative calorie food because eating those will help you burn out fat.

So, yes; fat metabolism is something many of us want to increase. What we should always have in view is what we eat and what eating habits we have in terms of meals per day and the amount of food per meal. Fat or junk food should be less and less encouraged and more fresh green products and fruit should be complementary to sports and constant physical activity.

Technorati Tags: diet, fat, Health, metabolism, weight-loss

Glucose metabolism involves two main paths: one aerobic and one anaerobic. The aerobic process, or the one that requires oxygen, results in the creation of more energy, while with the other, the transformation of glucose is carried out in the absence of air resulting in a moderate energy production. In order to understand glucose metabolism without having to explain it in scientific and hard to grasp concepts, we ought to emphasize the fact that this substance represents the body fuel.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

In the metabolic processes, high levels of glucose in the blood cause the pancreas to secret insulin. Glucose is then transported into the cells by some special molecules, and is received by specialized cells with precise body functions. The tissues that consume most of the glucose reserve are the muscles where in the presence of oxygen, glucose turns into energy enabling us to move, run, work and carry on with any activity we want.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

The problem with glucose is that food intake often provides more energy than the body needs. If the muscles do not perform some activities to consume the extra glucose, then, energy will get stored in the body in the form of fat deposits. And here one cannot blame a deficient glucose metabolism since the problem usually lies in over-eating. People who solve the issues with incorrect eating habits, have better chances of losing weight naturally and without putting any stress on the system.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

Besides overeating, we should also emphasize the risk of under-eating or malnutrition. The glucose metabolism is impaired when dieting is misunderstood and people eat too small food portions or don’t eat at all, for the sole purpose of weight loss. The system needs nutrients to function properly and all the elements are interrelated: if one is missing, the entire chain is in difficulty. Moderation in the eating habits and a balanced lifestyle will keep your health under control in optimal parameters.

There are some health problems that interfere with the glucose metabolism, and one of them is diabetes, with its two forms, insulin and non-insulin dependent. Special medical advice and assistance are required for such cases, with the mention that medication will also be necessary to keep glucose metabolism under control. Pregnancy is one special situation when the energy consume increases and changes occur in the glucose metabolism. With a little care and proper medical assistance, you should be able to preserve good health.

Technorati Tags: diet, dieting, glucose, metabolism, weight-loss

Energy metabolism is a series of chemical reactions that transform food into energy.  Only 20% of this total amount of energy is retained by our body around twenty percent, the rest of it being used to function or released as heat. As you may have noticed, when going to the gym and working out our bodies heat a great deal especially if we try our best to exercise correctly and follow the instructor’s guidelines precisely. That heat that our body gives away results from energy metabolism.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

To better understand energy metabolism, one needs first to grasp the role of ATP in our bodies. ATP which stands for adenosine triphosphate is a chemical compound that is responsible for the huge amount of energy that our bodies supply on. For example, during hard physical exercise we may reach a level at which we simply stop functioning in an optimum manner and this is where ATP comes into the picture. This chemical compound is broken down and used as fuel to help the body function at the required parameters even when it is pushed beyond its normal limits. ATP is stored at cellular level and functions like money in our society as it helps the cell grapple with requirements of decent functioning.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

So, energy metabolism is strongly connected to the cells’ ability to rebuild ATP after they have already broken it down into pieces and used as energy. In other terms ATP serves as food for cells and, naturally, once that food is consumed, they need new supplies. To put it in different words, cells need to rebuild themselves the molecules of ATP which they need to use not only at the beginning of intense physical activity but also throughout it.
Seattle HCG Diet Weight Loss Center

As it may be deduced from above, energy metabolism is the opposite of fat metabolism. The latter of the two is responsible for obesity within a human body and is usually associated with certain fatty and junk foods that people faultily include in their diets. In addition, the enemy of energy metabolism is lack of physical exercise. Canada and many other countries have started focusing on energy metabolism to understand how a human being can stay healthier and more active over longer periods of time. Research is conducted to understand how energy is stored at cell level and later used. These studies will most likely help in establishing healthier and healthier food diets that will preserve a raised energy metabolism in our bodies.

Technorati Tags: diet, Energy, metabolism, weight-loss

There is a new obsession in the world today. And that obsession is about weight. And with good enough reason as research says that one in every three American between the ages of 20 and 74 is overweight, which is about 58 million of the people in the country. What is the difference between being overweight and being obese? Let’s look at some obesity facts.

Being overweight basically means having excess body weight in the form of muscle, fat, water and bone in the body. This is when your weight is considered to be above the average weight of a person with your same height, age and general build. Being obese, on the other hand, is when only your body fat is measured in comparison to another person of the same gender, height and build and then rated. There are many people who could be considered overweight, but not obese. Practically however, the chances of an overweight person being obese are much higher.

Some obesity facts can be staggering. For example, the diseases that are shown to affect those who are obese is a very long list, and it shows clearly that obesity is pretty much the root cause for many health and psychological problems in the country today. For example, according to some obesity facts, obesity is said to almost double the risk of a person developing high blood pressure, and according to research, nearly 70% of the people affected by heart disease are said to be obese as well. These obesity facts are quite scary huh?

The causes for obesity can be many and varied. One very obvious answer would be the poor eating habits that some people tend to follow for reasons like convenience, cost and sometimes pure laziness. But there have been other obesity facts as well that have led to a person being obese. There are some anti depressant drugs that are said to have after effects of causing obesity in a person, while many disease conditions like hypothyroidism has also caused people to gain weight suddenly and become obese. Another factor that could lead to obesity has been shown to be genetics. Many obesity facts show that for some reason or the other, there are a few of us who are more inclined towards being overweight and obese than others.

Co-submitted by: Chemstrip Glucose Strips.

Technorati Tags: diet, fitness, food, Health, nutrition healthy living, Obesity

Obesity is a problem faced by both children and adults alike, worldwide. Obesity is mouting up sky high every year. With more people engaging themselves in various tiring activities and therefore having little time to cook nutritious, healthy food at home and opting to eat fast food, there could be no confusion as to how a large number of people are suffering from obesity in America.

The main cause of obesity in America, is  the consumption of large amounts of food that are usually high in fat, as this leads to a person taking in much more calories than the body requires. On top of over eating, people gain no workout which adds up to the misery. It has come to notice that hormonal disorders too contibute to obesity in some cases at which the suffer’s eating habits are not responsible.

Obesity in America could lead to various health conditions and serious disorders. These health conditions include the patient suffering from severe depression and low self-esteem due to their size, who would therefore find it extremely difficult to lead a normal life as their social standing could be affected. Serious diseases include heart disease and diabetes. In the most serious cases, obesity could even result in death.

Although fat cells are difficult to deal with scientists have come up with certain methodologies to combat the situation. Obesity in America could be treated and cured.  The most important aspects of comeback include getting back in to healthy diet and exercising regulaly. Other choices included gastric bypass surgery or implanting an adjustable stomach, but that is only if you are at least 100 pounds overweight and have a BMI over 40. It should be noted that these treatments come at a high cost, which means that you should be aware of your financial status before contemplating surgery.

If obesity in America is to be changed, a life style change is essential. Therefore what you eat and how much you eat should be something you are always mindful of. Ensure that your children lead a healthy lifestyle too as obesity is common among children as well. A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), showed that by the age of 25, majority of kids who are overweight at 10-15 would become obese.

Co-submitted by: Ascensia Glucose Strips.

Technorati Tags: diet, fitness, food, Health, nutrition healthy living, Obesity