So, how could this happen?  Many people seem surprised that you can lose weight eating junk food, which is why Haub’s story made international headlines. We want to thank Haub for making our point. For years we have been using Twinkies as an example, saying that you can lose weight eating nothing but Twinkies if you ate fewer calories than you burned.

Basically, weight loss is simple math — calories in versus calories out. Of course, no one wants to hear that.  We live in a world where millions of people spend billions of dollars on “miracle” weight-loss cures. People want to be able eat junk food and lose weight. Let’s hope this study does not encourage that.

There are two main problems with a diet like this. First, it is not healthy. There is no nutritional value in food like this. He did take a multiple vitamin, but that is not the same as getting nutrition from healthy food. Too many people use that way of thinking.

The second problem is that eating so much processed food will tend to spike your blood sugar because it breaks down so quickly. This will cause insulin overload and also leave you hungry an hour later. It must have taken tremendous willpower because this type of diet in normal calories would leave you constantly hungry. Consider that a pound of fresh spinach has the same number of calories as a single Oreo cookie. Which do you think would satisfy your appetite more? I know what you are thinking. Who wants to eat a pound of spinach? If you had a nice spinach salad, you could still add some dressing and nuts for the same calories as 3 or 4 cookies.

The bottom line is that this study just proves the simple point – it comes down to calories in and calories out. .In the end, fad diets are not successful in the long term because they do not address the real issue which is changing behavior. When you create a new behavior patterns, you will never have to diet again.  Hypnosis anyone?

According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, cancer is basically a disease of the immune system. Every day your body is reproducing new cells. To be more specific, it is reproducing copies of existing cells. Cancer starts when something changes in the DNA and nucleic acids that are the basis of hereditary. Your body will create incorrect copies that become malignant cells. This actually happens to everyone. We all have these “Bad cells” in our bodies. The good news is that they are controlled or killed by the natural defense mechanisms in the body, better known as the immune system. If your immune system is healthy, there is nothing to worry about.

So we see that the start of cancer is as a result of cells gone “bad”. When you smoke or eat toxic foods, you are putting low levels of poison in your body which ultimately changes body chemistry. The immune system can’t defend your body properly when biochemistry is altered. It can’t tell its own cells from invading toxic cells and may attack everything or nothing. Usually what happen is that your immune system is weakened by the poison in cigarettes and food toxins, so it is not able to control the “bad” cells. So, cancer cells are normal cells that have been altered by a chemical or other enabler that allows the cells to survive but without the safety controls of normal cells. Cancer attacks when your immune defenses and blood health are low from high levels of toxins.

Cancer is on the rise. It is primarily a disease of the 20th century that is getting worse. New statistics show that more people will get cancer if prevention is not preached, instead of cancer treatment. Treatment is not the answer. More and more people are being treated for cancer and more are newly diagnosed each year.

One obvious solution is to keep the toxins out of your body. If you smoke, or if you are around second hand smoke you are putting your immune system at risk. Smokers are more likely to not only have cancer, but every other disease clear down to the common cold. Stop smoking right away and your body will start to recover immediately.

Diet improvement is a also key in battling cancer, because up to 50% of cancer risk can be determined by your diet choices. Nutrition deficiencies accumulate over a long period of too much over-processed food, trans-fat and red meat along with too little fresh fruits and vegetables. This eventually leaves our bodies with very little to protect us.

Some hormone-driven cancers like ovarian, breast, uterine, kidney, bladder, prostate and colon cancers are closely related to the kind of protein and fat we eat. The worst is animal protein and fat from meats and oxidized fats from junk foods and fried foods. Alcohol abuse, too much sugar and barbecued meat can also be traced back to cancer development.

Your diet is your major weapon against cancer. The food you eat can either promote or prevent the disease. Whole food nutrition allows the body to use its natural ability to restore and repair cells. A healthy diet can deter the cancer process from its conception to its growth and spread. Even if your genetics and lifestyle are against you, your diet may still make a tremendous difference in your cancer odds by boosting your immune system.

Giving your body healthy food nutrients may can determine whether a cancer-causing virus or a cancer-promoter like too much estrogen will turn into a cancerous tumor. Even after cells have massed into tumors, certain food compounds can help slow or even stop more growth and may even actually shrink the tumors. What we’re talking about here is helping your body heal itself.

Avoid high-chemical processed foods and eat more natural food. The more fruits and vegetables you eat, the less your cancer risk from colon and stomach cancer to breast and even lung cancer. People who eat plenty of fruits and vegetables and detoxify themselves have half the risk than people who eat few fruits and vegetables.

One more tip to help your body avoid cancer: Reduce your body fat. Toxins are usually stored at their highest level in fat cells. Reduce the amount of fat to store these toxins and get plenty of water and fiber to flush out the toxins.

FOODS THAT PROVIDE CANCER-FIGHTING NUTRITION

Fiber-rich Foods: The best sources are whole fruits and vegetables and whole grains

Yogurt and Pro-biotic Foods: These help neutralize the effects of carcinogens and de-activate enzymes that allow body substances to turn to cancer.

Anti-Oxidant Foods: Citrus fruits, tomatoes, pepper and greens along with green tea offer antioxidant protection and neutralize cancer-causing free-radicals.

Omega-3 fatty acids: The best sources are cold water fish such as salmon, along with plant-based sources like nuts and flax seed.

EIGHT KEYS FOR CUTTING YOUR RISK OF CANCER

1. Eat a healthy diet with natural whole foods. Avoid processed foods.

2. Eliminate as many toxins from your body as possible. Avoid smoking and areas where smoke may exist. Use an air purifier if necessary.

3. Reduce intake of fats and sugar. Sugar causes cell damage and fat provides storage for toxins.

4. Reduce intake of red meat. Red meat has been linked to increases in many types of cancer.

5. Keep your immune system strong. Reduce your stress and toxins in your body.

6. Cleanse your body with plenty of plain water and fiber-rich foods.

7. Exercise regularly. This reduces stress, improves circulation and helps you feel good.

8. Laugh more. Laughter releases serotonin which gives your immune system a real boost.

Remember; An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

This post is my opinion based on medical research. I am not a doctor and do not give medical advice. I am a survivor of skin cancer, which has surprised my doctor by not returning.

The American Medical Association has endorsed medical hypnosis for over 50 years. The benefits of stress management workshops in maintaining health and reversing such conditions as ulcerative colitis, chronic headaches, heart disease, and cancer have been acknowledged by doctors as well as employers, as health care costs soar. They are now taught in most major medical facilities and covered by many health insurance companies.

I first became aware of using the visualization and hypnosis to fight cancer in Dr. Bernie Siegel’s classic best-selling book Love, Medicine, and Miracles. There he tells of his cancer patients who have triumphed over their illness by using the power of their minds.

Visualization has been successfully usedf for many years to fight cancer in the body. There are numerous accounts of people who have had “spontaneous healing” (the title of one of Dr. Weil’s books), such as having their cancer shrink or even “disappear” after usiong prayer or visualization techniques. With hypnosis, visualization techniques can be made even more powerful because it creates a heightened state of awareness and avoids the judgment of the conscious part of the mind.

I’m not suggesting that people abandon traditional cancer treatment. I believe they should go hand in hand with mental and emotional exercises to create a mind-body healing experience. There are many things hypnosis can do to help a person increase the likelihood of a positive outcome.  Thes include using visualization techniques to boost the immune system, creating a positive expectancy for healing and a reducing fear by creating a feeling a control over the cancer.

Dr. Mehmet Oz tells us that cancer is basically a disease of the immune system. We all carry cancerous cells in our body, but a healthy immune system will destroy these invaders. Many professionals believe that producing feelings of calm and relaxation allows the immune system to function at a maximum level, aiding the fight against cancer. Psychoneuroimmunology (the study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems of the human body) is beginning to identify factors such as stress, depression, and loneliness that all seem linked to many diseases including cancer and slow or stop the healing process.

Techniques such as hypnosis can allow the person to feel a sense of control over their illness and so they no longer feel like the victim. It can also speed up the healing process, and reduce negative side effects and pain.

I’m not suggesting that hypnosis will cure everyone from cancer. I’m suggesting that people use every tool available, especially ones that are non-invasive and have no negative side effects. At the very least, hypnosis offers many cancer patients physical and emotional relief from the stress of being diagnosed with cancer and offers a higher quality of life with emotional healing and a feeling of control.

You could literally age before your time because of the effects of stress. Watch this CBS video on the effects of stress and aging, and then come back for a simple solution.

Stress and Aging Video

Welcome back. If daily stress is taking a toll on your health, it’s time to go nuts! Really! You can feel better by eating walnuts, because according to a new study, they help fight stress.

“We wanted to find out if omega 3-fatty acids from plant sources would blunt cardiovascular responses to stress,” said Sheila G. West, associate professor of Biobehavioural Health.

The researchers found that including walnuts and walnut oil in the diet lowered both resting blood pressure and blood pressure responses to stress in the laboratory.

This is important because it is hard to avoid all of the stressors in our daily lives. This study shows that a dietary change could help our bodies respond better to stress.

But wait, there is more! Results also showed that adding flax oil to the walnut diet improves your vascular health even more. The flax plus walnuts diet also lowered inflammation, which is another source of aging. This could also reduce risk of cardiovascular disease.

Walnuts are a rich source of fiber, antioxidants, and unsaturated fatty acids, particularly omega-3 fatty acid.

These results agreed with several recent studies showing that walnuts can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. According to West, “This work suggests that blood pressure is also reduced when a person is exposed to stress in their daily life”.

Oatmeal is another great artery lover, which reduces cholesterol and is heart-healthy. I find that oatmeal alone tastes a little bland, so I like to add walnuts to my morning oatmeal along with cinnamon to spice it up.

Walnuts are a great diet aid as well. A few walnuts 20 minutes before a meal will reduce your appetite and slow down digestions, which helps avoid a spike in blood sugar.

One last tip: keep your nuts in the refrigerator to keep them fresher longer.

A recent long-range study of older Americans, conducted by the National Cancer Institute, found that over a decade, eating a quarter pound of red meat daily gave men a 22% higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27% higher risk of dying of heart disease compared to those who limited their red meat consumption to just 5 ounces per week.

To make things worse, we are eating less of the good stuff. Americans eat fewer servings of fruits and vegetables today than they did at the start of the decade, according to a report released this month by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC estimates that in 2009, just 32.5% of American adults consumed fruit two or more times per day, and a paltry 26.3% consumed vegetables three or more times per day. Those numbers show a noticeable decline since 2000, when 34.4% of Americans reported eating fruit more than twice a day, and 26.7% ate the recommended three or more servings of vegetables.

Many people do not realize the importance of eating enough fruits and veggies throughout the day. The reason that it is recommended to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day is not to turn you into a vegetarian (although it would help you live longer). Fruits and vegetables are processed quickly by your body and the nutrients from them cannot be stored like protein and fat. By eating several servings throughout the day, you can keep that supply of nutrients coming.
Meat does not need to be eaten throughout the day because it is processed much more slowly by your body. It basically sits in your stomach and rots away as your stomach acids break it down.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates, Americans consume more than 220 pounds of meat per year per person — that’s more than twice the global average. The amount of meat the average American eats each year has increased more than 50% since 1950, when yearly consumption was measured at just 144 pounds per person.

In short, your diet may be killing you. This shift to more meat and less plant-based food, along with an excess of processed foods has resulted in the average lifespan becoming shorter for the first time in history. People in Japan and similar environments that still eat plant based diets are living longer than ever before. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. It will kill you in the end.

The common belief is that drinking water can help people feel full so they eat less.  The problem is, there has been very little scientific evidence to support the claim. Now there has been the first randomized controlled trial looking at drinking water to lose weight. The study was funded by the charity the Institute for Public Health and Water Research.

Researchers say people can lose an average of five pounds if they drink two cups of water before each meal, three times a day.

The research consisted of 48 adults split into two groups. The first group followed a low calorie diet but did not drink any extra water before meals. Meanwhile, the second group followed the low calorie diet but also drank two cups of water before each meal.

After three months, people who drank water lost about 15 and a half pounds compared with the non- water drinkers, who lost about 11 pounds. There are really two reasons for the additionalweight loss. Drinking water may help people shed pounds just because it has no calories and fills up the stomach, making people less hungry.  The added benefit is that it helps flush out the body of extra waste and toxins that contribute to retaining fat.

Here are some major traps and how to avoid them.

Friday Happy Hour:  That tasty margarita may have over 400 calories. After two or three you have blown your diet for the week. A better idea would be to meet your friends for a spa evening. Maybe even have a massage. (A group massage might be really fun)!

Saturday night dinner: A dinner out could be a disaster. Why not select a restaurant that would support your diet program. Most restaurants have their menus on line so you could select ahead of time. From the menu you and decided where you want to spend your calories.

Sunday Dinner: Many times Sunday dinner revolves around food rather than family. The problem is, we create associations of pleasure with our family to the food we are eating. Focus on the family fun times rather than rich foods and you mind will create a new association of pleasure to family rather than food! Dinner choices can still be healthy but not necessarily the ones that will make us dread starting our diet over again on Monday.

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