Does Smoking help in weight Loss

Can smoking lead to weight loss?  We know smoking is injurious to health and can cause cancer and lung, mouth, respiratory diseases over a period of time. It is highly addictive because of the nicotine content present in it and can easily let free radicals enter the body. Free radicals are substances that contain unpaired electrons which act with various substances in the body to form new cells. These cell formations can be result in  cancerous causing cells which can intensify into life taking disease. These days many people are experimenting various things like fad diets, smoking, weight loss pills, fat burners for weight loss but are they the healthiest way to lose weight. Infact it is one of the most common reason, which is to lose weight,why people start smoking.

According to studies nicotine content in cigerettes can boost metabolism and provides a burst of energy. Smoking makes us inhale carbon monoxide which deprives the red blood cells of oxygen and leads to lesser absorption of nutrients for healthy growth. This makes the body work more than usual for the suppy of oxygen and leaving you feel tired. The tar sticks to the airways which makes it difficult for you while breathing when you smoke. But does this marginal kick to metabolism really helps to lose weight and especially at the cost of your health?

Smoking can distract you from feeling hungry. Smokers know this when they are hungry and crave for food and smoke at that time they can put off the hunger for a while. A healthier substitute to control hunger pangs is to replace this nicotine stick with a cup of green tea. There are other healthy ways to boost your metabolism other than choosing cigarettes which contains nicotine. Through exercise and eating regular meals would boost your metabolism. Drink lots of cold water for faster metabolism and weight loss. Smoking has a lot of adverse effects in the long run that includes dehydration which makes you lose water and slows down the metabolism resulting in slower calorie burn.

Besides all that is written about smoking do you know of anyone who has actually lost weight with smoking? Either you know smokers who are fat and smokers who are thin. But we doubt there has been any weight loss success story that have resulted from smoking cigarettes.

Here are some tips to try to quit smoking:

Control your mind: Smoking can be very addictive and can be difficult to quit. Set yourself targets. Set your self a date to quit smoking and make sure you stop it on that day. In the mean while make small targets like not smoking till afternoon etc to lessen the density of nicotine in the body.

Drink Water: Whenever you feel like smoking drink a glass of water and this could help you to postpone the urge to smoke a cigarette for a while. Doing this ways could bring in the gap between smoking cigerettes.

Chewing Gum: Try diverting the mind everytime you feel like smoking. Eat a chewing gum or pop in a mint to calm down the urge for a cigerette. Eat a toffee it could help reduce the craving with its sweet taste.

Exercise: When you have quit smoking start exercising or go out for a run. As the craving for smoking can make you feel irritated and hyper at times. Running and exercising can help you throw away the frustation and will calm you down.

How to Improve Your Energy Levels

As we get older there is a change in our hormones levels that can affect the energy levels in the body. But even then low energy levels that reduce with age means that you dont have the hyper activity of a 13 year old. If you constantly feel tired and out-of-it even when you havent done much all day should make you get concerned. Maybe its a calling to make that lifestyle change before it translates into some health issues. We give you some easy to follow steps that can help clean your system internally, regulate your metabolism and spike your energy levels naturally.

Based on a simple philosophy of eat well and exercise, this is how you can do it too:

Balanced Meal: Eating a heavy meal or stuffing till the time we feel loaded gives a sleepy feeling. Ensure your meal are dominated by fresh seasonal vegetables and pulses. This will not only give the right nutrition for your body but will also detox your system simultaneously. Vitamins and minerals accelerate the basic chemical reactions in the body for various functions. Low intake of vitamin and minerals affects the immune system which slows down the body metabolism and shows decline in energy levels. Eat fruits and vegetables for vitamins and minerals and keep a faster body metabolism.

Water: Sometimes feeling thirsty can be a reason for lowered levels of energy. If you are dehydrated then you will feel fatigued and lack energy. Keeping the body hydrated will keep the metabolism high and faster digestion of food in the body. Drink plenty of water to kep energy levels high. Sometimes drinking too much coffee or tea also leads to dehydration. Avoid as much caffeine as you can. Instead switch to green tea for all its health benefits. Read more

Anti-Inflammatory Foods

Wrong posture or over working the muscle can causes inflammation in the tissues causing pain, redness, swelling and stiffness. Inflammation can happen in any patrt of your body from your toes, legs, joints to the neck, eyes etc.

People who play sports, workout in the gym or general physical exertion can result in inflammation where the body starts to fight the wear and tear of the tissues of excess exercition causing inflammation in the area.

Too much of fat in the body, sugar, protein and dehydration can increase inflammation in the body. Stress and lack of sleep also cause inflammation in the body which can lead to aging and developing diseases. Diseases causes by severe inflammation may not get perceived by the body and grows in the body without much of physical pain.

The following foods can help to reduce inflammation Read more

How to Control In-between Meal Snacking

We ensure that most of our meals are healthy. The problem comes when we crave food in between meals. If you feel hungry so often then you certainly need to watch out as eating more  food whether healthy or junk leads to weight gain.

The biggest trouble with in between snacking is that one craves something that is satisfying and ready to eat. Unfortunately we dont find having salads or fruits as snacks satisfying enough. While junk food or fattening foods manage to hit the spot, instantly satisfying the hunger pang. Gradually these small food breaks stop having the same satiating effect. After sometime the portion size increases  giving way to more food cravings and constant need to eat something Most of the times this snacking is psychological, as in we condition ourselves to feeling hungry even after having proper meals. Here are some reasons and tips to keep the hunger pangs in control, making you eat less.

Untimely Meals: Not having meals on time is a big factor in making you feel hungry at odd times . The body follows no patterns and gets used to giving a call at random times which pushes us to eat more than a usual meal. Time your meals and eat food with high fiber and protein to keep you feeling fuller.

Breakfast: People who don’t have a balanced and satisfying breakfast often find themselves bingeing on odd time. The unsatisfaction of the previous meal  makes the mind want for more and eating unhealthy. Have a good nutritious breakfast with satisfying food. Read more

Exercise to Drink More Water

Inspite of knowing that water is good for your body, many of us find it difficult to drink water. … We have something that can help. Did you know exercising makes you thirsty? So if you are unable to kick out this bad habit of drinking less then maybe adding an exercise routine can help you get more water in the system.

But why does exercise make you thirsty?
First, during workouts we sweat … losing water and salt which causes the imbalance of fluids and electrolytes in the body. Our body naturally counters this internal reaction by triggering thirst. If you are feeling thirsty post workouts, its because you have worked hard and have lost water and salt through sweat.

As 70% of the body composition is water, after workouts and wear and tear the body goes into repair mode and requires water for speedy recovery. Water helps carry nutrients and helps remove toxins and wastes from your body.

Sometimes we don’t pay enough attention to the body signals and drink enough water resulting in dehydration.

Here are a few tips to maintain water levels and avoid dehydration
Read more

Fire Up Your Metabolism

Firstly we need to understand what metabolism is and then can we have a picture of how metabolism effects weight loss . Metabolism is the amount of energy (calories) your body burns to maintain itself. Whether you are eating, drinking, sleeping, cleaning etc… your body is constantly burning calories to keep you going.

Metabolism is affected by your body composition i.e.  the amount of muscle you have versus the amount of fat. Muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat. People who are more muscular… (and have a lower percentage of body fat) are said to have a higher metabolism than others that are less muscular. For example, lets take two people who are the exact same height and weight. One exercises on a regular basis with weights, in addition to aerobic exercise, and has a low percentage of body fat. The other never exercises and has a higher percentage of body fat. The first person who exercises will have a higher metabolism than the second person. The reason is that even when person 1is not exercising his body continues to burn calories because of the muscle to fat ratio difference. Where as person 2 will not have any increase in the metabolic rate. What this basically means is that person 1′s body will use more calories to sustain itself than person 2.

As you begin to age, your metabolism has a natural tendency to start slowing. There are some easy to follow, simple tricks that can help you to eliminate body fat, improve your flab-burning metabolic process, and  start losing weight fast even before you start exercising.

Here are some easy tips that can change you into a fat burning machine

Stop Dieting and Start Exercising

It isn’t about eating less, it’s about eating more nutrition-dense food, to keep you full all day. Restricting food will kill your metabolism or slow it down. It makes our body think, am i starving here. The body responds to it by slowing down the metabolism in order to slowly spend the existing energy packets.
This means that your body starts to consume less calories and store more.

Build some Muscles

Rev up your metabolism by doing some resistance exercises like weightlifting, hand lifting etc. Also you can decrease body fat by doing some aerobic exercises like swimming, cycling, jogging, dancing, walking . Muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat thus increasing your metabolism or calorie consumption increases.

Go to Bed Early

A research suggests that people who  slept less and were under more stress had more body fat than people who slept properly.

Eat Protein Rich Food

The faster your metabolism works the more fat you will burn and the slower your metabolism the more fat you will store. Eating protein is a good way to increase metabolism, especially since the body burns more calories to digest protein than it does digesting carbs or sugars.

Go Organic Whenever Possible

The accumulation of toxins in the body slows down the metabolism because the body has to work extra hard to eliminate these toxins on a daily basis. So going on a organic diet leads to less toxins in the body in the form of pesticides. Going the organic way is always a healthier option.

Get Up and Move a Little

Whether you sit or stand at work may play as big a role in your health and your waistline as your fitness routine. Researchers suggest that inactivity for 4 hours or more causes a slowdown in an enzyme that controls fat and cholesterol metabolism. Stand up from your desk and walk around the office, go up and down the stairs a few times. If you use these little bursts of energy throughout the day then your metabolism will stay revved up and you’ll keep burning more calories.

Drink Cold Water

Researchers found that drinking 1 liter of cold water a day can raise resting metabolism by about 50 calories daily. The increase may come from the work it takes to heat the water to body temperature. Start drinking cold water to accelerate your metabolism to up to 30%.

Eat Some Hot Food

Eating hot food can also fire up your metabolism. Eating  red or green chilies boosts your body’s production of heat and the activity of your sympathetic nervous system (responsible for our fight-or-flight response), according to a research. If they’re hot enough they’ll rev your metabolism into high level and you’ll break a sweat!

Dont Skip Breakfast

Eating breakfast jump-starts metabolism and keeps energy high all day. Eat often because that will keep your metabolism pumping all day long, and when you eat many small meals through the day you tend to eat
less at one time, which puts less burden on your digestive system and lets it work more efficiently.

Drink Coffee or Tea

Women metabolize caffeine about 25 percent faster than men. Metabolic rate remains highest during the first three hours following consumption of caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant that increases heart rate and mental acuity. While the blood pumps faster, the metabolic rate increases. While tea can increase your metabolism by 12% according to a research. Researchers believe the antioxidant catechins in tea provide the  boost.

Fight Fat with Fiber

Fiber can raise your fat burn by about 30 percent. Research has found that those who eat the more fiber gain the least weight over time. Aim for about  three servings each of fruits and vegetables  a day. Fiber leads to a less calorie intake which lessens the calorie count.

Eat Iron-Rich Foods

Iron is essential for carrying the oxygen your muscles need to burn fat. Unless you have a consistent diet of this mineral you will have a slow metabolism. Lean meats, beans and spinach are excellent sources. Get this essential mineral in natural doses from real foods.

Drink Milk

There’s some evidence that calcium deficiency may slow metabolism. Research shows that consuming calcium in dairy foods such as fat-free milk and low-fat yogurt may also reduce fat absorption from other
foods.

Dont Get Stressed

Research says that being stressed out  causes high levels of a hormone called cortisol in your body, which leads to belly fat . Relax and let go the extra kilos!

Stay Hydrated

All of our body’s basic reactions, including our metabolism, depend on water. If you are dehydrated, you may be burning lesser calories, according to researchers. In the study, those who drank more glasses of water a day had higher metabolic rates than those who had fewer.

At last eat metabolism boosting foods like Apple, spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, papaya, broccoli, green leafy vegetables, pineapple, grapefruit, lemon, garlic, onions, mangoes, cucumber, cauliflower, carrots and avocados. These  fruits and vegetables belong to the negative calorie list of foods that will help you boost your metabolism.