Weight loss on the menu at the conference

Leading professionals from industry and academia addressed the challenges of meeting the nutrition and health demands of today's world at the Institute of Food Science and Technology's (IFST) Spring Conference and AGM, hosted by the University of Chester at Burton Manor College, Wirral.

Among the delegates were senior nutritionist for Kellogg's, Jenny Walton, Danisco UK's Dr Julian Stowell, and Corinne Vaughan from the Food Standards Agency. The IFST is the leading independent qualifying body for food professionals in Europe.

Professor Chris Smith, IFST Fellow, said: "As a university, we were delighted the Department of Biological Sciences was involved in the organisation of this conference with others of the North of England branch of the IFST.

"The conference sessions were of particular interest to food scientists, dieticians and nutritionists, and it was great that the University's nutrition and dietetics students were allowed to attend and have access to the specialist knowledge of such distinguished experts."

Man loses 155 pounds without surgery, weight loss products

Drinking nothing but water for six months helped one of Purdue's research park engineers lose 155 pounds.

Chris Burton will be giving a motivational speech 9 a.m. Saturday for International Sports Clubs' Wellness Retreat in West Lafayette.

Lori Fortwendel, a promoter for the club, said they chose Burton because of his commitment to coming and exercising every day.

"His results were astounding and we were very excited because he didn't have any surgeries," Fortwendel said.

He went from 330 pounds to 230 pounds in one year. According to Burton, people ask if he had gastric bypass surgery; others wonder how he did it without taking weight loss products.

Burton removed all sugars and sweets from his diet and started visiting the gym daily.

One of Burton's motivations for weight loss was his divorce.

"I would come home to nobody and I realized that my weight was just getting out of control," Burton said.

The divorce also made dieting difficult for Burton due to the weekends he spent with his sons and the unhealthy foods kids normally eat.

"It took a lot of willpower for me not to eat that leftover bag of chips when the kids went back home," Burton said.

During his childhood, Burton was often stereotyped as a football player because of his size.

"I did play football in high school, and I lifted weights back then," Burton said. "It was a different kind of husky."

A year after the divorce, Burton's job sponsored a weight loss competition, which he entered and won.

"I kept a food journal of everything I ate, even if it was a piece of candy," said Burton. "Ten pieces of candy do eventually add up to a lot of calories people just don't think about."

Burton presently maintains a weight of around 175 pounds, which he said feels healthy.

"I got a little lower in weight, and it just didn't feel right," Burton said. "I think I'm good for now."

Endobarrier For Weight Loss

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every three American adults is obese. Obesity is generally defined as being more than 20 percent over ideal weight, which takes into account the person’s height, age, sex and build. Obesity is more precisely defined by the National Institutes of Health as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 and above. Many people fighting the battle to lose weight ride a rollercoaster of fad diets and pills, gym memberships and exercise programs, but, with varying success.

New drugs like the popular weight loss pill Alli are getting a lot of attention, but they come with some major side effects -- a person who takes the drug and then consumes too much fatty food can find themselves with a serious case of diarrhea. For some, it seems no weight-loss alternative really seems to work, and especially when it comes to getting long-term results, and keeping the weight off. Some say this is why so many people have begun to opt for a surgical alternative: bariatric surgery. This year, more than 200,000 weight loss or bariatric operations will be performed in the United States. The number of these surgeries has increased by ten times in just the last ten years. The most prominent types of weight loss surgery are gastric bypass and laproscopic adjustable gastric banding, also known as "Lap Band." The surgeries are different in approach, but the general goal is to surgically reduce or limit the capacity of the stomach and thereby limit how much the patient is able to eat. In optimal situations, bariatric surgery can lead to substantial weight loss, especially for those who are more than 100 pounds overweight. And because obesity has now been linked to a variety of serious health problems, patients say there is more to making this kind of choice than simple vanity -- for many, their long-term health is a concern as well. Obesity puts people at increased risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer.

NEW DEVICE: Researchers at Carolinas Medical Center are testing a new experimental device that may offer a less invasive weight loss alternative for patients who are seriously obese. It involves a device called an Endobarrier. The Endobarrier is a sleeve that is placed in the body without surgery. It lines the first two feet of into the patient’s small intestine, to help them lose weight. The Endobarrier works by preventing food from being absorbed until it reaches the lower bowel. Patients who participated in a three month trial with the Endobarrier lost more weight than those who did not have the device. All of the participants in the short term study were at least 100 pounds overweight and were seeking weight loss surgery in the future. Currently, the Endobarrier is being explored only on an experimental basis and only as a prelude to weight loss surgery and not as an alternative to surgery, but Carolinas Medical Center physician Dr. Keith Gersin says its future as a non-surgical alternative is exciting. Future studies will explore longer term weight loss effects of the Endobarrier device.

Green Tea And Weight Loss: Does Green Tea Help With Weight Loss?

Green tea is now being touted as a natural remedy for losing weight. It was bound to happen sooner or later, because this herb from Asia has been admired for over 5,000 years as kind of a wonder cure for many ailments.

Green tea is mainly grown in China, India and Japan. People in these cultures are well skilled in making the perfect cup of green tea. The higher quality green tea is steeped for no longer than 30 seconds. You can usually make one to three cups with the same tea bag.

Green tea drinkers have long credited its medicinal value. They claim it helps to heal wounds, regulate blood pressure and solve digestion problems. Studies by Western medical professionals have discovered that green tea contains a powerful antioxidant called Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG). You will often see this as an active ingredient in green tea diet drinks and supplements.

Green tea does have some minimal effect on the body’s fat cells, however, it is not some kind of miracle weight loss cure as some marketers want you to believe. If you choose to drink green tea for weight loss, then you will still need to eat a healthy diet and do some moderate exercise in order to reach your weight loss goals.

Green tea is a great substitute for that cup of coffee in the morning (or more) that you normally drink. Green tea also has some caffeine, but it’s only about one quarter the amount that coffee contains. This means you can drink several cups of green tea before you get the same amount of caffeine in one cup of java.

Green tea is simply healthier than coffee, although coffee is still okay to drink in moderation. If you are a coffee connoisseur, you know that coffee beans are grown in different regions, which gives the beans a distinctive taste when roasted. Well, green tea also has this type of variety. The tea is grown in many regions of China, Japan and India, and comes in different colors and flavor varieties.

High quality green tea will have more EGCG and antioxidant power than the lower quality variety. This doesn’t mean you have to pay an arm and a leg to obtain a box of this delightful herb. Some marketers are selling good quality green tea for an outrageous price and calling it diet tea. They are taking advantage of the green tea diet fad and filling their pockets by overcharging.

Don’t fall for this scam. Some of these unscrupulous marketers are even linking Oprah’s name with their product, giving people the impression that she is endorsing it, when she has done no such thing. Yes, Oprah did have Dr. Perricone on her show and they discussed the benefits of Chinese tea for losing weight, but there is no specific Oprah tea brand being endorsed.

Any high quality green tea will have the same antioxidants and the same slimming effects that you are looking for, many brands can be found for half the price that the so called diet teas run. If you are going to drink green tea every day as part of a healthy diet, then you cannot afford to plop down $30 to $50 dollars every time you need another box of diet tea. That will get old real fast, and like I said, you can get good quality tea for way less.

So, does green tea help with weight loss?

Yes, it does and you should drink green tea for all of its wonderful health benefits, including losing weight and feeling great.

About the Author: Delicious Wuyi green tea is 100% natural and organic. The perfect tea for health and fitness. This pure, Chinese green tea is pre-brewed in individual packets, so all you have to do is mix it with water. Drink healthy and live happy. http://greenteaforweightloss.blogspot.com

Weight loss solutions that last

Most probably, you assume you have tried everything to get the body that you want.

But you often get discouraged because, after all the effort, either you find it difficult to stick to a program, unable to get the results you want, or you still face the same issues after all your hard work.

The following are solutions you can apply to common challenges that delay or hinder long-lasting weight loss:

Get educated to get results.

If you get results, you become more motivated to exercise and become more mindful of what you eat. But if you fail, your enthusiasm weakens.

You cannot be blamed for thinking about the easiest weight-loss solutions after numerous attempts. Quick fix strategies like diet pills or fasting will give you temporary results but they will not guarantee weight maintenance, which is more essential.

The key to a lasting outcome is knowledge and awareness of the whole process.

Analyze yourself and your progress then identify the areas where you need help. It could be exercise, food planning, motivation or attitude.

Consult professionals and learn strategies and ways to implement them effectively. This will save you time and energy trying to find out about a wide range of approaches. It will also prevent injuries or any harmful effects of unsupervised exercise and diet programs.

Get a coach to guide and educate you on how to do things safely on your own. Eileen Lorenzo, dentist, tried almost all strategies available only to regain the weight she lost.

Finally, she got a weight-loss coach and lost 60 pounds. She says, “Getting out of your comfort zone is scary at first, but a weight manager definitely made the road to fitness smoother.”

Apply a flexible eating approach.

Why do most diets fail?

If a diet is not followed, you feel lack of control and tend to abandon it. Let us say you had three pieces of chocolates, instead of one, from a box. You say, “Since I broke my diet, I may as well finish the whole box.”

I often hear stories like this from people who tried various diets for years, only to discover that creating their own meal plans is the start of a victorious weight loss journey.

Being in charge of your food intake, deciding for instance when to have the once-a-week chocolate dessert, removes restrictions that might lead to loss of control and deprivation.

A recent comprehensive analysis of 31 long-term diet studies published in American Psychologist shows that people on diets typically lose 5-10 percent of their starting weight in the first six months. After four or five years, majority put on more weight than they lost.

According to James Rippe, author of “Weight Loss that Lasts: Break through the 10 Big Diet Myths,” people who meticulously count every calorie and read every food label have high levels of dietary restraint associated with unsuccessful weight loss attempts.

This cannot be sustained for long periods of time and, eventually, it will be abandoned and overeating occurs.

Create your own daily food plan that matches your way of living. It should include strategies like when to shop for healthier foods, how to prepare a low-calorie version of your favorite foods. You should think of ways to replace junk foods at home with nutritious but tasty snacks.

Focus on living, not losing.

May be you have already achieved your target weight and you ask yourself, “Now that I’ve lost weight, then what?”

It is not how much and how fast you have lost weight that counts, but how much you have learned from your experiences and how much more improvement you can attain during your lifetime.

Chris Juan, managing director of a retreat house, lost 30 pounds last year and then regained 15 pounds this year.

During the initial stage of his weight-loss program, Chris admitted he was motivated by the desire to lose weight and improve his appearance. After losing 30 pounds, he felt relaxed for a while and got busy.

He often made his job an excuse to delay exercise. He ate fatty foods as a way to relieve stress. In the latter part of this year, he made an effort to explore a different type of motivation so he can stick to his exercise program again and modify his eating habits.

“My goal right now is not to achieve a six-pack abs anymore, but to keep on improving my fitness level to be able to join a marathon next year.” The moment he decided to achieve a long-term, performance-based goal, he started to lose the weight he regained.

Reach Weight Loss Goal

The very first thing is to adopt a healthier diet. Notice that
I did not say dieting. If you are to succeed in your weight loss
efforts it is important to make lifestyle changes.

Step One
The very first thing is to adopt a healthier diet. Notice that I did not say dieting. If you are to succeed in your weight loss efforts it is important to make lifestyle changes. Decide what you are going to eat. Plan ahead and stick with it. Whatever you do, don't give up. You fail only when you quit. Most of us do no succeed the first time. Persistence alone is
omnipotent. Nothing else comes close including talent and intelligence.

Step Two
Keep in mind that diet and exercise a two halves of one coin. If either one is missing from the equation you lessen your chances for success. You can exercise until the cows come home,
but if you are consuming the wrong foods it is likely that you will not experience any dramatic changes. Likewise, without exercise you will burn muscle instead of fat. Keep in mind that aerobic exercise burns fat. If you starve yourself you will be burning muscle.

The most important factor for healthy weight loss is consistency. Skipping your meals or missing your physical activity will slow down your progress. You have to ask yourself how much do you want this? Create a good, solid program and stick with it. Keep in mind that you will get out of it only what you put into it.

The most important thing that we can do is to eat a health diet. Almost no one comes close to eating a healthy diet. When you concentrate on eating healthy, natural foods and have a
regular physical activity routine, weight loss will be effortless.

Before you begin you should know that there are certain diet myths that should be dispelled.

Many fad diets suggest that certain food groups should be eliminated. The truth is that you need a balance diet that supplies you with all the nutrients that keeps you healthy. The core of your diet should be built around whole grains, vegetables, beans, fruit, nuts and seeds. This type of diet will strengthen your body, create health and vitality. Another myth is that you have to eat meat to get your protein.

Grains, nuts, oil, legumes and fermented soy products contain complete proteins. The protein in meat is actually incomplete. Both meat and dairy products are high in sodium and fat. This
makes weight loss difficult.

If you have any doubts, consider for example the cow. A cow weighs anywhere from 1,100 to 1,600 pounds. It is made up of protein and fat. Yet a cow eats only grass, which is a complex
carbohydrate. Somehow it is able to manufacture everything that it needs from this simple food.

Another popular myth is that you have to eliminate fat from your diet in order to lose eight. The truth is that you need good quality fat in your diet. It is perfectly okay to cook with
good quality oil, but avoid deep fried foods.


Step Three
Finally the biggest misconception of all, you have to starve yourself to lose weight. The truth is that if you eat natural foods there is no need to go hungry. There is a transition
period in the beginning and it will take a little while for your body to adjust. You will discover that natural foods taste better and are more fulfilling than commercial, processed foods.

So there you have it, some very practical pointer on how to reach your weight goal. Just focus and take action. Before you know it you will be healthier, feel better and of course, you will have lost weight.

3 Weight Loss Mistakes

There are literally tons of information and articles about losing weight. Believe it or not, people still make the same dieting mistakes over and over again. I am not referring to little slip ups. What I am talking about are big mistakes that become real problems in your weight loss attempts. If we can define these mistakes it may make it possible for healthy, permanent weight loss.

The first mistake is the all or nothing attitude. People who approach their dieting in this manner will often select a diet that practically impossible for them to maintain. When they first begin, they remove anything from the kitchen that does not fit in with their new diet. What they are thinking is that they wish to be perfect. They probably will be. Maybe for a day or two, or perhaps ever a couple of weeks. But something always happens. For some reason they are not able to continue with their diet. When this happens the entire process is ruined and the diet is over. So what they do is go to the store and replace all the things that they threw out in the first place.

If this is your approach to dieting then it is necessary to ask yourself some difficult questions. What exactly is the purpose of your diet? Do you want to lose this weight permanently? Perhaps you just wish to lose a few pounds. The secret here is to make lifestyle changes in your diet. This way you create a slow and regular means of losing weight.

The second mistake is the attitude of sacrifice. Many people see their diet as some sort of sacrifice. It is easy to see why. You are not allowing yourself to eat the foods that you enjoy the most while attempting to achieve your target weight. This is what happens. You have done your research. You have come up with well thought out diet that you can do. You can successfully lose that weight and achieve your target weight. Okay! Now what? You have reached your goal. Have you really changed your eating habits? Did you learn to eat those so called bad foods in moderation? Are you likely to end up out of control? Can you broaden your diet in moderation and maintain your target weight?

The third mistake is goal failure. Defining your goals is essential with your weight loss program. Your goals should be crystal clear. They must be realistic. You should write them down. You probably have an ideal weight in mind when you begin. If you are more than a few pounds overweight, this goal is probably too far away to be helpful. A more practical goal is to lose 2 pounds per week for the first several weeks. After that, 1 pound per week. Of course, this will vary from week to week. However, when you track your progress you will observe that you are consistently moving toward your goal.

Do not worry if you have been making any of these mistakes. Just like everything else in life, it important to learn your lesson and to move on. The truth is that we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. Do not let your mistakes to be an excuse for giving up. Success comes from making a commitment and by being persistent.

Sign up for our free ecourse: 10 Steps To Lose Weight Without Dieting

Kathryn Soloff is the mother of 8 children and a natural foods cook for over 30 years. She is co-publisher of http://www.natural-remedy-dot-com.com/losing_weight/ where she provides additional advice, tips and hard to find information on Herbal Fat Burners

Is Walking an Effective Weight Loss Strategy?

Everyone knows that exercise promotes better health. Doctors say to get more exercise. Even the government puts out official exercise recommendations. Over 60% of Americans need to implement healthy weight loss strategies.

So you go on a walk and then pat yourself on the back. Exercise accomplished-right?

The big question is: Can you get fit by walking?

A research team at the University of Alberta took this question on in a detailed study. They compared a group that took part in a walking program with a group that did a traditional fitness routine at moderate intensity.

The results? The fitness level of the walkers was significantly lower than those who did traditional exercise at moderate intensity. Here is what the lead researcher, Dr. Vicki Harber, had to say:

"Generally, low-intensity activity such as walking alone is not likely to give anybody marked health benefits compared to programs that occasionally elevate the intensity."

Harber went on to say that, "You've go to do more than light exercise and move towards the inclusion of regular moderate activity, and don't be shy to interject an occasional period of time at the vigorous level."

Walking for exercise won't give you the health benefits that more challenging exercise delivers. So is walking good for health? Can walking be utilized as a fitness tool?

So What Can Walking Do For you?

There definitely is a place for walking in fitness. For anyone who has not been active for a long time, it is best to approach an exercise regimen with caution and respect your body’s limitations. Walking is a great introductory activity to master. Walking is especially great if your body is overweight, under-conditioned and simply unaccustomed to physical activity.

walking, then can be considered as a stepping stone to fitness. It transitions you from the motionless to in motion. Walking is just a notch above not moving-you'll burn a few calories and warm up unused muscles.

The problem is that walking cannot be the entire extent of your exercise regimen.

Like the study above revealed, walking just won't deliver the desired outcome. Your body is so efficient in its ability to adapt that you have to increase your exercise intensity in order to see results. This applies to more than just walking. Any time you are in an exercise rut, your body will adjust and you will stop seeing results. To progressively continue, you’ve got to progressively challenge yourself.

What’s the Next step?

Once you have mastered brisk walking, you are ready for a new challenge, namely, resistance training. If you haven't tried resistance training then it may sound a little scary. Or you conjure up pictures of bulging, veiny, muscle-bound, steroid users. Most people are not looking for those kinds of results!

Isn't resistance training just a fancy word for 'lifting weights'? And don't you have to be an athlete to lift weights?

I understand your reservations about beginning a resistance training program. However, to achieve substantial health and fitness results, you must use resistance training. Indeed, you may quickly realize that your body is becoming stronger and you are feeling better.

What are the benefits of Resistance Training?
• Increase in muscle strength and tone (and no, women do not need to worry about becoming bulky and bulgy)
• Increase in metabolism (this means extra fat burning)
• Increase in bone density
• Injury prevention
• Improved posture
• Improved health (lowered blood pressure and cholesterol; lowers your risk for adult-onset diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers)
• Improved mood and self esteem
Resistance training is simply the way to go when you want to get fit. By utilizing a resistance training program with a cardiovascular routine, you will be well on your way to achieving all of your fitness goals. Don't forget resistance training does not have to be weights, but can be body weight resistance like in yoga and Pilates.

The absolute most important issue for any exercise regimen to succeed is consistency. You just can't enroll in a program that you dread going to. You'll never get the results you seek that way. Get help if you need it, most people do need it. The ones who are wise enough to hire or otherwise recruit assistance are the ones who will succeed. Recruit a workout buddy. Hire a trainer. Set those appointments and stick to them. Even if you don’t hire a trainer, you can still set appointments with yourself. Physically set aside the time and do it.

Walking for Weightloss

Regular exercise always helps There is no substitute for a healthy diet and a good exercise regime. If you can find the time to do so, draw up a schedule so that you can fit in a regular course of exercise into your normally busy routine, like taking the stairs and not the elevator.

It doesn't even matter if this is the very first, or only, thing that you do to begin with to lose weight. Since we all need to start from somewhere, beginning with a regular exercise routine is as good a place to start as any.

Being ambitious in your goals is an admirable trait, but to start you should remember to keep things small, simple and manageable. Don't go off the deep end and think up a really good exercise schedule which eats into all of your spare time and then some, you will end up not completing it and getting frustrated and quitting altogether..

Start slowly, take things one at a time, and build up to that really good exercise routine. You need to have the time to make it a regular thing, and not a just one-off thing that you do for a few days and then ditch.

In this way, by taking things slowly, you will be able to incorporate regular exercise into your busy schedule over time. This in turn will ensure that you do actually stick to your schedule rather than not.

There are a number of things that you can do to begin an exercise routine, and I have to say that plain old walking is the best and easiest thing to begin with.

Or if you don't like that idea, you can always try other simple exercises such as ab-crunches, wall-push-ups, or you might even want to consider joining a yoga class.

You have a number of options open to you when looking at doing exercises, and you should choose the one that is best suited for you and or your lifestyle.

Walking is good

If you don't like the thought of regular exercise, you always have the option of going for a walk. Although this does get you moving and out and about, for some reason walking doesn't seem like exercise, which can make it easier for you to stick with it.

Find a time of day in which you would like to go for a walk, or simply take a walk around the block when you're feeling stressed or tired and clear your mind.

Visit my Site now at http://www.womensweightloss.org to read anything you ever wanted to know about Weight loss.

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Too Stressed To Lose Weight?

Can't commit to losing weight? Too tired, too busy or too preoccupied to put the effort into a new fit and trim you? Putting off a decent diet and exercise program until after Christmas, after the exams, after the baby is born, after...(insert perfectly valid sounding excuse here).

Look, there will never be an optimal time to start changing your eating patterns and getting into a daily exercise routine. You just have to commit to changing your life while you still have time. That means now, today. No one is likely to live forever, but fit and healthy people tend to live longer, more fulfilling and active lives than sedentary fat folk.

Nothing is going to change for you until you change it yourself. You cannot change the events happening around you, but you can change what you are doing. It is simple. It is not easy. You have to want to change and your hard work will bring the results you crave.

If you are too tired to lose weight, then you need to have a good long think about why you are tired. Is it your diet, your lethargy, your workload, your negative emotions getting the upper hand? If you are too tired to lose weight, change something or several somethings about what you are doing on a daily basis so that you are not tired. Just eating properly and taking some regular exercise will actually markedly increase your alertness and resilience in a matter of a couple of weeks.

Are you too busy to work out and stick to a decent diet that will support your poor long suffering body? You have to find a way to drop something out of your frantic day. Don't be afraid to cut back your workload by an hour a day for some quality "me" time - you can afford one hour a day; if you think you can't, well there is your problem found - denial. The world of work (whether paid or domestic) will not stop turning if you check out for a mere hour. Drop an hour of drudge and get busy on your weight control diet and fitness program.

Are you too preoccupied to lose weight? Don't underestimate the cunning nature of the evil side of your brain (that's the bit that fabricates excuses for scoffing a whole packet of chocolate biscuits in one sitting, the bit that whispers convincingly that you can walk tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes). You can let your brain make plausible excuse after excuse, so that you can't start a life changing diet now because your children need a filling meal and you can't exercise today because you can't leave your aging dad alone in the house. Look at all those fit and trim people out there, eating well and exercising happily. Do you really believe that they have nothing other than exercise and healthy diet to occupy their brains?

Fit and healthy people have learned how to beat tiredness, organise their busy day and put their concerns and responsibilities into perspective so that they can put the work into looking after themselves.

You have to make the time and effort to look after yourself with a decent diet for life and a daily fitness program. You cannot allow negative feelings, workload and other commitments to prevent you from taking care of you. You are the only one who can make the difference for yourself.

It takes hard work and determination but you will feel so much better for it.

Rosie Peters gives common sense advice, encouragement and tips for weight loss, sensible diet and lifelong fitness. Sometimes it's not what you want to hear, but what you need to know. Visit Rosie at weight-control-diet-advice.com. Rosie's ebook, Weight Loss is Simple may be the inspiration you need.

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