What You Should Eat After A Workout

A recent study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology has found that insulin sensitivity is affected by what is eaten after a workout. Eating a low carbohydrate meal after a session of moderate aerobic activity increases insulin sensitivity, making it easier for the body to take up sugar from the bloodstream and store it in muscle for use as fuel.

Low insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance can increase the risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. So, having a low carbohydrate meal after exercise can go a long way to improving your metabolic health. In effect, you don't have to starve yourself after a workout in order to benefit from the exercise.

Anti-Obesity Tea

While it has been known for a while now that black, green and white tea has powerful antioxidants that have anti-cancer and anti-aging properties, a new study conducted in Germany and published in Nutrition and Metabolism has found that white tea fights fat by breaking down fat content in cells and preventing new fat cells from forming. This is due to the higher levels of polyphenols and flavonols in white tea such as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), as well as caffeine, which stimulate metabolism.

Risk Of Being Overweight Triples With Eating Quickly Till You're Full

The combination of eating quickly and eating until full trebles the risk of being overweight, according to a study published on the British Medical Journal website. The study was conducted with 3000 participants and found that those who ate quickly and also ate until they were full, had a higher body mass index (BMI) and total energy intake than those who did not. These people were also three times more likely to be overweight than the other participants. So, it's well worth developing healthy eating habits such as eating slowly, and serving smaller portion sizes, as well as taking the time to eat together as a family and enjoying your meal!

Kick Start Your Diet Today!

Do you find it a challenge to lose weight? Are you ready to master the 7 key rules for successful weight loss? If you are, then sign up for this  free 7 day meal plan. This 7 day plan will give you the motivation you need to kick-start your diet.

The knowledge you need to empower you to lose weight can be summed up in 7 rules. Each day, you will be introduced to one rule that will help you take the action you need to change your lifestlye and succeed at weight loss.

Sign up here for your 7 Day Meal Plan

Lose Fat With 4 Minutes Of Exercise A Day!

Sounds too good to be true? Well, it's not and it actually works according to Dr Izumi Tabata, a Japanese scientist with the National Institute of Fitness and Sport in Tokyo. Research carried out by his team showed that interval training for 4 mins in a work to rest ratio of 2:1 resulted in subjects improving their endurance capacity by 13%.

"Tabata Training" is an interval training workout that can be done with any exercise, where a cycle of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise is followed by 10 seconds of rest. This is repeated without pause 8 times, for a total of 4 minutes. So applied to walking for example, you would sprint for 20 secs, followed by walking for 10 secs, repeatedly until your 4 minutes were up.

Give it a try, and let us know how you go...

Diet Is More Important Than Drugs To Prevent Diabetes

An ongoing Government sponsored trial in the US, monitoring over 3000 high risk patients over a period of 10 years has found that lifestyle changes resulting in long-term weight loss of just a few pounds are about twice as effective as drug treatment for preventing type 2 diabetes.

Patients who ate a low-fat diet, and engaged in a minimum of 30 mins of moderate activity 5 times a week lost on average 7% of their body weight within a year, and in spite of many of the participants regaining some of that weight over the next few years, diabetes incidence was reduced by a 58%. Comparatively, the reduction was only 31% for the group given the diabetes drug Metformin.

The results show that weight loss is still the most important thing to recommend to overweight people who are at risk for type 2 diabetes, says William C. Knowler, MD, of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

Can Water Help You Lose Weight?

The answer to this question is, it depends...

If you're getting enough water, (i.e. about 30-60mls per kg of body weight, which is about 3 litres on average for a person weighing 60kg), then drinking more water won't help. But if you're dehydrated, then it will. Here's how:

1. Water boosts metabolism
2. Water fills you up. Drinking a glass of water before a meal helps you eat less.
3. Water helps digestion

If you don't like the taste of water, try adding a squeeze of lemon for flavour. Make water your beverage of choice, instead of fizzy drinks, and try carrying a bottle of water around with you so you can take a sip regularly.