20 Weight Loss Tips

January has arrived, and if you are like most people, you are wanting to shed those pounds you picked up from eating way too much during the holidays. Maintaining your balanced weight is as much about living a balanced life as it is about what you eat. Here are 20 tips to start your year off right, and balance your weight and health.

You must respect the fact that your eating and exercise habits have a direct effect on your health and appearance. When you have the skills and knowledge needed to change your attitude toward food and exercise, it will lead to lifelong weight management and good health.

1. Water — drink one-half your weight in ounces of pure water each day, up to a 100 ounces each day unless you are exercising in the summer heat or drinking caffeine; then you may want to add more. It is essential to drink pure water. Tap water is not a good choice. Find a purifier or filter for your kitchen tap if you don’t want to drink bottled water.

2. Don’t drink diet drinks or use aspartame, Splenda or Olestra. Aspartame promotes sweet cravings and Olestera depletes the body of antioxidants. Splenda is also hard on the thyroid.

3. Never eat fat free. Fat-free foods are high in sugar. Be sure to eat lots of good fat. Remember the saying, good fat burns fat but bad fat stores fat. This is crucial to your health and to your body’s metabolism. Organic butter, extra virgin olive oil, extra virgin organic coconut oil, krill oil, nuts, avocados, fish from the ocean and olives are wonderful sources of good fats.

4. Fiber is essential. Colon cleansing is important to pull toxins out of the body. Fiber helps the bowels move. Fruits and vegetables are high in fiber. You may need to supplement with a quality fiber product that is right for your colon’s needs.

5. Food enzymes are essential to break down the foods you eat. They aid digestion and help elimination.

6. Eat low glycemic and get rid of white carbohydrates. White carbs can include breads, pasta, rice, cereals, corn and potatoes. High-glycemic foods spike your blood sugar and store as fat.

7. Exercise correctly and consistently for your blood type. Cardiovascular exercise is important 3-4 times a week for at least 30 minutes to burn fat. When you exercise your body produces fat-burning enzymes, and when you don’t exercise your body produces fat-storing enzymes. You choose which you one you want.

8. Manage your stress. You will have a harder time losing weight if you are under stress. This promotes an acid body. Eleuthero and holy basil are excellent to help lower cortisol levels.

9. Strengthen the thyroid. Herbs like kelp, black walnut, Irish moss plant and dulse are good choices.

10. Eat six small meals a day consisting of 200-300 calories. Eating breakfast is necessary to jumpstart your metabolism. Smaller meals equal less stress on the digestive system. Good quality, low-glycemic snacks keep your metabolism in high gear. Have quality protein that is good for your blood type within 30 minutes of rising.

11. pH balancing is essential. Your pH should be 6.0 urine and 6.5 saliva upon rising, and urine should rise to 7.0 by the end of the day. You must have a balanced pH to uptake iodine, which feeds the thyroid.

12. Eat right for your blood type and combine this with low-glycemic eating. To achieve weight loss with the blood type plan, eat 100 percent beneficial foods for two to six weeks (no more than six weeks). You want to begin including neutral foods until you are doing a balanced profile. Your age and health issues will determine the percentage of neutral and avoids you should include in your diet.

13. Don’t eat after 7:00 at night. Your body begins cleansing in the evening. Eating late in the evening causes the body to work harder. You are also able to burn off those calories better if you stop eating earlier in the evening.

14. Avoid foods that contain estrogens. Bad estrogen stores in fat. This is especially important as women enter menopause. You may want to consider a xenoestrogen cleanse from my earlier article.

15. Cut out sugar. Try stevia instead.

16. Quit eating microwave foods. Eat raw, steamed, grilled or stir-fried foods instead. Cook your food naturally and on low heat to maintain the most nutrients in your food.

17. Love your liver with chickweed, milk thistle, N-Acetyl Cysteine or other liver-loving herbals. A cup of freshly squeezed organic lemon water in the morning is also beneficial to aid the liver.

18. Keep a journal of what you eat. You may be surprised how many times you walk through the kitchen and grab a small sugar treat and not realize it. If you have to write it down, you are less likely to eat it.

19. Seek out emotional and spiritual support. Go out with friends. Find a friend to be accountable to.

20. See yourself thin. How do you see yourself? Don’t see yourself as a heavy or overweight person, but as a person with the weight you desire to have.

A quality weight is a daily maintenance of giving our body what it needs to be balanced. Remember that health is not a destination but a continual journey. Every day we are either giving our body life by feeding ourselves correctly or feeding our bodies food that promote death. You get to choose with each bite you take.

This information is for educational purposes only and should not be used to diagnose and treat diseases. If you have any health problems, consult a health practitioner before embarking on any course of treatment.