Weight Loss Tips, Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Diet, Fat Burning, Nutrition, Exercise, Fitness

Not only can you be fat without being overweight, you can be clinically obese without being a single pound over weight.  Here’s what you need to know. 

Your body weight is a combination of muscle, fat, bone and water.

Body fat percentage, not bodyweight is the key factor in determining if and to what extent you are at risk for the plethora of health problems many overweight people develop.

This is covered in detail in 5 Steps To Optimal Health, but the short version is this, if you giggle all over, if you can’t flex a muscle or hold your midsection firm… you’ve got WAY too much fat on your body and it doesn’t matter a bit what you happen to weigh.

Can You Pass The Giggle Test

Here’s a simple test. Stand in front of a mirror ah-natural, flex your muscles and tigtjhen your arms, midsection, bottom, hips and thighs as much as possible.  If you can tighten those muscles and they feel firm and don’t giggle when you move, congratulations.  However, if your muscles are loose and flabby no matter how hard you flex them, you are fat and this is true regardless of how much you weigh. 

Body Fat Percentage NOT Bodyweight Determines Whether Or Not A Person Is Fat

According to The American Dietetic Association and the National Research Council a body fat percentage greater than 14% in a male and greater than 19% for a female is considered over-fat to the point of increasing health risk, and a body fat percentage greater than 25% in males, and greater than 30% for females is considered clinically obese.  Given this you can see it’s possible to not be obviously overweight, and at the same time be seriously over-fat.

There’s more to being healthy than not being obviously overweight.  Of course if you are obviously overweight, losing weight may be the single best thing you can do for your health, but you goal should not be simply losing weight, the goal should be to reach a lean-healthy body weight you enjoy, with emphasis on the word LEAN.

The American Dietetic Association and the National Research Council recommendations are an excellent guide.  Aim for no more than 14% body fat for a male, (6% to 10% is considered excellent), and no more than 19% body fat for a female, (10% to 15% is considered excellent). 

Eat right, exercise, adopt the research council guidelines, follow the program in 5 Steps To Optimal Health and the odds are you will avoid the fatigue and health issues overweight people are often confronted with. 

So what’s you next step.  Check out a few of the posts on resistance exercise and learn how easy it can be to firm up so you pass the jiggle test with flying colors.

Written by Dr. Russell J. Martino, Ph.D
The Voice Of Health
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A study about childrens health released by Yale University in Washington D.C. at the 27th annual meeting of the Obesity Council,  shows that the most unhealthy breakfast cereals are the cereals most often marketed to children.

The study found that cereals marketed directly to children have 85 per cent more sugar, 65 per cent less fibre and 60 per cent more sodium than cereals marketed to adults.  (This is a trifecta nutritional badness guaranteed to cause health problems in anyone who consumes such a mixture regularly.)

The authors go on to indite cereal manufacturers for targeting children with advertising and in-store promotions.  They suggest self-regulation of advertising is not effective and stronger regulation would be in order. 

But the question arises… does advertising force parents to purchase products?  Do advertisers force parents to feed their children nutritionally bankrupt food?  Or is that a choice parents make and follow through with on their own? 

The fact is, children do not purchase breakfast cereal, parents do.  Cereal companies do force parents to put candy-like breakfast products in the pantry to the exclusion of much healthier foods.  Cereal companies do not force-feed these products to little Johnny or Jill, parents do. 

While cereal manufacturers deserve no praise, the problem is NOT the nutritionally bankrupt cereal.  The problem is PARENTS BUY IT AND FEED IT TO THEIR CHILDREN.

The problem is NOT advertising. 

The problem is parents buy these ridiculous products masquerading as food, feed it to their little darlings, and then wonder why there are so many overweight kids and why their children are overweight and illness-prone.   

The solution is NOT government control or increased regulation.  There are already a zillion government regulations in all areas of life that, for the most part, do nothing but raise taxes, inhibit freedom, drive up costs and create more problems than they solve.  

The solution to the “great cereal advertising crisis” is for parents to accept responsibility for their childrens nutritional welfare and not leave it up to the advertising department of a cereal company. 

The solution is for parents to learn the basics of kids nutrition and learn which foods are healthy and why, and which foods destroy health regardless of how catchy the slogan is or how cute the animal mascot happens to be.

My grandchildren have no taste whatsoever for the nutritionally bankrupt sludge many children live on because my children, the parents, understand the basics of nutrition and know without doubt that a diet of high carbohydrate foods makes you fat and destroys your health and they know why this is true.  And because they understand the basics of how protein, carbohydrates and fat affect metabolism and how metabolism determines your and your childrens health, they are never hypnotized by dancing lions or cute bears into buying boxes of nutritional junk trying to imitate healthy food.

Charlie Bartlett movie full We all think we know everything about everything, but we don’t.  And if our only knowledge of nutrition comes primarily from advertising or from an unschooled recitation of the same old pop-nutrition advice thats resulted in 68% of America being overweight, then we’re doomed.   

Without an ACCURATE understanding of what food does when you put it in your mouth, chew and swallow, you simply cannot make an informed nutritional decision and you are forever at the mercy advertisers claims.  And advertisers are in the business of selling things, not producing the healthiest possible products.  And no amount of regulation will change that.

The ONLY way to make good choices for your children or yourself is to be informed.  Learn the basics of diet, nutrition and metabolism well enough that you can apply them when you eat out or when you purchase items at a grocery store you intend to prepare and feed to yourself and the people you love and care about most.

Children do not buy breakfast cereal, parents do.  Regulating advertising will not make children healthy… parents making informed choices and helping their children develop healthy eating habits will.

Intoxicating release

If you’d like to really understand the hard-core basics of how food affects your metabolism and how your metabolism determines your body weight and your quality of health throughout your entire life, take a look at my book, 5 Steps To Optimal Health. 

Written by Dr. Russell J. Martino, Ph.D
The Voice Of Health
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Better health can be yours just by taking some simple diet and nutrition, and healthy lifestyle steps to improve your health.

Research concluded decades ago we create our level of health, (or lack of it), with our diet, nutrition and lifestyle choices.  In other words, when you make better choices, odds are better health will be your reward. 

With this in mind, and borrowing from 5 Steps To Optimal Health, I hope you enjoy… 10 Ways To Improve Your Health Starting Now. 

1) Make Great Health A Conscious Goal – Deciding what you want is the most important step  towards getting it.  Make excellent health your goal and learning more and doing what it takes to have great health will seem easier than ever.  

2) Eat For Blood Sugar Control – Perhaps the #1 thing you can do to improve your health is learn to eat for blood sugar control.  If everyone in America did this, the hospitals would be mostly empty, doctors wouldn’t have much to do and there would be no health care crisis.  Eating for blood sugar control may be the most important health tip ever.  For more information; Eating For Blood Sugar Control May Be Your Best Health Tip Ever

 

 

 

3) Lose Weight – Being overweight is a symptom of hormones out of balance and nutrient deficiencies.  Correct this by reaching a lean-healthy body weight and you’ll feel better, healthier and stronger.  Resources for you;  10 Free Weight Loss Videos      5 Steps To Optimal Health Book   5 Steps To Optimal Health Audio Program   Best Way To Lose Weight Part One: Success Principles

4) Lower Cholesterol Naturally – The key to having a naturally healthy ldl and hdl cholesterol is understanding what causes high cholesterol.  This will help clear up the mystery of cholesterol.  Understanding Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, Ratios, Lowering Cholesterol Naturally & More

5) Understand And Overcome Food Cravings – If you suffer with food cravings, you are being held hostage by a nutrient deficiency.  Overcoming food cravings is easy when you know how.  Everything is explained detail in 5 Steps To Optimal Health and you will find this article most informative; Food Cravings Sugar Cravings and Salt Cravings – What They Mean Twins release And How To Stop Cravings In Their Tracks

6) Healthy Eating Plan – Forget about dieting and forget about the low calorie diet, low fat diet, and FOR SURE forget about the no-taste, fun-restricted diet.  The key to great health is a Lifetime Healthy Eating Plan, which is explained in detail in 5 Steps To Optimal Health.  Here are some diet reviews for you in case you’re interested: Weight Loss Diet Plans – Four Diet Plans Reviewed

7) Say No To Soft Drinks – Of all the things that can damage your health the quickest, other than drinking toilet bowl cleaner, regularly consuming soft drinks may deserve the top spot.  Find out the facts and then decide for yourself.  Soft Drinks Friend Or Foe How Soft Drinks Effect Your Health

Avoid Hydrogenated Oil – Hydrogenated oil is in a hundreds of products and hydrogenated oil is BAD, BAD, BAD for you.  Truth in labeling would require a skull and crossbones on any product containing hydrogenated oil.  Learn more Hydrogenated Oils And Your Health – What Is Hydrogenation

9) Diet And Nutrition – Nutrition plays a major role in building good health.  More than any other factor, the food that crosses your lips determines your level of health and vitality.  Good nutrition and good health are different sides of the same coin, it is impossible to have one without having the other.  Learn more: 5 Steps To Optimal Health

10) Read Food Labels – Putting something in your mouth, chewing and swallowing is one of the most intimate activities you can engage in.  Since what crosses your lips determines your level of health, reading and understanding food labels is more important than ever.  Learn more: Don’t Let Food Labels Make A Fool Out Of You! Now You Can Read Food Labels Like A Nutritional Pro

Bonus Health Tip #1

Stay Current On Important News On Health -  Staying current on health news helps you stay focused on your health, learn more and be more likely to act on what you learn.  Subscribe to Health News You Can Use – it’s free, and if you’re serious about getting into Excellent Health, I know you’ll enjoy it.

Bonus Health Tip #2

Watch The Weight Loss Videos: Even if you don’t need to lose weight, my 10 Free Weight Loss Videos are loaded with excellent diet, nutrition and healthy lifestyle information you can use every day to make healthy choices for yourself and your family.  Enjoy! 

More health tips are coming soon.

Written by Dr. Russell J. Martino, Ph.D
The Voice Of Health
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Click to listen to Dr. Russell and host Debra Duncan discuss Foods That Make You Beautiful

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you want true beauty, the kind of real, undeniable, natural, glowing gorgeousness that both men and women find irresistibly attractive, you can have it.  But this kind of beauty is not available in jars or bottles, it is only available to you if you are willing to go beyond surface-level cosmetics and potions and do the things that produce the natural glow of health that flows from the inside out.    [click to continue…]

Written by Dr. Russell J. Martino, Ph.D
The Voice Of Health
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In this video titled, Avoid The Blood Sugar Roller Coaster, which is video #6 in my free video weight loss series, you discover how not eating for blood sugar control can lead to massive health problems and why eating for blood sugar control may be the best weight loss or health improvement tip you have ever received.   Enjoy!

http://dr-russells-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/Weight-Loss-6-0.flv

If your blood sugar is consistently elevated, you are at risk for most of what many doctors call the “deadly diseases of civilization”.

Insulin resistance, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type two diabetes, heart disease and many of the worst forms or cancer are all DIRECTLY LINKED in research to having consistently elevated insulin levels, which are DIRECTLY LINKED to having elevated blood sugar.   [click to continue…]

Written by Dr. Russell J. Martino, Ph.D
The Voice Of Health
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