Substantial Weight Loss in Days NOT Months Stubborn belly fat melts from love handles, thighs, arms and more

Can you determine body fat percentage with a simple measuring device?

There are a variety of factors to take into consideration if you are worried about your health and looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

While sustaining a healthy weight is imperative, keeping track of the number on the scale will only give you a glimpse at your level of health.

Your body fat percentage, the number tells you what portion of your body weight is fat, is another important factor in determining health.

Knowing that information can help you to design and implement an effective fitness program and track the results better.

Testing for your body fat percentage will produce a number that tells you what percentage of your current body weight is fat versus muscle.

The higher the percentage of your overall weight that is fat, the greater your risk for chronic disease.

Excessive body fat can heighten your likelihood of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Body fat percentage is important in gauging health since someone may possess a low/healthy body weight, but have an elevated percentage of body fat, increasing their risk of disease.

Measuring Body Fat- according to Northwestern Health Sciences University, there are multiple ways that body fat can be measured.

A common way of testing body fat utilizes skin calipers. With this method, several zones on the body are grasped with the calipers…

The tester notes how much flesh is caught by the calipers and then uses a formula or body fat calculator to determine your body fat percentage.

Another prevalent method is bioelectrical impedance, which uses a very low electrical current to determine the percentage of fat.

Hydrostatic weighing, another popular method, is more comprehensive than the pervious options and typically done at a hospital or university.

You are momentarily submerged in a shallow pool of water, from there your weight on solid ground is compared to your weight underwater to determine your body fat percentage.

You should not expect 100 percent accuracy from any of these methods.

Yet, they will give you a general concept of your current body fat percentage and allow you to track your progress as you progress through your fitness program.

Participating in fitness testing, tracking of your weight, knowing your body mass index (BMI), and scheduling regular medical checkups will help you to manage your health in a more complete manner.

Being aware your body fat percentage will aid you in determining if your weight loss efforts are proceeding properly.

Desired Levels – aiming for 20 to 21 percent body fat is deemed acceptable for women according to the National Institutes of Health.

A woman is considered obese when her body fat percentage reaches 30 percent or higher.

The University of California claims that while 20 percent is acceptable, healthy body fat readings can be as low as 10 percent, which is considered an “athletic” level.

However, anything below 10 percent is regarded as underweight and unhealthy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn individuals take several issues into consideration when determining health.

Excess weight around your midsection increases your risk for health problems more than additional weight around other portions of the body.

If you are female, your waist circumference should be no greater than 35 inches (unless you are pregnant).

Finally, being physically inactive and poor eating habits will damage your health.

Have you been struggling with your weight this year?

You’re doing a lot of exercises yet you still haven’t been losing weight?

Maybe you’ve added belly fat, some extra  pounds/kgs!

Well, at least you’ve come to understand its all about consciously making decisions in your life…

Choices that revolve around making healthy decisions.

This week your healthy diet challenge is focused around developing strategies to cope with emotional eating.

Maybe it’s a forbidden topic? Do you feel this problem is an issue that you’ve dealt with at one time or another?

Well, I know I’ve had my fair share of struggling with emotional eating. Why?

Because life is full of surprises mixed in with boredom, stress and anxiety.

Allow me to explain…

I’d like to take this opportunity to share strategies and more importantly to ask you how you’re able to handle these issues or problems?

Are your eating habits holding you back and making you feel angry?

After a while it becomes second nature to sabotage your appetite in an unhealthy fashion.

Let’s talk about how to answer these questions with basic guidelines/rules that have helped in the past:

• Eat when you start to feel a little bit hungry…
• Don’t wait until you are starving because when you’re famished you run the risk of overeating and eating too quickly.
• Take your time eating, eat slow, thoroughly chew and enjoy your food
• Eat small portions…

Your biggest challenge will most likely be about portion size and control…

What if you’re unsure about what “food portion size” means for you?

Don’t worry, we’ll be spending time on this and going over it in more detail.

The strategy is simple…you want to finish eating feeling light and satisfied.

If you feel heavy, too full or tired you have most likely eaten too much.

If you give your body too much food, it will start to store it as extra weight.

First and formeost, learn to listen to your body.

So called diet experts tell you this and that…their diet book has the answer, but what helps you is getting back in tune with what your body is telling you.

Are you listening?

Are you paying attention to the signals?

Are you aware of the little call from your brain every 2-3 hours that you need to eat something because you’re a little bit hungry?

Really, that’s how simple it really is to get back in control…

If you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss it, so it’s important to develop this basic body awareness.

Truly, I believe your body is more than capable of telling you when and how much you want to be eating, the trick is learning to listen.

As you begin to pick-up on your body signals, you get more intune with those distractions…

Yes, in other ways that avoid you feeling like dealing with your feelings by turning to food.

Now, you may have tried all sorts of diets in the past…

Some of the most common distractions include watching t.v, reading your favourite glossy magazine or even going out shopping.

All of these distractions work of course, and I’ve done them a million times to distract myself from emotional eating.

We all go through daily ups and downs, we have our own personal stories full of life’s various hurts and disappointments.

Unfortunately some of which still may continue to haunt you.

Remember those profoundly negative experiences and dramatic changes?

Overall, all these experiences cahnge your attitude and direction in life.

The question is how you deal with or handle it all for positive and enriching life, instead of moving from one empty distraction to another…

What if you focused on building, creating and learning.

The greatest joy of learning is having an open mind to what areas you feel passionate about in your own life.

Once your focus is on developing yourself, you can make much better decisions in every area of your life…including your diet.

This leads to the importance of treating yourself with respect.

What if your best friend was upset that they were having a tough time dealing with emotional eating?

Honestly would you beat them up even more with harsh words and a judgmental attitude?

You’d be caring, supportive and kind, yet how many times have you stood in front of the mirror berating yourself angrily for slipping on your diet?

You want to learn to treat yourself as if you were your own best friends!

That means caring and nurturing your soul with loving kindness.

Nothing is gained when you add your own insults and self criticisms…often playing like a broken record in your head.

This is a difficult habit to break…perhaps the most important lesson of all.

Please will you treat yourself well and affirm the positives? If you slip, then get back on track and resolve to be stronger the next time.

Refocus on your goals and continue to move forward.

You may repeat this process a hundred times and each time you get back up on your feet you’ll be a little bit stronger.

Eventually new healthier habits will form and you’ll reach a breakthrough ready for new diet and exercise challenges 🙂

Talk with you soon…Jody

Why start juicing today?

Because juicing is a fun and simple way to consume more fresh fruit and vegetables…

Juice gives your body a hit of high quality nutrition in an easily digestible form. The juice nutrients support and maintain good health on many levels.

Treat yourself to a juice today – you’ll immediately feel the health benefits!

Effective daily nourishment:

Juices gives your body an incredible nutritional burst.

Eating 2 kilos of fruit and vegetables at one sitting would be difficult, yet we can get the same nutritional benefit by drinking their juices.

All that goodness flows easily from our digestive system into our blood stream and on to our cells.

Give your body a healthy break:

We can digest fluids more easily than solid foods.

Even a diet high in fresh, raw fruits and vegetables requires a lot of energy to digest and extract nutrients.

This energy is no longer available to heal and restore your body.

Liquid nutrition is easily absorbed, increasing energy and giving your digestive system a much needed rest.

Detox and heal:

Energy is used by our cells to repair and renew, flush wastes and detoxify.

The vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and enzymes in juices are the key to a healthy body and healing.

This is why juicing is a central thrust of many nutritional healing and detoxification programs.

Rehydrate and alkalize your body:

Drinking juices is an effective way to hydrate all our cells. Juice is rich in electrolytes helping cells absorb fluids and flush out wastes.

Enzymes provide the energy to support this process.

Alkalizing organic minerals cleanse our internal environment and enhance rejuvenation.

Which juices?

Different juices promote diverse health benefits.

Vegetable juices contain more alkaline minerals, less sugar than fruits so can be consumed more often:

* Use as much organic produce as possible.
* Cucumber juice’s potassium enhances cellular cleansing.
* The juice of leafy greens is rich in calcium, magnesium and iron. Add an extra kick with a knob of ginger or squeeze of lemon or lime.
* For a sweet lift, watermelon juice, including the seeds is rich in valuable zinc and selenium.
* Apple, pear and berry juices are antioxidant -rich but because of their sugar content they should be diluted with water.
* Minimize carrot and beetroot juice. The high sugar content of these very sweet vegetables places great strain on our pancreas’ and blood sugar levels.
* Canned or bottled juices are generally pasteurized, which destroys the vital enzymes and many of the nutrients. They also often have added sugar and preservatives, making them acid-forming.

When to drink juice:

Cucumber or watermelon juice provides a great lift in the morning, as do other diluted fruit juices.

Green vegetable juices throughout the day sweetened with cucumber or a little pear alkalize, heal and rehydrate.

Drink all you want of vegetable juices at least half an hour prior to meals or 2 hours afterwards.

Limit diluted fruit juices and drink watermelon juice only in the morning.

Juice can be consumed immediately because it loses its nutritional value quickly after juicing.

Buying a juicer:

The type of juicer affects the quality of juice extracted.

Choose a single or twin gear crushing juice extractor over a centrifugal juicer that whips or spins the juice.

The heat and electrical activity triggered by these juicers damages sensitive plant enzymes, reducing the availability of nutrients to your body.

An easy to clean juicer is a bonus, since the simpler it is to maintain, the more frequently you’re likely to use it:)

You’ll immediately notice the health benefits of more energy, stronger immune system and better weight management.

Juice…a tasty way to boost your health today!