The Best Weight Loss Program

Trying to find the best weight loss program can be quite difficult.  They all claim to be the most effective or promise the fastest results.  It can be very confusing having so many to choose from.  How do you know which one is the best? 

For one thing, you should remember that all weight loss diets will be effective initially.  But your main concern should be whether or not it is something you would be able to stick with long term.  There is nothing worse than working hard to get the weight off only to find that you really can’t maintain the lifestyle.  

In fact, one of the main reasons people fail at long term weight loss is because they followed a diet that really was only a quick fix.  This is why so many people are stuck in a never ending yo-yo diet situation.  Take myself as an example. I’ve been struggling for 17 years before I find a lifestyle that suits me – intermittent fasting.  

One very popular way to lose weight is with juice or soup fasting.  While this type of fasting is highly successful at producing weight loss, it cannot be sustained for long periods of time. Who can survive on lemons and cayenne pepper for the rest of their life? 

However, intermittent fasting, or IF, can be followed as long as you desire. It is not a diet, it is an eating style that is quickly gaining recognition among health gurus and fitness buffs alike. The beauty of intermittent fasting is that you can make your fast fit into your schedule rather than becoming a slave to it.  

All fasting is NOT the same, just like all styles of Eating are not the same. 

As fasting is concerned, there could be confusions.  According to Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat, these are his definitions, but they have served him (as well as his followers like me) extremely well over the years… 

Long-term fasting: Abstinence from food or calorie intake for a period over 72 hours.

Short-term fasting: Abstinence from food or calorie intake for a period of 72 hours or under.

Intermittent Fasting as one kind of short-term fasting could be confusing too. 

Intermittent – Occurring occasionally – but how often?  Obviously you won’t count 3 hours without food as a fast although 3 hours is less than 72 hours.

If I tell you intermittent fasting is the best weight loss program and you want to start practicing it, there are couple of issues you want to clarify – abstinence from food for how long and how often?

The book Eat Stop Eat suggests an intermittent fasting style program that teaches you how to easily incorporate regular fasts into your life – you only need to fast once or twice per week to see results. It is firmly backed by science and is not a gimmick. It is a real program that gives excellent results when followed.  

If you are the type of person who skips breakfast or lunch a few times a week, this may be perfect eating style for you. Even if you aren’t a frequent meal-skipper, you may still enjoy the flexibility intermittent fasting has to offer. Either way, Eat Stop Eat has something to fit anyone’s needs. 

NOTE:  I’m one among thousands of live examples who can proof that intermittent fasting is the best weight loss program.  Take a look at Eat Stop Eat and see if it is a right fit for you.

 

Intermittent Fasting Success - Eat Stop Eat - Best Weight Loss Program

Why You Don’t Need to Eat 5 Meals a Day to Lose Weight

Why You Don’t Need to Eat 5 Meals a Day to Lose Weight

Ask any trainer, nutritionist or doctor and he or she will tell you that you that if you are trying to lose weight then you should be eating 5 meals a day.  The reasoning behind this idea seems to be that eating more frequently will increase thermogenesis.  Thermogenesis is the production of heat by your body in order to perform the work of digestion. When your body is in a thermogenic state, it burns fat.  

There are many people who will tell you that eating frequent meals worked for them.  While this may be true for a number of reasons, it does not mean that if you eat less frequently you will lose weight more slowly or damage your metabolism.  

There are some benefits to eating 5 meals a day. Eating frequently can help reduce the chances of binge eating because your blood sugar will remain stable and you won’t get to hungry in between meals.  It may also help you manage cravings and hunger pangs.  Since you can continuously eat all day long, you won’t feel deprived.  

For some people though, eating all day long can make hunger pangs worse. It can also be difficult to carry around snacks or meals with you everywhere, making it difficult to stick with the diet and increasing the likelihood that you will become discouraged and quit altogether.  

Where is the Proof?

 

Studies have shown that meal frequency does not affect the amount of energy expended by your body (1)(2). In other words, your body will work no harder when digesting 5 meals than it does digesting 3 meals. The results are the same as long as there is an overall reduction of calories.   

Many people have found that the easiest way to lose weight is with Eat Stop Eat, an intermittent fasting style program. Intermittent fasting is quickly gaining popularity in the fitness world because its flexibility and simplicity.  It is not a gimmick. Countless people have not only successfully lost weight, but have managed to keep it off long term.  

So if you have been struggling to eat 5 meals a day because you think that’s the only way you are going to get the fat off, you can relax. As long as you can keep your calories restricted and stick with it, the weight will come off.  Science says so.  Anna also says so.

­­­

Anna is the author of this blog.  She manages weight loss through intermittent fasting after 17 years of struggling with overweight, bloating and various kinds of digestive problems.

Intermittent Fasting Success

Womens Body Ideal Measurements

Most women care about how they look, including me.  More specifically women have been asking ‘how much should I weight?’ and ‘What’s a healthy weight for me?’ Both very difficult questions to answer and always controversial to tell someone ‘ideal measurements’, but there are general guidelines… 

Barbie has a waist that is 25% of her height, this is NOT ideal, said Brad Pilon.

 

You may have heard of BMI, but what about LBM (lean body mass)?  What has this to do with our height, weight, shoulder and waist proportion?  Here’s an interesting article from Brad Pilon’s blog.  If you are not yet a follower of his blog, I suggest your reading this article and start following his blog. Brad is an expert on intermittent fasting as it relates to losing weight and gaining muscle. He's also the author of Eat Stop Eat. 

Womens Body Ideal Measurements
(By Brad Pilon)

In my last blog post I covered many of our Adonis equations and some people were asking how can I apply these equations to women?

More specifically women have been asking ‘how much should I weight?’ and ‘What’s a healthy weight for me?’

Both very difficult questions to answer and always controversial to tell someone ‘ideal measurements’, but here are our general guidelines…

For those of you have been following the Venus Index workout, this is the ‘rule of sevens’ we developed, only simplified into one equation.

It’s actually very similar to the men’s equation, but also very different.

Our equation for women (Called the Venus Equation) is as follows:

C x H³

Where “H”= Your height in meters and the coefficient “C” is what we use to control for age just like we do for men. C = 10 at the age range that is associated with the highest degree of lean body mass in women… And this is where we start to see some very important gender differences.

While men are in ‘maximal muscle potential’ between the ages of about 18-25, women don’t hit this phase until much later in mid-life (around 45 years of age). I’ll explain why this is ultra-important, but first the age ranges for the coefficient C are as follows: [ Read more ]

Intermittent Fasting Success

Truth About One Meal A Day

The Truth About One Meal A Day

 

Isn’t eating one meal a day possible for us to stay healthy and lose weight?  Yes, of course.  But there are contrasting approaches.  Let’s look at both.

 

Small Multiple Meals Encourages Weight Loss?  Not Really!

 

Three squares a day -- breakfast, lunch, and dinner - is a way of life for many of us. But some health experts claim frequent small meals can rev up our metabolism and help us burn calories. While eating more frequently seems to help some people control hunger, the scientific evidence indicates that there's nothing magical about it.

 

A review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded there was no real weight loss advantage to eating six meals a day. Another study, in the British Journal of Nutrition, found no weight loss difference between dieters who ate their calories in three meals daily or six meals a day.

 

As for myself short term fasting, such as eating one meal or two meals a day has proven to work well.

 

Embrace Hunger

 

Hunger is a dieter’s worst enemy. We are trained to avoid hunger even we are on diet.

Wait, I'm going to suggest something that could be a taboo to most of us. You will get faster weight loss results if you allow yourself to get hungry from time to time. Of course I don’t mean to stay extremely hungry for a long period, but to extend the hours between meals is certainly beneficial.

Try look at it this way - If we cannot put up with hunger for a few hours, how can we face other greater challenges in life? With this in mind, here’s the one meal approach.

 

The One Meal Approach

If you have never fasted, it may sound scary if I ask you to eat one meal a day.  It is difficult if you try to shift to this meal frequency overnight.  But it is easy if you do it progressively knowing that you are doing something good for your body. 

 

Unlike the 6 or 10 small meal approach, you don’t have to worry about controlling the amount you eat or to spend time in planning and preparing the healthy snacks and meals.

Who Should Consider Eating 1 Meal A Day?

 

Please understand…I am not saying that you should adapt to this way of eating at all. If I feel I need food…I eat. This way of eating isn't about starving myself and it is out of my natural need for food. Of course this won’t happen overnight. I took time to build up this eating habit. Please don't eat this way until you have a deep understanding of the diet.

Fact is, if you want to lose weight, you need to change your eating habit in one way or another.  This is true to whatever diet plan you want to follow. 

About Intermittent Fasting and A One-Meal Plan

 

My blog is about intermittent fasting and I talk a lot about IF without going detail about the science behind it. Because I’m not a scientific person and generally people tend to lose interest when articles get too technical. Therefore I would like to point to websites that go in depth into the subject of IF. Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat

is one of them.

My suggestion is to go to Brad’s site and do some research to see if a 1-meal day makes sense to you. If it does, give it a try…if it looks impossible for you then continue to eat the way you have been eating. Intermittent Fasting works extremely well for a lot of people and has documented health benefits if done properly.

 

The good news is that Brad won’t tell you to eat 1 meal a day everyday. Instead couple of short fasts a week will work well. Here’s what he says:
 

"…. That's all fasting really is - a break from eating. How long you take a break for is completely up to you. I recommend 24 hours because it's simple, effective and easy to remember, but there's no magic to it. Pick the time that works best for you, then just take a break from eating for a while. When you feel you are done, start eating again. No pre-fast meals or post-fast meals. You go back to eating as you normally would."

 

Reading Brad’s site, you’ll be inspired by his real passion in helping others to stay healthy and fit. Personally I’m completely impressed by his mission to provide simple and effective ways to improve our weight loss, fitness, health and lifestyle. Even if you don’t want to buy anything, you should subscribe to his blog and gain further insights about intermittent fasting and healthy weight loss.


Brad Pilon – The Man Behind Eat Stop Eat

 

Brad is a nutrition and fitness expert.  He quitted his high pay job of being the head of research at a supplement company and venture into his passion for helping people wade through the marketing ploys to discover the truth about how to lose fat and build muscle simply and efficiently.

 

Based on his graduate studies, Brad developed a program called Eat Stop Eat which soon became the best selling dieting program in the fitness market.  


 

Green Fasting Juice Recipe

Fasting Juice Recipes Primary Choice The 5-Green Juice

One of the best fasting juice recipes is the Five Green Juice. This is also one of the most popular vegetable juice recipes with outstanding results for weight loss and detox. Hence I’m please to present this free juicer recipe for fasting.

In fact, I didn’t invent this. It is from the traditional Chinese wisdom. Chinese has long been using this recipe to achieve outstanding weight loss and detox results.

In Hong Kong, I can easily purchase a glass of fresh 5-green juice from any juice store and they are made to order. And if you are doing juice fasting, a daily glass of fresh green juice is highly recommended.

 

 

INGREDIENTS

2 celery stalks, 1 green apple, 1/4 cucumber, 1/4 bitter melon, 1/2 green pepper

DIRECTION

1. Wash all ingredients
2. Seeded green apple, bitter melon, green pepper
3. Put all ingredients into a juicer
4. Do not add water

TASTE

Taste relatively sweet (green apple and cucumber neutralize the bitterness of bitter melon)

EFFECT

Exceptionally good at preventing high blood pressure, cholesterol disorders and constipation.

NOTES

1. Not suitable for female during monthly periods
2. Filter the pulp if you wish
3. Drink within 10 minutes after juicing
4. Best effect on empty stomach, recommended drinking first in the morning
5. Try to have it at least once a week.
6. Recommended to DIY at home, so your family members can enjoy this delicious and healthy drink.

TAILORED JUICING VIDEO

Apart from making the 5 Green juice, I strongly encourage your learning to tailor your juicing to your current needs. Juice can detoxify and cleanse your body and make you feel energized and look vibrant. View the Tailored Juicing exclusive video to find out how to get results in 7 days or less.

Intermittent Fasting - 5 Green Juice Recipe

THINK! And Lose Weight - Free Chapter

I've got a cool PDF for you today.

It's a sample chapter from the new THINK! book.

It's about the Habit of Choice and it's my favorite section. I want you to have it for free and I hope it helps you like it as me.

Have an amazing day and Exercise your power of choice! You can have anything, be anything, and do anything you want, if you are willing to choose it. Remember this. This is a tool that will at your disposal whenever you need it.

 

It's Mid Autumn Festival (Sept 30) and the National Day in Hong Kong (Oct 1) - Do download the THINK book and start to get lose some weight and build healthy habits after the festival eating.

7 Habits of Highly Effective Weight Loss

I lose weight through intermittent fasting. But I’m not saying that intermittent fasting is the best weight loss method.

If you look at almost any diet program, you’ll find groups of people who have found success with the plan. They’ve been able to lose the weight they wanted to lose and have been able to keep it off for the long-term. The common denominator here is not the diet programs, but the people following the programs. The reason they’re successful - regardless of the diet plan—is that they have the proper mindset to follow the diet program to lose weight and then most importantly, they stick with the plan for the long-term.

I’ve recently come across a book called “THINK! and Lose Weight” to help anyone to develop and sustain the proper mindset to lose weight and keep it off, regardless of the diet program being followed. The book is based on the principles of two of the greatest self-help books ever written - Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.

I’m someone who has the experience of changing habit to achieve weight loss.  Hence I know it’s true that the habit of choice can change life.  So if there is a book which can help people change and build healthy habits, I’m more than eager to recommend.  THINK! and Lose Weight is one of such books.

7 Habits of Highly Effective Weight Loss

Have you ever looked at an overweight person, maybe even yourself, and thought, "That person just needs discipline. If only they'd expend a little effort and self control they wouldn't be fat anymore."?

But why not? We all know what it takes to lose weight - eat less and move more. Why do so many of us find it so hard? Why do we start with the greatest enthusiasm and the best of intentions only weeks later to throw in the towel?

In a word, habit

The things we do over and over again are our habits. Some are good and some are not. It's their consistency that both makes them a habit and gives them their power.

For most of us the reason we fail at losing weight is that the habits of poor eating and not enough exercise are stronger and more established than the new habit of good eating and exercise we are trying to establish.

And therein lies the first problem, we don't acknowledge that it's a habit we are trying to change or recognize the difficulty in doing so. Which is by no means a suggestion that we shouldn't try, just an acknowledgement that the issue is more involved than we might first assume.

If we are to be successful in any endeavor we have to be able to assess the entirety of our situation and develop a competent strategy for change.

Here is where THINK! and Lose Weight can help

There are no new secrets to weight loss. There is no magic wand, elixir or pill that can change the process, make it faster or less arduous. Burning more calories than you consume on a consistent basis is the only way to lose weight.

It is to the snake-oil salesman's advantage that the issue is made more complicated than it needs to be.

However, within the rubric of "eat less do more" a surer path to effective weight loss can be found. This is the path of effective strategies, of understanding why you eat too much, of destructive habits and how to convert them into constructive ones.

This is the path laid out in THINK! and Lose Weight: the 7 Habits of Effective Weight Loss

Along the way you will learn the habit of success, a habit that can be applied to any endeavor and with great reward.  Of course you can make use of what you learn to develop your intermittent fasting style of eating habit.

Each chapter focuses on one habit and how acquiring that habit is essential to successful weight loss. Beyond the habits are several appendices with real-life strategies for organizing your exercise and diet and bringing them into compliance with not only your weight loss needs but your lifestyle as well. So, while the formula for weight loss is the same it's always been - eat less and do more - THINK! and Lose Weight offers strategies designed to help you effectively change your life, to make weight loss a consistent part of your lifestyle and ensure your continued success.

Click Here To Learn More About the 7 Habits Of HighlyEffective Weight Loss

Paleo Breakfast

If Paleo diet sounds new to you, let me do a little briefing here. It is a diet that resembles what our ancient ancestors ate - foods from hunter gathering, wild game, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts, whatever naturally from nature. There is no wheat, no grain, no rice, no pastry, no dairy.

What is special about Paleo diet and why I go on with it?  Recently I’m suffering from some seasonal allergy, my doctor suggested a number of holistic healing methods and one of them is to go on a temporary Paleo diet.

Actually I don’t really fond of the idea of food restriction, as it is quite inconvenient when I have to eat with others. So buffet is a good idea, as each one of us can eat whatever we love to eat. Today I have a free coupon to eat at Café Too of Island Shangri-La. Below is a summary of my Paleo breakfast along with a Paleo dinner of the previous night.

One-Egg Omelette with Ham and Mushroom

Curry Chicken with Cucumber

I usually eat curry with rice, but went for cucumber as I was on Paleo diet

Poached Fruits, Prunes, Baby Pear, Appricot, Apple - are very delicious and healthy.

Of course I won't miss my favourite fresh fruits.

At dinner, we still had a wide range of food choice by omitting rice and pasta.

Crystal Pork

Drunk Chicken

Hot and Sour Soup with sliced pork, mushroom

Tea Tree Mushroom and Green Bean Sprouts in Fish Broth

To do Paleo diet is not that difficult, but in the first few days, I do feel miss my favourite fried rice, fried noodle, pizza, hamburger etc.  After the first week, it becomes much easier.  As I’m not on strict Paleo, so I can still enjoy coffee and tea with a bit of milk.  However at the buffet table, I do miss my favourite toast.  Anyway, temporary food restriction is a test of my willpower.  I’m sure I can do it, especially I’m doing it for my health. 

If you want to try Paleo diet, please understand this diet encourages weight loss.   I’m quite below par according to BMI, but I lost five pounds in the first week.  If you are in a hurry to lose weight, you may consider combining intermittent fasting with Paleo diet. 

If you want to find out more about Paleo diet and learn preparing your own Paleo meals, here are some links for your reference.

 

Paleo Diet  Paleo Power Lunch Paleo Cookbooks

Intermittent Fasting - Paleo Diet

Top 10 Diet Rule Experiment

Top 10 Diet Rule Experiment: How To Tell If a Diet Will Work For You
If you and I went to the local magazine stand and scanned the covers of the fitness magazines we would find dozens of ‘weight loss’ rules.

In fact we could spend the rest of the week reading magazines about the latest greatest weight loss tricks many of which may actually work for someone. But realistically there’s just no way you could actually follow ALL of them. So how do you know which ones are right for you?

The easy answer is you have to decide which rules fit best for YOUR life and then try to stick to just one or two that will make the most sense for you and have the most benefit.

This may be the first time in your life you become a scientist, and your experiment is you. Here’s what you do…

Browse any of the popular magazines, blogs, websites or anywhere you like to get fitness information. Read up on the diet and weight loss tips and tricks, these could be simple changes like not drinking calories, or a bigger philosophy like limiting the amount of carbs that you eat.

Make a top 10 list of diet strategies you’d like to try, and that sound doable to you. At this point add one new diet strategy to your life for two weeks. Record your bodyweight at the beginning of the two weeks and again at the end. If you haven’t lost any weight this strategy doesn’t work (for you). Discard it and move on to the next one.

This is the simplest way to tell if something will work for YOU. If the strategy you picked sounds like a good idea but seems too difficult for you to manage then it’s simply not a good fit for you in this stage of your life. If it worked for your friend but not for you that’s ok, there will be one that works just for you, this is why you make a top 10 list and try each of them, one at a time.

Let’s suppose you find one that works over a two week period and you don’t want to stop. That’s fine, just add the next one in the list, if you can handle more than one strategy at once more power to you and you’ll probably lose fat even faster. My guess is that sticking to more than one or two rules will be almost impossible, so it will be pretty easy to tell which strategy is really working.

For me the simpler the diet is the better, (which is the main premise behind Eat Stop Eat).

Even when you are following the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle you can still use the top 10-diet rule as a way to guide how you eat on your ‘eat days’.

The top 10 diet rule experiment is the fastest way to find dietary habits that work for you - after all you’ll never know until you try.

Article source:  Eat Stop Eat

10 Secrets to Fasting in a Healthy Way

One of my readers suggests 10 fasting tips which I find intersting and would like to share with you.

Fasting has been a part of many dietary regimens and religious observances for centuries, and while met with some skepticism, has proven to have very definite health benefits when done properly. Whether your goals are spiritual, physical or both, you can gain more from fasting by following some helpful advice. Here are 10 secrets to fasting in a healthy way:

1. Allow adequate time to eliminate harmful foods and substances from your diet – Prepare for your fast by gradually weaning yourself off such things as alcohol, nicotine, and sugar. Your body will not suffer from withdrawals if you give it time to adjust before embarking on a full-blown fast.
2. Gradually reduce food intake – Eat increasingly less food each day leading up to a more extensive fast. Again, you want your body to adjust to the reduced caloric intake, which will allow you to fast for longer periods later.
3. Try a liquid diet instead of a full fast – If you are skeptical about eliminating all substances from your diet, or you are about to embark on your first fast, you can try a juice fast, rather than not eating anything. Replace solid foods with fruit or vegetable juices, which will supply the necessary nutrients for your body, and minimize any ill effects of fasting, such as headaches or irritability.
4. Fast carefully – Do not fast if you are not in good health, are pregnant, or are underweight. You should be in sufficient health to subsist on reduced caloric intake without any risks to your body. The benefits of fasting would be lost if your body is not receiving adequate nutrition already from your normal diet.
5. Stay away from rigorous exercise or activities – Avoid strenuous activities while fasting. Limiting your food intake will also reduce the energy your body requires for performing such activities. Focus instead on cleansing your body, and meditation. Your body will still burn calories efficiently enough to lose weight without being taxed too heavily.
6. Maintain a healthy diet when not fasting – Fasting should be preceded and followed by a nutrient-rich diet. A person will not benefit as much from a fast if their diet before and/or after the fast is not a healthy one. So build up to your fast ahead of time; then afterward, build back up to your pre-fast diet.
7. Avoid binge eating at the conclusion of a fast – When ending a fast do not eat a large amount of food right away. Your stomach will have shrunk during the fast and will not be able to properly digest a lot of food for several days. After several days of fasting, your appetite will also have diminished accordingly; so there’s no need to binge at its conclusion.
8. Stay hydrated – Drink lots of water when fasting. Your body will be eliminating a lot of toxins from your bloodstream, and the additional liquid in your diet will help to cleanse it. Avoid other liquids like coffee and soft drinks, however.
9. Keep the fast period short – Extended fasting should only be done under close medical supervision. A fast lasting no longer than 4 to 5 days should be no problem for a healthy individual. Beyond that, you want to be sure that your body is handling the stress and diet change without difficulty.
10. Pre-fast eat foods that will continue to benefit you throughout the duration of the fast – Certain foods rich in complex carbohydrates allow for a slower, gradual release of energy which facilitates fasting much better. These include: beans, barley, wheat, oats, semolina, and rice.

Fasting can provide you with an array of health benefits if it’s done the right way. By maintaining a healthy diet and staying properly hydrated before and after the fast you can receive the maximum benefits throughout.

Article source:  AuPair.org

Quick Fat Loss Workouts

Fat loss is a hot topic nowadays.  Although I'm not an expert in this area, I would want to share a sweetly short article with you today.  When we talk about fasting, many would say 'I can't survive without food'.  When we talk about workout, you'll hear this a lot - I'm busy.  In fact, no matter how busy you are, you can workout if you want to and if you know how to.  Here's a short article telling you how.

Quick Fat Loss Workouts

‧ Do you find yourself strapped for money and/or time?
‧ Would you like to be able to lose weight quickly without the use of gym equipment?

If you answered yes to both of these questions then this quick fat loss workout is perfect for you. Not only will it take less than 10 minutes to complete, you will feel as though you got an amazing workout in the process. Not only will you feel the benefit of losing weight this workout will also serve to tone your lower body.

For best results perform these exercises in a circuit. In other words perform these exercises with no breaks between exercises.

‧Walking Lunges x 20 steps per leg
‧Step-ups x 20 steps per leg
‧Bodyweight Squat x 20 reps
‧Wall squat isometric hold x 1 min

Repeat circuit after resting for 1 min.

These exercises serve to fire up the major muscle groups of the legs. If you found this workout to be effective for you, then stay tuned for more quick fat loss workouts.

Written by Dan Miller, author of Fat Loss 4 Life

Fasting and Cleansing

While I'm enjoying the benefits of fasting weight loss, fasting is not only responsible for weight loss.  It is also responsible for cleansing - I mean the cleansing that is far beyond many products being marketed for the purpose of cleansing and detoxing.

Many people questioned the science behind fasting, and insisted that any type of "fasting" was inherently dangerous. I've recently read an article written by Brad Pilon (author of Eat Stop Eat and a nutrition researcher) in which he describes the science-backed benefits that support fasting, and describes the real way to cleanse your body.

As the original article is quite long and technical, I've tried to do a summary here.

The Truth About Fasting and Cleansing

To understand the long-term health benefits of true cleansing, we need to look into a unique process within the human body called 'autophagy'.

Autophagy: The Anti-Aging Solution?  The term autophagy is derived from the Greek language meaning 'eating of self'. In short, it is the internal 'custodial system' that your body uses to identify and discard the damaged or malfunctioning parts of a cell.

If you are interested in how autophagy works, check it out from Wiki.

The more time you spend in the fed state, the less time you have to really ramp up the autophagic (cellular cleansing) process within your body.

This is where short-periods of fasting come into play.  One of the major health benefits of fasting is that it improves autophagy. The principle signal to "turn on" the autophagy dial is the act of entering the fasted state. And if fasting is the signal to turn on autophagy, then eating is the signal to turn it off.

By allowing for growth when we eat and the autophagic process of repair maintenance and cleansing when we are fasting, we help restore a balance in the cellular maintenance process, not to mention the possible prevention of muscle loss as we age.  So you can consider fasting as an anti-aging solution.

The key is there needs to be a balance - You can't overeat all the time or fast all the time without expecting some sort of negative repercussions. It is the optimal balance of these processes that allows for the breakdown of damaged pieces and their replacement with new well-functioning pieces.

By allowing for growth when we eat, and the autophagic process of repair, maintenance, and cleansing when we are fasting, we help restore a balance in the body that may be a missing link in the prevention of many of today's deadly and debilitating diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease, liver disease, and even loss of muscle size and function.

Brad Pilon is one of the world's most recognized advocates of Intermittent Fasting - You can learn more about his approach to intermittent fasting in his newly revised and expanded book Eat Stop Eat.

Eat Stop Eat - New and Expanded 5th Edition

As my blog title indicates, intermittent fasting is responsible for my weight loss success. One of the top fasting books on this topic is Eat Stop Eat. And here is a good news about the book.

Introducing the New and Expanded 5th Edition of Eat Stop Eat !

With all new information on why Intermittent Fasting may be BETTER than traditional dieting when it comes to hunger, maintaining testosterone levels and even for building muscle. There's also new information on exercise and even a chapter on cleansing!

Pick up your Copy Before Friday April 6th and get an exclusive teleseminar with author Brad Pilon as he personally walks you through all the new information in the newest version of Eat Stop Eat.

One More Special Offer for You:

Have 3 days to try out the Newest Version of Eat Stop Eat for only $9.99. Read Eat Stop Eat NOW and if you like it, you'll be charged the remaining 27 dollars in three days. If you don't like it, just return and get a 100% refund (no questions asked). Click here for your 3-day $9.99 trial.

Win Weight Loss Battle In Two Days or Two Months

I went on a short trip to Vietnam with a friend during Christmas and return to Hong Kong on the first day of 2012.  After that we both went back to our normal life.

Yesterday I met my friend again and she was complaining that she was not able to get rid of the extra weight she gained out of the binge eating over the Christmas trip.  I was shocked, as I went on the same trip, ate as madly as she did, but I didn’t have the same problem.  Now is March, already two months after our Vietnam trip.  She said she worked very hard only to have lost 1 pound.  I did gain a few pounds as you know it was festival and holiday, I just couldn’t stop eating.  But once I returned to work and resume my IF eating style, my weight went back to normal in a few days.

We then discuss the subject of weight loss and I introduced the idea of short term intermittent fasting, quoting myself as a live example of easy weight loss.  But you know what?  Here’s what she said:

    No breakfast – is the end of the day.

No food for 24 hours – is the end of the world.

I don’t know how hard she worked to lose that one pound.  But if she did one of the above, losing one pound was as easy as breathing.

Weight loss seems to be more of a mental battle than a physical one. Sure there are some hunger cravings to deal with every now and then, but 90% of the battle is in your mind. If you can win the battle in your mind you can also win the battle around your waist or butt (or wherever you store your fat).

The most important thing you can ever do to lose weight is to re-program the way you think to believe that not only fasting is for some people, but that it’s possible for YOU.

Whatever thoughts you hold in your mind will become reality regardless if they are positive or negative.

As in my friend’s case, it’s up to her to struggle or to change her mind to learn to accept that fasting can help to lose weight. And if she doesn’t believe she can fast, she’s never going to take action to win the weight loss battle.

If you have positive thoughts about fasting weight loss…All you need is a plan.

If you want to look at the skip breakfast plan, take a look at Mike O’Donnell’s website;

If you want to explore the 24-hour fasting plan, visit Brad Pilon’s website.

The IF Life Blog

Eat…Move…Learn

If you want to explore more about intermittent fasting, here is a blog I strongly recommend: The IF Life blog. Let me emphasis, I only recommend blogs that I personally enjoy reading. Mike O’Donnell’s IF Life blog is one among the top blogs I love. Let me explain why.

First, Mike’s blog is 100% IF focused. It’s full of informative and original content articles all around intermittent fasting. I subscribe his blog through email, but he won’t bombard my mail box. He only sends me email once or twice a week. Unlike other newsletters that I subscribe, Mike never approaches me to sell third party products. And he answers questions promptly. As a blogger myself, I know it’s going to be a lot of hard work and Mike does a very good job.

If you haven’t visited his blog yet, here is the latest article that I received. See if you like it.

By Mike O’Donnell, the IF Life: A while back I came up with a little slogan for the blog as “Eat, Play, Live”. My basic philosophy for nutrition, exercise and getting out to enjoy life. I’ve now come across a series of cool videos that are along the same lines of thinking.

Their message is “Eat, Move, Learn”, and here’s my little additional thoughts on them.

• Eat less, enjoy more. Eat meals. Don’t snack. Eat good real foods and natural flavors. Try local cuisines. Experiment cooking new recipes. Enjoy what you eat and the company you are with. Don’t make eating mindless (snacking), make it meaningful.

• Move more. Move your body as exercise and be strong in your movements. Move in nature. The world is your gym. Move about, not just “travel”. Take time to really see where you are and experience nature/people/culture around you. Stop being in such a rush, life is not a race. You don’t have to travel the globe to be out among natural wonders around you.

• Learn and try new things. Enjoy a hobby that you are passionate about. Try a new sport. Overcome your fears. Question everything you hear. Make life about purpose and become a curious student of the universe. There are so many things out there to explore. Most importantly learn that you only have the time that is right now, and get on with living in it!

So here are the 3 videos below (if you can not see the videos,
click here for the original article page). I hope you enjoy them as well!

My One Meal Menu

My One Meal Menu

Some of the FAQs I received from my readers are: What do you eat in that one meal? What calories, what kind of food and what portion size and did you eat all those foods being recorded in your food blog? Well I’m going to answer all these questions together.

I have a food blog and a fasting blog. These two blogs seem conflicting, but they aren’t. Though one is about eating and the other about fasting, they are related. Today I’m going to use some of the old photos from my food blog to answer the above questions. To answer one of the FAQs: 99% of the food photos were taken from my dining table, so I actually ate the foods.

My meal frequency is somewhat famine style - generally one meal a day, sometimes no food for a day or two. Don’t assume that my one meal is a great super size one. Although sometimes I do binge, at company events or family/festival gatherings, I eat normal portion meals most of the time. Calories, food group…I don't care!

Different people may have different standard of a normal meal. Professional athletes’ normal meal size may be much larger than mine. So let see the normal meal size of a female headhunter.

My Normal One Meal Dinner – Home Cooking
I enjoy eating at home. This is the time when I can sit down, relax and enjoy food. I may have mentioned this before – food become more tasteful after I practice fasting. And some readers also reported that they eat more respectfully after practicing fasting.

Here is couple of examples to demonstrate my normal portion dinner. Simply click on the links to view the original articles from my food blog.

Green Risotto - Hong Kong Style * My Home-Made Vegetarian Pasta My Normal One Meal Lunch – Economy
Although my one meal is usually dinner, I do eat lunch in some occasions, especially over the weekend when I don’t need to rush for time. Here are some examples of economy normal portions of my normal lunch. Super Value Tea Set * My Vegetarian Lunch Box * Classic Dim Sums

My Normal One Meal – Luxury
In some occasions, I do lunch in a slightly luxury way such as going on an outing and enjoy a holiday seafood lunch. It is luxury in terms of money, but very normal in terms of meal size even it is a 4-course one. Lamma Island Seafood Outing

My Over-sized One Meal
There are occasions that I eat a lot. Over a banquet, I never want to single out myself. So I eat a lot. However I do have a rule that I won’t do two big meals in a day. If that happens, I’ll try to make excuse to one of them. If both meals are unavoidable…mmmm….that’s a very difficult day for me. I usually have to go on a 30-hour fasting after that. In my experience, fasting is a very good remedy for binge eating. Though I sometimes binge over long weekends or holidays, a day or two’s fasting will enable speedy recovery. Here is a blog post to demonstrate how big my one meal could be – an 8-course banquet plus rice/noodle, desserts and fruits. Cantonese Festival Dinner

 

Embrace Hunger and Hunger Pains While Fasting

2012 Weight Loss Plan
Is losing weight one of your primary objectives in the New Year? If so, I would like to draw your attention to hunger and hunger pains, before you kick start any dieting plan.

Embrace Hunger and Hunger Pains While Dieting
When I talk about my fasting habit, the immediate feedback from most people is hunger and hunger pains. Right, we are taught to avoid hunger and getting hungry even while dieting. I'm going to suggest something that could be a taboo to most of us. You will get faster weight loss results if you allow yourself to get hungry from time to time. I'll even go as far to say that you should embrace hunger and look forward to it for rapid fat loss. Of course I don’t mean to stay extremely hungry for a long period, but to extend the hours between meals is certainly beneficial.

Getting Hungry While Fasting? Good!
In Hong Kong parents are complaining that kids are facing too much pressure at school. There is an argument that if kids cannot put up with some kind of pressure at school, there is no way they can face any kind of pressure from the world when they grow up. Sounds inhuman but true. This made me think of weight loss. If we cannot put up with hunger for a few hours, how can we face other greater challenges in life?

Hunger does not bother me much in my particular body make up. But I always look forward to it. Unlike many people who want to get lean, I seldom feel hungry, but…I just need to remind myself that it is okay to get hungry from time to time.

Getting Hungry is the "Old School" Dieting Approach
When I was a teen in the 70's, people would actually get hungry while dieting! At some point in the 80's, the "eat 6 meals per day" approach became the norm. The idea was that "eating every few hours" keeps your metabolism high. In theory it looked like a great strategy, but it isn't working for most people.

Is Eating Every Few Hours Working For You?
In my years of weight loss struggle, I’ve tried almost anything including eating 6 meals per day which never worked for me. The problem with eating all the time is that you always have "food energy" circulating in your system. When you do any activities or exercise, your body always has an abundant supply of energy from the food you eat. Why would it need to access your stored energy source (aka BODY FAT)? The answer is that your body will not burn body fat with excessive food energy in your system.

Those who do outdoor activities and eat normal meals are usually lean. Those who eat all the time are the ones with weight problems. Think about it…a lot of us play video games and surf the Internet. They are indoor near food. If they get hungry, food is just a few steps away. People at work are near food all the time as well and share the exact same problem!

"Allowing Yourself to Get Hungry" is Key to Getting Lean
I don't believe our bodies were meant to have a never ending supply of constant food. I am not suggesting that you should stay hungry all the time, but don't be so quick to grab food the moment you feel hungry. This is your chance to get rid of some of that excessive body fat. Want to really lose some weight quickly? Let yourself get hungry on purpose before doing cardio. This is when you will see visible results quickly. Try short term fasting. Skip meals whenever you feel you can. Let yourself feel hungry and laid off some fat quickly.

My Suggested 2012 Fasting Plan

Don’t announce your fasting plan. Let people notice it and come consult you for weight loss tips. That was my experience back in 2006. I started my short term intermittent fasting in March and my colleagues came to ask for weight loss tips soon after July.

Don’t set a schedule. Say there must be a day or two in a week that you don’t have any meal appointments or you don’t really feel hungry and that you're sure you can survive without eating, then skip meal. Try this for a quarter and you’ll see noticeable results.

PS: I realize that many dietitians and personal trainers will give you conflicting advice when it comes to the subject of hunger and meal frequency. They will throw out the "slowing metabolism" argument.

There is an amazing eBook on this subject, called Eat Stop Eat. It was written by a top nutritionist who did his graduate research on this topic. His study was called "The Metabolic Effects of Short Periods of Fasting in Humans and its Potential Application in Weight Loss"

It will change the way you think of eating. Even if you don't decide to buy the book, you should opt-in to subscribe the blog.

Fasting Books

Want to read a fasting book to start a healthy weight loss program in the New Year? When it comes to fasting books it feels like a wide range of fasting methods are being covered. Each book has it’s own special take on how we should be fasting and how long we should be fasting.

To help you go on healthy fasting, here is my list of the top best fasting books.

Eat Stop Eat (Brad Pilon)
eBook available at ClickBank

If you can do one meal a day for twice a week, this will be your perfect guide book to help you kick start your intermittent fasting program. If you are interested in the scientific research behind the use of intermittent fasting for weight loss then you should find this book to be both up to date and accurate.

Brad Pilon is a nutrition professional. His graduate studies were about nutritional sciences specializing in the use of short term fasting for weight loss. Click here to check out Eat Stop Eat

2 Meal Solution (Mike O’Donnell)
eBook available at ClickBank

Mike, as a Certified Personal Trainer/Health and Fitness Coach, has been one of the pioneers talking about intermittent fasting (IF). This book helps you gain back control over food choices and finally build a simple lifestyle for long term weight management. A perfect guide for beginners. Click here to check out 2 Meal Solution

Master Cleanse Secrets (Raylen Sterling)
eBook available at Clickbank

Unlike many fad diets of today, the Master Cleanse has survived the test of time for over 60 years. Celebrities and nutrition gurus alike are raving over the immense health benefits and spectacular body transformations that this diet offers. It’s good but not easy. You need to learn about the tricks and tips in order to make it through the 10-day program. Check out the Master Cleanse Secrets before kicking start.

Juice Fasting and Detoxification: Use the Healing Power of Fresh Juice to Feel Young and Look Great : The Fastest Way to Restore Your Health (Steve Meyerowitz, Beth Robbins, Michael Parman)
Available at Amazon

This book covers comprehensively about how to do juice fasting with raw fruits and vegetables while maintaining a nearly normal work and living schedule. It includes juice recipes, detoxification techniques, exercises, weight loss, water fasting and how to break a fast safely. Truly a must read if you want to go on juice fasting. Click here to view Juice Fasting and Detoxification

A Study of Prolonged Fasting (Francis Gano Benedict)
Available at Amazon

Fasting has been around for thousands of year. It is only during the last hundred years or so, the subject of fasting has undergone close experimental and scientific scrutiny which was probably initiated by the famous physiologist, Dr. Francis Gano Benedict. His book, A Study Of Prolonged Fasting published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1915, is well worth close perusal today. This is a scarce antiquarian, rare and hard-to-find book with something of interest for everyone! Click here to view A study of prolonged fasting

Fasting Books