Is Water Fasting for Weight Loss Good for your Health?

Water fasting for weight loss must be the ultimate extreme solution when it comes to weight loss methods. Water fasting practices have been around for many thousands of years, but it was used for religious and mystical purposes only.

Even so it comes from a religious background and today we know that people can live for a long number of days without food given they stay well hydrated. So it seems that water fasting may be okay if you want to lose weight really, really fast. After all, water contains no calories whatsoever.

So, will you lose weight

? The answer is obvious: you will lose weight. But there is a catch. Unless you plan to continue water fasting for as long as you live, you won’t lose too much out of your fat deposits because the body has a mind of its own and doesn’t like being threatened to extinction. Anything that suggests a shortage in food intake makes the body switch to self-preservation mode. It cannot distinguish between voluntary weight loss and weight loss induced by the inability to procure the necessary amount of food. There is no way to bypass our basic instincts to survive.

The most likely thing you can achieve if you try water fasting for weight loss is to lose a few more pounds in the first days and then you will lose weight at an ever slower rate. If you decide to continue for more than a couple of days you will notice muscle fatigue, a lack of will to accomplish even the most simple tasks and a gradual shift towards a state of self preservation.

Unlike extreme situations where people are facing the very real possibility losing their lives and are forced to survive, you know very well that all you have to do is to pick up the phone and order a pizza. People in extreme survival situations have a lot of adrenaline going for them and it can help them stay active and even accomplish incredible things because they want to stay alive and their body and mind will be there for them.

When you attempt water fasting, you know very well that you are perfectly safe and able to resume your previous style of life at any point. This alone is enough to prevent you to lose too many pounds and will also lead to body and mental fatigue – that’s the way your body lets you know it doesn’t agree with your decisions.

And the other important downside of water fasting for weight loss is you can trigger a yo-yo effect. Any drastic weight loss cure can trigger the yo-yo effect and this means you will end up gaining more weight after you end your fast. And this is really the last thing you want. Recent studies have shown that people caught in the yo-yo effect are more likely to suffer from heart disease, high blood pressure and a host of other medical conditions than people who are overweight and never attempt to lose weight.

Healthy Eating and Super Foods – 4 Health Benefits of Watermelons

Think back to when you were a child and when during the summer months, the pinnacle of cookouts and family gatherings was always the cold juicy watermelon that was for desert. When you were young, eating watermelon was about taste, but now that you’re older it’s more than just taste that should inspire you to eat lots of watermelon each year when the season arises. This is because watermelons have tremendous health benefits that anyone who lives a healthy lifestyle should be determined to take advantage of every year. With that said, let’s take a closer look at some of these health benefits this fruit has to offer.

Health Benefit of Watermelons #1: Lycopene

Lycopene is an antioxidant found in most red-colored fruits, with the exception of a few, such as strawberries. Scientific studies have shown that Lycopene reduces the risk of prostate cancer and heart disease in people, especially men, the sex most prone to these diseases. Men who eat a diet high in lycopene are much less likely to suffer a heart attack then men who don’t.

Health Benefit of Watermelons #2: Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 is an important attribute to have in a healthy diet because it promotes chemicals in the brain that help people to cope with anxiety and panic, two psychological disorders that are on the rise in America today.

Health Benefit of Watermelons #3: Vitamin C

If you thought oranges were the only fruit that could provide you with Vitamin C, think again. Vitamin C is important to not only being healthy, but remaining attractive all your life. Vitamin C boosts the immune system so that you get sick less often and it also slows down aging and medical conditions such as cataract.

Health Benefit of Watermelons #4: Vitamin A

Vitamin A works much like Vitamin C, in that it helps boost immunity, but it also help your body fight off infection. It also prevents blindness.

As you can see, eating watermelon is almost tantamount to taking a multivitamin every morning, but with a much better taste. Watermelons are seasonal, which means that they are not available all year long, like fruits such as apples, which also means that when they are in season you should make sure and take advantage.

When you go to the store to purchase one you want to try and find one that is ripe and ready to eat. The best way to do this is to knock on the outside of the rind. If you hear a hollow sound then melon is ready to eat, but if you hear solid thud put it back. The fruit is over ripe and you won’t be getting very good flavor from it. Buy you water melon and eat it within the first few days of getting it home. Everything about it is healthy, and in addition, it won’t leave you feeling over stuffed if you eat too much.

So the next time the weather becomes warmer and summer is approaching, don’t forget about watermelons. Eat up and get the extra boost they will add to your healthy lifestyle.

Acai Berry – Good Food, Good Health

Did you know that the acai berry has great skin and anti-ageing properties

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Also have you heard of all the great properties packed in the Acai berry that has now been classed as a SuperFood? And the many ways it can benefit you by adding it to your diet.

The little known Acai berry is jam packed with goodness and contains essential fatty acids, amino acids and the highest concentration of anti-oxidants than any other food.

No wonder that the Acai berry – (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) has been titled one of the most powerful and nutritious foods in the world – not bad for a small blue berry.

The Acai berry grows wild and abundantly at the top of the Euterpe Oleracea, a native tree of the Brazilian Amazon and Central American tropical forest in the flood plains.

The only draw back with the Acai berry that I can see is that it is not readily available in most supermarkets. This is wholly due to the fact that the Acai has a very short shelf life and also the period they are harvested in, keeping the price of the fresh berry quite high.

So with the Acai’s popularity increasing as its good health benefits become more widely known, other forms are easily obtainable from reputable health stores and chemists in freeze dried, capsules, tablets, juice and pulp form.

Anti-oxidants are renowned for combating the effects of premature ageing and with the Acai berry’s remarkable concentration, really does help. In fact the berry contains 10 times more anti-oxidants than red grapes and between 10 – 30 times more of the good anthocyanins contained in red wine.

The fatty acid in Acai is very rich in monounsaturated oleic acid and similar to that of olive oil. Oleic acid is beneficial and important for many reasons to the body.

Oleic acid in the Acai helps increase penetration of the cell membrane by omega-3 oils, making the membranes suppler, and together with the cell membrane being more supple aids the efficiency of neurotransmitters, hormones and insulin receptors.

High insulin levels are linked with ageing, as the higher levels of insulin creates an inflammatory state in the body and inflammation causes ageing, so the Acai can help combat this.

Not only is ageing affected by the Acai’s synergy of monounsaturated fats, but its dietary fibre and phytosterols also help to promote good health of the cardiovascular and digestive system.

The Acai also has a near perfect complex of essential amino acids and together with its valuable trace minerals are excellent and vital for proper muscle contraction and regeneration, this slows the effects of damage to the skin that cause the signs of aging.

What more needs to be said about this fantastic berry, well as the Acai contains phytosterol – (Beta-sitosterol) that inhibits cholesterol absorption, allowing it to be naturally removed with bodily waste instead of being stored as fat, is yet another good health benefit.

So by adding Acai to your diet and eating a varied diet of nutritionally good food for good health is the main stay to keeping your skin supple and looking young, as with a varied diet you can obtain the many vitamins and nutrients needed for your body’s daily fight against ageing.

The acai berry contains a potent pack of goodness to fight not only against the ravages of aging but many other conditions. So for your body’s whole well being adding Acai to your daily diet can only benefit you.

Acai is the number one good food for good health.