You know that eating a vegetarian diet can decrease the incidence of heart disease and certain types of cancers. You also know that it can make you leaner and healthier. But so many of the health studies are done on men? What about women and the impact of a vegetarian diet on their health as they age?

Diets that are high in protein, especially animal protein, tend to cause the body to excrete more calcium, oxalate, and uric acid. These three substances are the main components of urinary tract stones. British researchers have advised that persons with a tendency to form kidney stones should follow a vegetarian diet. The American Academy of Family Physicians notes that high animal protein intake is largely responsible for the high prevalence of kidney stones in the United States and other developed countries and recommends protein restriction for the prevention of recurrent kidney stones.

For many of the same reasons, vegetarians are at a lower risk for osteoporosis. Since animal products force calcium out of the body, eating meat can promote bone loss. In nations with mainly vegetable diets (and without dairy product consumption), osteoporosis is less common than in the U.S., even when calcium intake is also less than in the U.S. Calcium is important, but there is no need to get calcium from dairy products.

We continue to consume meat, while at the same time downing calcium supplements and prescription drugs to prevent osteoporosis, that often have drastic side effects. And most experts agree that calcium supplements are inferior to calcium derived from natural food sources. Doesn’t it make more sense (and cents) to get your calcium from eating a healthier diet?

What are some good vegetarian sources of calcium? Orange juice, for one. Dry beans, such as black-eyed peas, kidney beans and black beans are another good source, as are dark leafy vegetables such as broccoli and kale. Tofu is also a good source of calcium.

Tags: American Academy Of Family Physicians, Animal Protein, Atkins, Calcium Intake, Calcium Oxalate, Calcium Supplements, Eating Habits, Fruits And Vegetables, Good Source Of Calcium, Healthy Diet, Kidney Beans, Kidney Stones, Leafy Vegetables, Natural Food Sources, Other Developed Countries, Product Consumption, Protein Intake, Protein Restriction, Risk For Osteoporosis, Sources Of Calcium, Types Of Cancers, Urinary Tract Stones, Vegetarian Diet, Vegetarian Sources —

Have you been wondering for a long time ‘how can I lose my belly fat’? Do you have a bit of excess tummy flab that you just can’t seem to be able to get rid of? Well stop asking yourself ‘how can I lose my belly fat’ because we are about to tell you how.

There are a number of reasons why you may have gained some fat around your tummy. The trick to losing that belly fat is to control what you are eating or drinking that will cause fat gain and to introduce some exercise into your life, particularly exercises that target the tummy area.

Here are four tips that can help you to love that belly fat.

1. Sit ups and crunches are the two main exercises that people do to lose belly fat. Sit ups are probably the single most effective exercise for toning stomach muscles and getting rid of belly fat. Sit ups are even more effective when done on a stability ball. To lose fat you do need to burn off more calories than you consume so keep this in mind also.

2. Cut out all fried foods from your diet. Fried foods are the worst foods for putting on fat around the waist and they are poor in nutrient value also. Fried food has no nutritional value at all to your diet and all it does it provide you with calories that add to your weight.

3. Stop snacking between meals. Snacking is a big contributor to gaining belly fat. Late night snacking is the worst kind of all as you don’t burn the calories off if you got to bed after snacking. When you consume calories during the day you will burn some of them off with your daily movements, but at night you just relax or go to bed allowing those calories to become fat that doesn’t get burned off. When you snack a lot you will often find that you only intend to have one small snack but you keep on eating more and more and it all adds up around your tummy. If you are asking yourself ‘how can I lose my belly fat’ then you need to tell yourself to stop snacking between meals.

4. Burn those excess calories off. Belly fat is unused energy that accumulates in the form of fat around the stomach. To get rid of belly fat you need to burn off more calories than you consume. Cardio workouts are great for burning off fat and these can include aerobics, walking, jogging, running, cycling or working out on a cardio machine. There are many little changes that you can make that will also help you to burn off calories like parking at the back of the car park and walking that little bit further to the shop or office, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Remember that every little bit of exercise you do helps.

If you are asking yourself ‘how can I lose my belly fat’ then try these four suggestions and you will soon find your tummy getting thinner and you will be well on your way to having those flat abs.

Tags: Calories, Calories Fat, Contributor, Crunches, Diet, Eating Habits, Excess Calories, Exercise, Fried Food, Fried Foods, Healthy Diet, Late Night, Long Time, Losing Weight, Love, Nutrient Value, Nutritional Value, Sit Ups, Snack, Stability Ball, Stomach Muscles, Target, Ups, Worst Foods —

Do you ever think about how far we’ve diverted from the path of our pre-historic ancestors and they’re eating patterns? Consider how the earliest humans evolved, and what they ate. They were hunter-gatherers and did not evolve with the characteristics of carnivores. Humans aren’t made to tear animals apart and eat their flesh. When you look at carnivorous animals, such as wild cats, you can see their teeth are designed to rip and tear, not chew.

Humans evolved from vegetarian creatures. Even our digestive systems are not particularly suited to eating meat. Eating meat is a relatively recent development in human history, most likely born of opportunity and necessity. Perhaps earliest man observed carnivores eating meat, and if they couldn’t find any of the natural foods they were used to eating, such as vegetables, berries, nuts and grains, then they might have assumed that eating meat would at least sustain life.

But initially we emulated the creatures we evolved from, herbivores like apes. Even to a prehistoric mind, apes would have looked similar to man, walking primarily upright, with arms and hands. We naturally would have foraged for our food, eating roots and berries, fruits and nuts. We would have watched the apes peeling bananas, or crushing nuts on stones to get at the meat of the nut.

We would have been living more moment-to-moment, constantly foraging for food. Hunting, after all, requires thought and planning. Eating meat requires preparation and most importantly, fire. Until man discovered fire, he was primarily vegetarian, living in what was the natural order of things. Vegetarian eating is a more natural way of eating, in addition to being healthier. It’s a way that’s in balance with the planet, and doesn’t seek to dominate it and conquer it.

Tags: Ancestors, Apes, Bananas, Berries, Carnivores, Carnivorous Animals, Creatures, Digestive Systems, Eating Habits, Eating Meat, Flesh, Foraging For Food, Fruits And Vegetables, Grains, Human History, Hunter Gatherers, Moment To Moment, Nuts, Peeling, Roots, Vegetables, Wild Cats —

Being overweight is kind of funny in a way. It sort of creeps up on you. Sure, the scale may tell you that you have put on a few pounds over the years, but you don’t really notice it…until one day you see a picture of yourself or catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. “When did this happen”, you think to yourself. Surely you can’t be that fat, but there’s the proof. However you put those pounds on, right now you just want to know the secrets to losing weight quickly.

It may sound obvious, but you need to know what those secrets are before you can start taking advantage if them. See, a lot of people think that weight loss just happens somehow. Maybe if they think positive thoughts or try something the weight will come off. Sorry, that just doesn’t work in the real world.

But why try to lose weight quickly in the first place? After all, the so-called experts say you shouldn’t lose any more than one or two pounds per week. the truth is that they are right, for the most part. However, that’s mainly for long-term weight loss. If you’re fairly healthy, and your doctor says it’s okay (always check with your doctor before making drastic changes to your eating or exercise habits), then losing more is fine.

One of the biggest reasons for looking for the secrets to losing weight quickly, is that you can see results that much sooner. If you only lose one or two pounds at a time, then it’s going to take a while before it’s really noticeable. On the other hand, if you lose five to ten pounds in the first two weeks, you will notice, and that can motivate you to stay on whatever program you choose. Then, after the initial burst of losing a lot of weight, you can go back to the more sustainable rate of losing one to two pounds per week.

You may have heard it before: 3,500 calories is the equivalent of one pound of body weight. Every diet that works, works because of this simple principle. They may try to hide what they’re doing behind some sort of gimmick (cabbage soup, anyone?), but the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in.

3,500 is a nice round number because it translates into 500 calories per day for one week. If you can cut you caloric intake by just 500 calories, then you will lose one pound in a week. That’s not fast weight loss, but it adds up to just over 50 pounds in a year. Now, if you can do enough physical activity to burn off 500 calories per day then that’s another pound, and you can shed about 100 pounds in a year.

This is what it comes down to: the secrets to losing weight quickly are to start off strong so you stay motivated, and to combine both diet and exercise to get double the results in the same amount of time.

Tags: Being Overweight, Burst, Cabbage, Calories, Diet, Drastic Changes, Eating Habits, Exercise Habits, Glimpse, Healthy Diet, Long Term Weight Loss, Lose Weight, Losing Weight, Lot, Mirror, Positive Thoughts, Principle, Proof, Real World, Sustainable Rate, Truth, Two Pounds —