Did you know that poor diet does more than make you fat? It also makes you stupid!

According to Dr. Alan Logan, in his new book “The Brain Diet”, he finds the people in the United Sates and Canada eat foods that do not contribute to healthy brain function.

In other words, eating well can make you smart, and opposite is also true, eating poorly can make you stupid.

Dr. Logan concluded that the overall diet in the US and Canada is based on an excess of nutritionally poor calories, and a lack of consumption of the proper foods that protect brain cells.

In other words, the foods that make us fat also make us stupid; and not only, also he found these foods contribute to neurodegenerative diseases.

Doctors and books have been reminding us for decades now how a proper diet can help protect our bodies from cardiovascular disease and cancer, but now the link to mental and neurological health needs also to be stressed.

Dr.Logan is a naturopathic physician and professor at Harvard University’s Mind-Body Medical Institute.

He pointed out in his book that it appears to have overlooked how many nutrients are directly linked with alternation in both psychiatric and neurological conditions.

Quite interestingly, he concluded that although we have our genetic predispositions, they can be somehow influenced by the way and what we eat. Also to blame is that doctors are not taught this fact in medical school.

Can an incorrect diet lead to Alzheimer’s?

According to Dr. Logan, yes.

Things like eating packaged candy when one is tired in the afternoon, can certainly increase the diabetes and heart disease, but he pointed out that the increased insulin secretions associated with a sugary diet increase the risk for Alzheimer’s and depression.

It seems the most harm is done by eating the combination of the wrong types of fat with too much sugar in the same diet.

This diet produces a fat that becomes part of brain cells surrounding membranes. Brain cells are normally flexible.

However, a diet that includes an excess of trans fat, Omega-6 fatty acids, and saturated fats, can cause the brain cells to be inflexible. What does this do? It disrupts brain cell communication and affects our cognitive abilities.

Dr. Logan sited one study where animals that consumed an excess of trans fats had a much greater risk of getting Alzheimer’s and had a much decreased cognitive ability. He mentioned that a poor diet sets the stage from anything like ADHD to schizophrenia.

Dr. Logan’s Brain Diet.

There is a very good brain diet cited, but of utmost importance, if nothing else is done, is to increase one’s intake of Omega-3 fatty acids.

These will help not only one’s cardiovascular system, but also protect a person from neurological disorders.

Dr. Logan also states that increasing your Omega-3 fatty acids can have a good effect on your mental abilities, mood and act as an anti-depressant.

Citing recent studies, Dr.Logan concluded that nutrition can have both positive effects (if correct) and very negative ones (if incorrect) on your cognitive abilities.

Examine what you eat. Are you foods full of trans fats?

Are you eating only processed and packaged foods with over-doses of sugars, wrong fats, and chemicals? T

hese could not just be making you stupid, but could be setting the stage for early mental decline and even an untimely death.



By: Kelly Price

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If “Diet!” is the queen, then “Exercise!” is the king of weight loss tips. If you are not obese, you can still lose weight while eating the same amount you do, but exercising regularly. Not all exercise programs are made equally, however. All programs produce results with consistent, long-term effort, but some programs deliver results in as little as two months. Couple this with a good weight loss diet and you will definitely see results in one month.

There are two types of powerful exercise programs you can choose from. Both of them focus on specific aspects of athletic ability – it could focus on either strength, or anaerobic endurance. For beginners, the best program would be the strength program.

Doing the strength program is simple, and may even seem easy at first, but it’s not as easy after three months at it. There are many strength programs out there, but all of them focus on doing compound exercises that involve large muscle groups, and using heavy weights for low repetitions in each set. Popular programs include the 5×5 program, which involves doing five sets of five repetitions for each exercise; the 3×5 program, which involves doing three sets of five repetitions for each exercise. The benefit of doing 5×5 as opposed to doing 3×5 is that you get more strength work with each workout, while doing 3×5 would allow you to progress to heavier weights before things become difficult.

These exercises focus on three main exercises, which are also the power lifts – the squat, the deadlift, and the bench press. Being compound exercises, they allow the use of heavier weights compared to isolation movements used in many bodybuilding routines such as the leg curl and tricep extension.

The squat uses the leg muscles to move the weight, with the back and abs as stabilizers. The deadlifts use the legs and the back muscles, with the entire core working to keep the weight steady. The bench press uses most of the upper body, from the chest, triceps and shoulders, to the biceps and the upper back muscles for stability.

Other movements you can include are pull-ups, which use the back, arms and the abs for stability; lunges, which train the legs in balance and stability while building strength as well; and pushups, which work the same muscles as the bench press, but also include the core for stability. If you still have the energy, you can go for a short jog of maybe 10-15 minutes to supplement your strength workout. Don’t overdo it though, as the goal is to get stronger, and running too much may hinder strength gains.

The second type of exercise program revolves around high-intensity interval training. This type of training usually uses body-weight exercises such as pushups, body-weight squats, lunges, pull-ups, and burpees, a combination of jumping squats and pushups. This makes for very quick workouts, but are extremely effective at improving cardiovascular health and burning off fat.

Coupled with a good diet, these workout routines will blowtorch fat right off your body. If you stay committed to it, you will see results quickly. Weight loss tips really just boil down to exercising regularly and having a good diet. It is up to you to make it happen.



By: M Edward

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Some of my dieting tips are not conventional. You can read zillions of tips where they say, don’t shop while hungry or just eat less and where has that gotten you?

1. Eight glasses of water everyday. This is a common diet tip and most people know this, yet they still don’t drink enough water during the day.

There are some very important reasons for drinking water. It hasn’t got any calories and it’s devoid of caffeine and chemicals. Sometimes when you think you’re hungry, it’s really thirst that will curb the cravings. Cold water can be hard on the kidneys so drink it lukewarm. Adding fresh squeezed lemon juice into your water is also good for cleansing the liver.

2. Try and have some variety. When you do your grocery shopping, buy some vegetables you’ve never tried before. It’s easier to resist temptation if you have healthy foods in the house.

3. When you park the car, park as far as you can from the bank, grocery store, dry cleaners and enjoy the walk. It increases your metabolism and you can burn off more calories per day.

4. Buy some of those hideous tasting, stop-biting-your-nails polish. I discovered this tip years ago when trying to break a nail-biting habit. You cannot eat snack foods when this stuff is on your nails. Your awareness of snacking becomes quite heightened.

5. If you need to have a snack in the evenings, try eating some fruit or vegetables, even a cup of yogurt will sometimes do the trick. Evening snack time can be the most damaging to your diet and health and it can sabotage all the hard work you’ve put in during the day to make yourself healthy and slim.

6. Keeping a daily log of everything you eat over a two week period can really can (sometimes shockingly) reveal your real eating habits. People are often surprised at how carbohydrates they eat, this includes junk food, bread, muffins, potatoes, pasta etc. Excessive intake of carb or bad fats (such as trans fats) has done in many a diet plan and a log reveals this to you. It also makes you think before putting that next doughnut in your mouth.

Overall, despite all those flashy commercials, a healthy weight and lifestyle, are in the end, our own responsibility!



By: Gwen Jones

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Here are some EFFECTIVE diet and weight loss tips that will get you on track FAST. Look, if you’re unhappy about how you look, then you need to just take that first step to get the ball rolling. Take 2 minutes to read this article to learn about a few ways you can take charge of your body and lose weight almost immediately.

Diet and Weight Loss Tips

1. Whatever you do, eat breakfast and make sure there’s plenty of protein in it

The biggest mistake I see people making is they skip breakfast. The next biggest mistake is they eat breakfast, but it’s all processed garbage with tons of sugars and carbs in it. The last one is people eat a light breakfast.

If there’s ever a meal to eat big, go with breakfast. Eat a big breakfast and then small meals for the rest of the day. Don’t save your big meal for dinner. BIG MISTAKE!

I recommend a breakfast that has eggs in it, maybe some black beans, and 1-2 pieces of fruit. Make me a happy camper and just try that out for 10 days. Get on the scale before you start and at day 10 as well. YOU’RE WELCOME.

2. Rinse yourself with cold water after each shower

Do this for 15 seconds. Yeah, it feels like torture. But it’s worth it if you want to lose weight. This is the quickest way to induce fat burning thermogenesis. Some things are not meant to be pleasant, but they’re effective. So you put up with them anyway. This is one of those things.

These 2 diet and weight loss tips are proven and RUTHLESSLY effective… do them.



By: Jennifer Jolan

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Many people spend a great deal of time and money dieting. Why do most of these plans fail? Here’s some dieting advise that will help you choose a diet plan that is both safe and effective.

Diets can leave us frustrated, wondering where we went wrong and feeling like we’ve failed yet another attempt to lose weight. Well it may not be your fault. Many of these diet plans set you up to fail because their structure was never meant to succeed. Let’s look at some of the myths that simply don’t work.

Low Fat Diets
We’ve all seen all of the “low-fat” food in the grocery store. These are full of calories and will actually cause you to gain weight. Low fat alone does not cause you to lose weight.

Low Carb Diet
You may have actually tried some of these diets and found that they don’t work. They are very strict and almost impossible to maintain. They will bring misery to your life. They are also not healthy for you. They put your body out of balance and can cause damage. Eating low carbs may give you initial weight loss but cause you to gain weight shortly after.

Hollywood Diets
“Cookie” diets, “syrup and water” diets, “secret potion” diets, let’s get real. Do you think that Hollywood stars really follow these diets. Let’s face it, these so-called diets are not realistic or healthy.

Pre-Package Diet Programs
Most of these foods are not going to be as good as the food you have right in your own home. Besides, you’re looking at monthly cost of up to $500. That’s hard to maintain for the long haul. The thought process is to use it long enough to get a desired weight off. Once you stop, what do you think happens?

Sugar Substitution Diets
These diets ask you to substitute your diet with fake sugar, which claims to be low-calorie but is actually very harmful for your body. These “so-called” sugars are made with chemical compounds and poisons like chlorine that trick your body into thinking it’s full. After your body figures out you’ve tricked it, your appetite usually sky rockets and causes you to eat whatever you can find to satisfy your hunger. Not a good idea.

Starvation Diet
Your body can’t go without eating. This is losing weight the wrong way. This is very harsh on your body and is not a good idea. In the long run you could end up gaining weight because your body will find ways to store fat.

If you’re going to start a diet plan you obviously want to make sure it’s not unhealthy. The best dieting advice is a program that will give you a well balanced meal plan that is easy to maintain. It should make sense and include all food groups. This is how your body was made to function. Anything different will cause imbalance and possible health risks. By giving you the things to look out for you can determine what’s best.



By: Michael Stephan

About the Author:

It can be difficult to diet so I’ve written the following tips to help you successfully lose weight and for it to stay off. I hope you find the following article informative and helpful.

I would strongly recommend drinking plenty of water or other calorie-free drinks. Water will not only keep you hydrated but will also keep your hunger at bay and flush toxins out of your body which will help weight loss and your skin.

Before you rush into eating consider whether you’re really hungry as you may be craving something rather than hungry or you may even be thirsty.

You do need to consider what you should take away from your diet but you also need to consider what you should add to your diet. You may need to eat more fruit and vegetables or more fibre.

You don’t need to stop eating your favourite foods but just eat in moderation and smaller portions.

When you sit down and relax (which is often in the evening) is when we normally pick and snack. Consider what you’re eating and whether you’re really hungry. If you still want something to eat have a healthy option.

If you fancy some fatty foods why not walk to the shops instead of driving or having something in the cupboards.

You’re better having several small meals throughout the day rather than one large one. This will keep you full and your metabolism going but you also don’t feel the need to snack.

Eat an item of protein in every meal to help muscle growth.



By: John H Cooper

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There is no time like the present to begin a diet. We all can put it off until tomorrow. However, change begins in the present.

There are a lot of articles and books written on the topic of dieting. Here we will give you some basic tips to give you a head start. We can call these the ABCs of dieting. If these tips are followed the roadway to success will be paved with more than good intentions.

The ABCs are easy to remember and yet these are topics we all know already. The secret is to DO these. The difference from success or failure is a two-letter word, DO.

The other important factor in these ABCs is REDO. If we fail, no, WHEN we fail we need to REDO. We will all fail from time to time. It is then that we need to remember to REDO. Start again. Move forward and let go of the past.

ABCs

Add Fiber – Roughage is very important. This is sometimes also called fiber. We don’t have to eat cups of bran cereal that taste like cardboard. We can eat vegetables. The best kind is fresh, the next best is frozen, and the least best is canned. However, if you cannot get the fresh, do the frozen. If the frozen does not work for you, get canned vegetables. The important thing to do is to eat vegetables. Many vegetables contain sulforaphane, which are known to be anti-cancer ingredients (Kendal-Reed. Alive.Com, 2006).

Fiber does not add nutrition but it does add health. Roughage aids in the proper working of the intestinal tract. This assures that the body does not hold on to the food for too long. The longer the body takes to process the food the more calories it absorbs. This is why elimination is so vitally important.

Rebecca Webber, (Prevention, August 2006) suggest 4 grams of fiber per meal and per snack. She cites a recent Tufts University study, which documented that the women who ate “13 grams of fiber or less per day were five times as likely to be overweight as those who ate more fiber” (Webber, 2006).

Be Active – Stay active as much as possible. We are so accustomed to the easy life, from the remote control to the riding lawn mower. We can make some simple changes to add a few more steps each day. Getting up to change the channel on the TV probably won’t work because most of us would not know where or how to change the channel without the remote control. However, there are other steps we can take. We can park at the bank and go inside instead of going through the drive through. We can take the stairs and not the elevator. We can take a walk after dinner instead of watching the extra TV show. Don’t look for the closest parking space but rather take the extra steps. Rebecca Webber cited a “University of South Carolina study of 109 people revealed that those who took 5,000 steps per day were heavier than those who typically took more than 9,000 steps” (Prevention, August 2006). Extra steps make a difference.

Limit your work. For many of us it is very easy to continue working because the work is always there. We must make a commitment to ourselves to put ourselves first. For those of us who are workaholics, this is a hard one to control. However, it is too easy to do less when we work so long that we have nothing left after work. That is why we do not take that evening walk. That is why we do not go to visit friends or go do that errand after work. When we work too long it is too easy to be sedentary all evening.

Control – Stay in control. This is an unusual tip. One not voiced by many. Get in a habit of saying NO. Say NO to the extra TV shows, and instead go to bed early. Getting plenty of sleep is important to weight loss. Say NO to sugars. When we have a choice of cake or fruit for desert, choose the fruit. Even if the fruit was packed in syrup it is better than the cake inundated with sugar and starches. Say NO to fat. When we have a choice of baked potatoes or French fries, choose the baked potato.

What is amazing about this control factor is that the more we say NO the easier it is. Therefore, we suggest you say NO to things that you do not care about but make a mental note that you said NO. This is practice for the NO that will come later that will be difficult. The more we say NO the more normal it will be for us to say NO in difficult situations. Remember this, compromise starts when a NO is replaced with “Oh Well, it’s just….”

Sean Hyson in Men’s Fitness Magazine (Dec/2006 – Jan/2007) relates the efforts of a mechanical engineer, Mike Ogorek, who got mad enough to do something. Mike went from 333 pounds in 2001 to 194 pounds in 2006. He got mad and used that for energy to fuel his determination. He began to say NO to his “normal two Quarter-Pounders with Cheese with super-sized fries and super-sized Mountain Dew” (Hyson, 2006/2007).

Another interesting tip is to keep meal journals. It can be very enlightening to keep a meal journal. Nibblers eat more than we know by snacking just a little here and there. It can make a big difference, especially if it is high sugar or high fat snacks. It has often been said that it’s the small things that makes the difference.

These ABCs of dieting are a good start for us to begin to take control of our lives and begin down that road to success.



By: Roberta Lashua

About the Author:

Water: Drinking more water not only hydrates your body but it also helps to fill you up faster, so therefore allowing you to eat less. I’ve heard from many dieters that this is there number one tip to prevent over eating.

Make your own lunch: This way you can be sure of the calorie count in your lunch.Not only that it also takes away the temptation of visiting the deli counter and being tempted by all those naughty things.

If at all possible leave the car at home and walk to work. Not only does this get your metabolism going, to burn the fat faster. It also helps the pocket too!

Always eat before shopping, never,ever shop on an empty stomach (saves the pennies too).

No time to exercise…? Get off the bus a stop or two earlier, and walk. Get out the lift a floor lower each week and walk instead, you’ll be amazed at the difference this simple change makes.

If you slip off the straight and narrow worry not, one treat wont hurt, simply carry on with your diet, don’t use this as an excuse to say “oh never mind” and start again next week. Keep up the good work.

Set little goals for yourself as an incentive, and when you achieve them reward yourself with a non-food reward be it that CD you’ve been after or whatever, it’ll help you to achieve your goals.

Get a diet buddy, be it a family member, work colleague, or even someone online. It helps to have someone to sound off with, when you’re having a bad day, or just to exchange diet tips and hints at what worked for you, what doesn’t etc.



By: Graham P Marshall

About the Author:

Obesity results from the interaction of many factors in genetic, metabolic, behavioral, environmental and lifestyle influences. The basic principle behind weight gain is defect/imbalance in energy homeostasis. i.e.; lack of proper dieting. As a result the excess energy is stored in the body and the fat cells increase in size and number.

In a study in the University of New South Wales, animals were offered cafeteria diets (chocolate bars, cheese curls, cookies etc).These animals became obese and began to refuse their natural food.Even more starling, they began to eat these food items even when they were not hungry. Junk food thus has been proved to have the ability to develop “fake”hunger leading to repeated eating and obesity

Over the years the average fast food consumption and portion sizes has increased.

Ready access to inexpensive snacks, drive through and quick delivery, the popularity of buffet dining, television advertising of unhealthy foods, school contracts with soft drinks and other junk food companies reflects the double edged sword of technological advancements as these can have disastrous effects on our body.

There is a clear decrease in traditional three meals a day pattern and a rise in more frequent, less formal eating occasions commonly described as snacking. While the eating frequency per se may not contribute to obesity patterns, the quality and quantity of these snacks have severe impact on individuals. Studies have shown that consuming increasingly large packets of chips or sandwiches during these “snacking” is associated with significant increase in appetite and the individual ends up consuming large quantities during the subsequent meal.

Contrary to popular assumption dieting does not refer to starving yourself off calories and cutting out any traces of carbohydrates and fats. In fact when you’re dieting you’re not expected to give up on any kind of, you only have to cut down on the size of the portions.

An obese person who is dieting is encouraged to have around 1500-1600 Kilo calories a day. This diet should have a major contribution from proteins, vitamins and minerals and less contribution from fats and carbohydrates.

Fats and carbohydrates should never be cut out from the meals as is common among most diets popular on the net. Deficiency of fat may lead to loss of lean muscle which in turn to many health disorders. Also cutting out carbohydrates drains you of energy which only prevents you from exercising and makes you hungrier.



By: Sneha T

About the Author:

Everyone is looking for diet tips for weight loss because everyone is looking to improve upon their physique. The idea that Americans have a high population for obesity is upsetting by many and so there are more diets on the market than ever before. While the country has a ton of fast food chains, there are ways to avoid them and get the weight off once and for all.

Many people try to find the fast easy weight loss methods that are available online. While some weight loss methods out there do get the weight off fast, there is no magic pill to make the weight come off and stay off. It does require some effort on the part of the dieter. When one is looking for healthy weight loss tips, there are five that can help anyone.

#1: Watch what you eat. The only way to lose weight is to consume less calories than what you need in a day. There are calculators all over the internet to help you determine what the magic number for calories are based upon your weight and weight loss goals. Counting calories is a sure way to help drop the weight.

#2. Don’t drink alcohol. One of the main reasons that you see so many commercials for beer with less calories is because alcohol is filled with calories. The average liquor has a hundred calories for a single shot. Combine this with soda or fruit juices and it can easily become over 300 calories for a single drink. This is often 10 to 20% percent of someone’s total caloric intake for the day.

#3. Avoid fried foods. No one wants to hear it, but fried foods are bad for you regardless of what kind of oil they are fried in. The oil slows down the metabolism and adds to a person’s sluggishness. While some kinds of oil are better than others, it’s all about portion sizes.

#4. Eat fruits and vegetables. When you are looking for healthy weight loss tips, spend some time in the produce aisle of your grocery store. Corn and potatoes are not considered vegetables – they are high in starch and don’t count.

#5. Portion control. On the back of every container of food, there is a portion size. Just because there is a bag of something that looks small, you may be surprised to learn that there are two or three portions in that one little bag. Follow the portions and watch the weight come off.

No matter what kind of diet you decide to follow, the fastest weight loss methods have something to do with the intake of food. Some diets decrease carbs while others decrease proteins. There is no starch and candy diet otherwise everyone would be on it. What goes into the mouth is crucial with any weight loss program.



By: Tanathip Sinrachtanan

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