Honest Waistline

I do realise that I am always treading on thin ice, when I start talking about people being over weight, and yet, like drinking in excess, or driving after drinking, or indeed, smoking, it seems to be allowed because we have all done it ! So it may be that we all can stop as well as start a habit, for it may well be thought of as a kind of compulsion that is created by the substance, some form of natural drug, it is true that fat cells around the waistline are not passive lumps of lard but are highly active, pumping out proteins and hormones. While in small doses these are necessary, in excess then can cause damage to insulin use, also raising blood pressure and increasing cholesterol in the bloodstream.
The number of people with Type 2 diabetes has increased significantly in recent years and now tops 1.8m. It is caused by insulin resistance, which can be triggered by excess weight around the abdomen. Insulin produced in the pancreas stops working properly in overweight and obese people and the fatter someone becomes, the more resistant to insulin they become.
"Waist measurements can predict the risks of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease more accurately than weight. "Men with waists of more than 40ins and women with waist measurements of more than 35ins are at an incredibly high risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.......Thicker waistlines may double to quadruple these risks, compared to those with slimmer waistlines. Even a lower waist of 37ins in men and 32ins in women may significantly raise the risk of either of these diseases, if not both."
Women with waists over 35ins and 40in-waists on men are classed as high risk. And it is these measurements rather than overall weight which experts believe are the best predictor of future health problems. Larger waists - a beer gut or apple shape - are traditionally assumed to develop on men, whereas women are thought to carry weight on the thighs - known as pear shaped. A tape measure could be a better guide to future health risks than bathroom scales, and certainly anyone can carry the tape measure with them...
Studies have shown that protein may be your best ally in obtaining a youthful waistline. A study of 100 women in Australia discovered that women who ate low calorie diets rich in protein from red meat and dairy lost more weight than following low calorie plans with little meat and more carbohydrates.

Diets and exercise

here is an idea of a comfortable diet and exercises that are esay to do...

1. Eat egg whites, wheat toast and yogurt for breakfast. One

piece of fruit (a pear, a small apple, a half a banana or a small

banana). Tall glass of cold water. Drinking cold water burns 70

calories a day. If you have to have coffee, okay but use 1%

milk instead of cream and artificial sweetener, if you must have

a sweet taste.

2. 10:30 AM Snack. You should eat an apple or pear, plus 3

walnut halves. The fruits help to add fiber and the walnuts

help to clear your arteries and improve heart health, also Brazil nuts are incredibly good for you, helping to slow down the effects of glaucoma.

3. Lunch. A Huge green salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, vinaigrette

dressing, plus skinless chicken, turkey or fish. Substitute a

turkey sandwich, lettuce tomatoes on wheat if you wish. I

recommend vinaigrette dressing made of balsamic vinegar and

a spoon of olive oil for one important reason. Studies have

shown that vinegar cuts your cravings for sweets. And olive oil

helps to slow your digestion, making you feel fuller quicker.

Drink a glass of cold water or sugar free lemonade.

4. 3:30 PM Snack. Apple or pear, plus 3 walnut halves or better still, Brazil nuts.

5. Dinner. Fish and a huge amount of steamed ( or sauteed in a

little olive oil spray) vegetables, made up of greens, broccoli.

Again, a salad also. Big glass of cold water.

For exercise. The simple exercises that you can do either in a

gym or at home work best.

1. Squats. Do 3 sets of 8 to start with. When that's

comfortable, do 3 sets of 12.

2. Push-ups. Aim for 15 full military style if you've never done

any. Build up to 25.

3. For cardio, walk at least 45 minutes to 1 hour each day. If

that's too comfortable, try speeding up.

4. Dance. No matter your age, dancing is one of the best cardio

workouts. If you're young, try hip-hop. I did hip-hop classes

for fun this past summer, and believe me, it's a strenuous

work-out. Try modern, jazz, or free-style. There's a reason

dancers have such amazing bodies!

A simple way to reduce blood pressure without risks, is with your normal diet of food,

Bananas and other foods high in potassium, act as anti - salt in your blood. In the body the potassium salt and not act as partners dance forever linked in a complicated Fred Astaire - Rogers Ginger Fox trot. When a partner is moving, the other partner shall be moving backwards;
What foods are rich in potassium?
Here's a list for reference:

Apples, Apricots, Artichokes, Asparagus
Bananas, Brazil Nuts, Brown Rice, Broccoli, Beans
Cantaloupe,
Figs, Fish
Honeydew,
Kiwi,
Legumes, Lima beans,
Milk,
Oranges, Orange Juice, Onions
Peaches, Potatoes,
Prunes, Papayas, Parsley, Pumpkin
Raisins, Roasted Peanuts
Spinach, Squash, Strawberries, Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Turkey
Vegetable Juices,
Wheat Bread, White Rice, Winter Squash,
Yogurt
Symptoms of deficiency of potassium in the diet include diarrhea

Healthier foods..fat burning... click for link

On a lighter note, a team, including scientists from the Unilever company, have identified a class of nerve fibres in the skin which specifically send pleasure messages.And people had to be stroked at a certain speed - 4-5cm per second - to activate the pleasure sensation. They say the study, published in Nature Neuroscience, could help understand how touch sustains human relationships. Neuropathy, where the peripheral nervous system is damaged, can be very painful and sometimes the messaging system goes wrong leading to people feeling, pain even when there is no cause. Researchers involved in this work were looking to understand the opposite sensation - pleasure.

They then tested how people responded to having their forearm skin stroked at a range of different speeds, identifing, "C-tactile" nerve fibres as those stimulated when people said a touch had been pleasant. If the stroke was faster or slower than the optimum speed, the touch was not pleasurable and the nerve fibres were not activated. Scientists also discovered that the C-tactile nerve fibres are only present on hairy skin, and are not found on the hand. The speed at which people found arm-stroking pleasurable was the same as that which a mother uses to comfort a baby, or couples use to show affection, "this could be Mother Nature's way of ensuring that mixed messages are not sent to the brain when it is in use as a functional tool". "Our primary impulse as humans is procreation, but there are some mechanisms in place that are associated with behaviour and reward which are there to ensure relationships continue."