Those of you who are trying to realize your New Year resolution to lose weight are, in all likelihood, frustrated.  The fact is:  metabolism is turned down every fall; it is restored every spring.  Overwhelming this cycle is not very likely. 

Take heart!  Spring is just around the corner.

Children, all over the U.S., will soon be repeating a simple poem:
Spring has sprung, the grass has riz,
I wonder where the flowers is?

Plants will be budding, putting on leaves with blossoms springing toward the sun.  Animals will be awakening from their winter doldrums, or their hibernation, to welcome the return of the season of plenty.

It is the cycle of all living things on Earth; it is basic survival and, it is a testament to the adaptability of life on Earth.

Even though people live in modern homes, with central heat, abundant food and water, this natural cycle exerts the same, unavoidable impact on the human body.

There are a few steps you can take can assure you that your metabolism will come roaring back when it is time.

Are you 3 – 6’s, 2 – 9’s or 1 – 18?
It’s time for a spring-cleaning.  Your bowels should move at least once every day – preferably after each meal (3 –  six inch cigar-shaped.)  Even then, it is a good idea to clean up any residual wastes from the winter diet.  Supplements are especially effective in that regard so, choose an effective supplement to refresh your bowels.

Are you suffering a hangover from the holiday goodies and/or craving carbs, sugar and starches?
They, and most other winter foods, are notoriously short of trace minerals. Often referred to as “The Currency of Life”, trace minerals deficiencies have been known to contribute to a listless feeling, cravings and constant hunger.  Once again, the fastest way to address the issue is with a full-spectrum trace mineral supplement until fresh, mature vegetables are readily available.  By the way, if you are a vegetable-hater, you should consider trace mineral supplementation year-round.

Feed your Metabolism.
The 3 Day Diet, once attributed to the Cleveland Clinic, has been around for a long time.  None-the-less, it is still an effective way to feed your metabolism.  Follow the instructions, wait a week to repeat the diet. Two cycles is usually sufficient to jump start metabolism.

If you have packed on more than a few pounds, weight management supplements are in order.
However, caution in order, too.  Some weight loss supplements rely on stimulants to “spike” wake-time metabolism.  Advertisements for these types of supplements often emphasize energy as their most notable characteristic.  The tendency to consume more than enough sweets, bread and pasta, starchy vegetables, and caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, soda and energy drinks) may already be taxing metabolic functions.  Adding another source of stimulants may not be the best idea.

A better choice may be weight management supplements formulated to support metabolic function while managing appetite, cravings and alertness.  While you won’t get the “buzz”, you won’t be anxious and/or jittery either.

Feed your body.
While it seems counter-intuitive, you must eat to lose weight.  Starvation and low-calorie dieting send a signal to your body that food is in short supply so it goes into survival mode – protecting fat and reducing metabolism. 

What you are consuming is the issue.
Before you put something in your mouth, ask yourself one simple question:  “Is this going to feed my body something it needs?”  If the answer is no, don’t eat it.  You already know the answer when you consume junk, packaged, comfort and fast food, so don’t eat them. 

Eat, eat, eat.
Eat breakfast, eat vegetables for lunch, eat a healthy supper early.  You should eat a baseball sized apple or pear for mid-morning and afternoon snacks. (Add a sprinkle of cinnamon and/or a dash of lime juice for variety.)   Here are 10 healthy, easy to fix recipes.

Drink water to help flush away the byproducts of burning fat – at least 8 – 8 ounces glasses each day.

Lose it and keep it off!
Besides appearance, losing weight is a healthy choice.  Researchers have shown, time and time again, that maintaining a healthy weight will reduce your chances of enduring many of the health issues that are confronting others.

Would you care to know how healthy you are?  Take the test.

Editor’s Note:  Rather than the prevalent “miracle in a bottle” paradigm, we believe maintaining health is a life-style. We have developed a strategy that promotes and maintains health.  You can review our work at the Natural Health Consulting Center at NURPO.

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People believe that intestinal parasites are are limited to Third World countries and that they are uncommon in the U.S.

Nothing could be further from the truth ! Recent studies it has been estimate that 85% of the North American adult population has at least one form of intestinal parasite or organ parasite living in their bodies. Some authorities feel this figure may be as high as 95%.

How can we possibly get infected in the United States?

Here are just a few of the ways:

• increased international business and tourist travel,
• armed forces returning home,
• immigration,
• contaminated water supplies,
• swimming in contaminated lakes and streams,
• your pets or other peoples pets,
• food supplies, such as pork, processed meats, uncooked meats, chicken, lamb, and even fish may contain human intestinal parasites and organ parasites – to name a few.

The lack of treatment for intestinal and organ parasites is the #1 contributing factor in the prevalence of colon parasites, intestinal parasites and organ parasites in people -  and it is solely responsible for infesting other people with the same unwelcome guests.

Like it or not, everyone is affected by parasites.

Parasites are organisms that derive nutrition and shelter by living in or on another organism – living and dying in the host (your body), reproducing, along the way, to assure that there are future generations to live and die in their host – producing others to be passed on to another unsuspecting host.  Just about any part of your body is vulnerable to infestation: the lungs, liver, esophagus, brain, blood, muscles, joints, skin…and even your eyes!

Parasites may do any or all of six things:

1. Intestinal parasites and organ parasites cause physical damage to the body by perforating the intestines, circulatory system, lungs, liver, other organs and tissue essentially making Swiss cheese of them. Food allergies, for example, may be one of the indications of a parasitic condition of the intestine which allows food to leak into the lymph system, causing an immune response to the leaked material.
2. Weaken, damage or block certain organs just with their presence.
3. Lump together into a mass. Parasites may exist in the brain, heart, lungs, other organs, structures and tissue of your body.
4. Weaken the host by robbing the host of essential nutrients, taking a portion of the nutrients on which the host depends.
5. Poison the host with their wastes. In the best case, the host does double duty disposing of its waste and that of the parasites. Worse, when the host has difficulty disposing of the parasite’s wastes, a poisoning occurs called verminous intoxication.
6. Fool the host’s immune system into believing the parasite is part of its body.  The parasitic population is allowed grow unaffected by any of the body’s normal defense mechanisms.

Symptoms of intestinal parasites, colon parasites and organ parasites may include:

Constipation: due to worms actually blocking the intestine.
Diarrhea: certain parasites release a hormone like substances that can lead to a watery stool.
Gas and Bloating: Some human parasites that live in the small intestine causing inflammation that produces gas and bloating.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Human parasites can irritate, inflame and coat the lining of the intestines causing symptoms of this disease.
Joint and Muscle Aches and Pains: Parasites can migrate and become enclosed in a sac in joint fluids, worms can do this in muscles as well.
Anemia: Some intestinal worms attach themselves to the lining of the intestines;  feeding on the vital nutrients of the host.
Allergies: Parasites can penetrate the intestinal lining allowing large undigested food particles into the body which can create the immune system response that is often assumed to be an allergy.
Skin Conditions: Intestinal worms can cause hives, rashes, weeping eczema and a whole host of other skin conditions.
Nervousness: Human parasites create wastes and toxic substances that can be severe irritants to the central nervous system. Restlessness or anxiety are often the symptoms associated with these parasitic wastes.
Sleep Disturbances: Multiple awakenings at night between the hours of 2 and 3 AM are possibly caused by the liver attempts to flush toxic wastes, produced by parasitic infestations, out of the body.
Tooth Grinding and Clenching: This has been observed in patients with known cases of human parasitic infestations.
Chronic  Tiredness: fatigue, flu like complaints, apathy, impaired concentration, depression, and memory problems. The human parasites are simply stealing your food and nutrients and overwhelming your body with their wastes.
Immune System Dysfunctions: Human parasites depress the immune system by the continued stimulation of the immune system which over time exhausts your defense system.
Excess Weight, Acne and Others: These can be telltale signs of parasitic invasion including, excessive hunger, asthma, bad taste in the mouth and bad breath, epilepsy, migraines and even heart disease and other degenerative disease.

Everyone can be affected by intestinal parasites, colon parasites and even organ parasites; robbing you of essential nutrition, living, reproducing, dying, weakening and damaging your body, creating wastes that burden or even poison your body, repeating the cycle over and over with each new generation, in increasingly larger numbers.

Nothing New
Humans have been using natural means to treat parasites since the beginning of recorded history.

• They dealt with parasites in the spring, after a long winter of close contact with other humans,
• in the fall, after a summer of contamination from the environment, water, food and soil or
• anytime they felt their energy and vitality slipping away.

Classic herbal methods for managing intestinal parasites, colon parasites and organ parasites include: Wormwood, Clove and Black Walnut.  More modern Nutraceutical formulations have given rise to even more efficient natural means for dealing with parasites.

Why wait? The benefits of dealing with parasites, interrupting their life cycles and protecting yourself from further invasion are obvious.   Learn how you can deal with parasites.

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The processes involved in the conversion of food to nutrition are fully dependent on the interplay of enzymes (both from your food and digestive enzymes produced by the body), stomach acids and microbes.

Enzymes Are the Currency of Life.

Dr. Edward Howell, (Enzyme Nutrition, Avery Publishing, WaWe NJ., 1985) identifies three types of enzymes:

1. metabolic enzymes,
2. digestive enzymes and
3. food enzymes which exist in raw, unprocessed, uncooked food.

Dr. Howell writes: “Enzymes are protein molecules that catalyze chemical reactions. All living things depend on the swift completion of thousands of biochemical, enzyme reactions every hour.”  We are completely dependent on these metabolic enzymes for virtually every body function:

• energy,
• alertness,
• memory,
• thought and
• hundreds of other activities are totally dependent on enzymes.

“Organs, in the body, secrete digestive enzymes to break down the food we eat, but many of these enzymes are damaged or excreted during the process of digestion, absorption and elimination and are not recycled.”

We depend on food enzymes to replace these damaged and lost enzymes. Enzymes, while very powerful, are fragile. Cooking and processing foods destroys the raw food enzymes.

Dr. Howell writes “ … a diet composed of cooked and processed food, in which the natural enzymes are destroyed, leads to enzymes insufficiency and stresses the organs which secrete enzymes. A lifetime of eating “dead foods” is a contributing factor …” in the decline from radiant health.
Digestion is more complex than it may seem since more than 80 million Americans are paying the price for failures along the digestive tract.

Most people would rather not think or talk about matters of digestion:  the pain, gas, bloating, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea.   They choose to suffer the consequences of neglecting this aspect of their health – quietly.  Too bad – doing nothing only compounds the situation.

The short version is: if your diet consists of cooked, packaged, processed and preserved foods, Dr. Howell advocates supplementing your diet with enzymes.

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There’s always someone who is willing to tell you why you’re too heavy, isn’t there! Can’t you hear ‘em right now! You eat too much! Just stop eating so much, start exercising and the pounds will melt away.

Everyone knows someone who lost a lot of weight eating less and exercising more – don’t they. What can you do when that doesn’t work ?

Don’t stop eating ! It may be the worst thing you can do to yourself.

There are four reasons why otherwise healthy people are overweight:

• metabolism
• digestion
• prescription drugs
• dietary choices

Metabolism

Metabolism is the body’s engine.  During the day, catabolic metabolism provides the energy for all of the components of alert, waking hours activity. The function, use and overuse of the various components of body during waking hours stresses and damages tissue.

During sleep, anabolic metabolism provides the energy to replace the 300 billion cells that have worn out as well as any tissue that has been damaged and stressed during the day.

Calories are the measurement of the energy potential of food. Fats and carbohydrates have an energy potential of nine calories per gram; protein has four. Researchers estimate that 60% to 70% of all calories are used for metabolism.

The body’s metabolic furnace has a thermostat that regulates the use of the calories. It moves the “temperature” up and down depending on the need for energy and the availability of calories. Also, it establishes a set point for stored energy (fat) by considering the frequency and quality of the food we eat it controls the storage of fat – putting away energy (calories) in case of famine (periods of low calorie intake).

People with a low metabolic set point, besides being overweight, experience low energy levels and reduced alertness. Often, they are just as tired in the morning as they were the night before.

Missing meals or eating low quality food triggers two responses: reducing basic metabolism (both daytime and nighttime) and increasing fat storage.

Trying to lose weight by skipping meals and/or dieting is like creating a personal famine. It is effective because the calories are taken away faster than the body can reestablish a new set point. However, the body will ultimately establish a new lower metabolic set point that matches the lower available calories.

When you stop starving yourself, the body perceives that the “famine” has ended and begins to establish a new set-point. However, because you have started eating again, you are adding calories faster than the thermostat can adjust, you will gain weight. Worse yet, sometimes the body fails to increase the set point which results in significant fat storage from a modest increase of calories.

Nutraceuticals are helpful to establish or reestablish a higher day time metabolic set point. The benefits are controlling appetite, craving, increasing energy, alertness and, because these herbs increase day time metabolism, caloric demand increases and the user experiences weight change.

Night time metabolism is important too!  A nighttime Nutraceutical combines amino acids, the building blocks for new tissue, with herbs to establish a higher night time metabolic set point.

Lose Weight While You Sleep
Nighttime nutraceutical supplements address night time metabolism creating an increase caloric demand to support the repair and replacement of cells and tissue which leads to a more toned body,which,  in turn, burns more calories and the user experiences weight change.

Plus, there is a sculpting effect” that tones and reshapes the body – your cloths will fit better and as an added benefit is the user will arise refreshed and energized in the morning  Learn more about a Nighttime Weight Management Nutraceutical supplement.

Digestion

Digestion, often overlooked, may cause people to be overweight. Digestion is not magic – it is a process for turning food into substances that people need to live – sugars and fats for energy, proteins to sustain the body. The very substances that sustain and benefit the body that, when poorly digested, become toxins that can poison your body.

People with inefficient digestion, besides being overweight, describe themselves as pear shaped, with a distended abdomen.

They experience a bloated feeling after they eat, usually accompanied with gas. Poor digestion may contribute to periodic bouts of constipation and diarrhea. Food sensitivity and heartburn are other aspects of inefficient digestion.

Digestion is an intricate dance between substances called enzymes, stomach acids and intestinal microbes. One partner preparing food for the next with one goal … optimal health. It is an orderly process:

1. Digestion begins when you chew the food. Chewing shreds the food in smaller and smaller pieces then mixing it with saliva, which is actually an enzyme called amylase, begins a process which liquefies the mixture of food.
2. After a resting period to allow the food to fully liquify, the liquified food is treated with stomach acid.
3. The prepared liquid is neutralized and delivered to an army of friendly microbes to be converted into nutritional substances which are passed through the intestinal wall to support the body.

Essential ingredients for the liquification process are food enzymes which are contained in all of the raw, uncooked food. Processing and cooking neutralizes these essential enzymes which sets off a chain reaction in the digestive system.

1. Shredded food is partially liquified, more stomach acid is produced to compensate, the higher than normal acid mixture is partially neutralized.
2. Microbial action, that converts the food you eat to the nutrition to support your body and your health, is diminished because the microbes are especially sensitive to acidity (some strains of intestinal microbes may be completely destroyed).
3. The mass of undigesting food moves slowly along the intestinal tract and begins to spoil. Sugars and starches ferment, fats become rancid and proteins decay.
4. The person puffs up because fermentation fills the body with carbon dioxide. The abdomen distends when important organs swell because they are being bathed in the poisons spilling out of the rotting material in the intestines.

There are two distinct requirements to restore digestion:

1. introduce essential enzymes that are lost when food is processed or cooked
2. restore friendly microbial balance.

Nutraceutical enzyme supplements, when taken at mealtime, provide the food enzymes essential for the liquification of the food.  Learn more about an enzymes Nutraceutical supplement.

An exciting breakthrough in the industry is the ability grow and prepare friendly intestinal microbes than can be reintroduced into the body to help restore microbe populations lost because of agricultural residues, antibiotics and dietary choice.  Learn more about a probiotic Nutraceutical supplement.

Prescription Drugs

Prescription drugs may cause people to be overweight. Birth control, hormone replacement, blood pressure, heart, diabetes, and anti-depressant medications often contribute to weight gain. It is important to read all of the materials and follow all of the instructions that accompany the prescription. The pharmacist provides you with a document that you must read. It describes the drug and the negative side effects that other people have experienced when taking the drug. The paper instructs you to notify your doctor immediately if you experience one of the side effects. Your doctor has options that may be more appropriate for your needs. If you need a prescription drug, take it as instructed by you doctor.

There are drugs that are elective, notably birth control and hormone replacement therapies. Most of the prescribed drugs in these categories warn users that other people have experienced weight gain when using the drugs. Do not be surprised if you gain weight. Because these drugs are elective, you must decide if you want to be heavy, or not. Investigate other options.

A case in point is hormone replacement therapy. A long term study of a frequently prescribed drug sponsored by the Institute of Health (a part of the Federal Drug Administration) to verify the effectiveness of this drug was discontinued because of safety concerns in mid 2002. For years, menopausal women have been taking this pill prescribed by their Gynecologists. The warning about the side effects were there all along, few people paid attention. This impact of this study has women clamoring for alternatives.

Alternatives have existed for quite some time. Supplement formulators have developed herbal supplements that smooth normal hormone fluctuations for women of child bearing years and help ease hormone transition during and after menopause. Learn more about a Nutraceutical supplement formulated for the special needs of women. Dietary Choices

Dietary choices are huge factors to consider for controlling weight.

What you eat is as important, if not more important, than how much you eat. For example, researchers devised an experiment that caused laboratory subjects to become overweight eating a calorie-controlled diet. Each group maintained the same exercise level and ate the same number of calories. One group of subjects was fed a “super market” diet of refined and processed food; the second group received a low fat, high fiber diet. The results of the 60 week study were: 30 % fat for the high fiber, low fat group; 51% fat for the super market group’s weight.

Most people have a taste for refined carbohydrates – table sugar, milk and dairy products, white flour and starches like white rice and potatoes -  and, manufacturers know it!  If you cut your portions of these foods by 1/2 you will lose weight – and you will feel healthier, avoid energy crashes and much more.

Read the labels of packaged products at the supermarket diet. The first or second ingredient in many of the things we buy is sugar. White flour is almost as bad. While is may be disguised as enriched or fortified flour, it is a refined carbohydrate just the same. The trouble is refined carbohydrates require minimum action by the digestive tract to be converted into glucose (energy for the body). When these spikes in blood sugar occur without need for the energy, the body turns much of it into fat. The drop in glucose level triggers a hunger sensation. This sugar crash is why you eat so often.

Natural sugars, such as those in fruit, honey, molasses etc. and whole grains require more digestive action that slows the release of the glucose. The slower,time release aspects of complex carbohydrates provides a steady, time released source of energy for the body. Complex carbohydrates, eaten like they are grown, help keep you less fat.

There are other issues to consider. Water for instance. People need water – period. Not coffee, not soda, not tea – WATER! At least 8 – 8 ounce glass every day. People confuse thirsty with hungry all of the time. If people knew the symptoms of dehydration, one of which being bloating, they could avoid many of the complaints that nag them everyday.

Fat is another issue. Low fat this and that. What people need to know is animal fat is the enemy. Oils from vegetables, olive oil for instance, contain essential fatty acids that are just what they say – essential. Nuts oils have similar characteristics.

A common observation is that Americans are obese and, at the same time, they lack the essential nutrients to keep them healthy. More times than not, people mistake obesity with overeating when in fact, they aren’t eating enough . . . of the right food. Often time, when people provide the nutrition missing from their diet, is the best weight management program. willpower. Filling the gap between what you are eating and what you should be consuming, with a quality Nutraceutical supplement, helps the body lose weight and gain willpower.

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Estimates are that more than 80 million Americans are paying the price for bad digestion - heartburn, indigestion, IBS, diarrhea, constipation, food intolerance, frequent illness, gas, bloating and more.

Most people do not think or talk about bad digestion. They choose to deal with the consequences of neglecting this aspect of their health instead of choosing to manage digestion.

Managing digestion is easier than you might think. It requires 3 things:

1. A basic understanding of healthy digestion.
2. A few minor changes in your diet.
3. Supplements to restore digestive function (including digestive enzymes and a probiotic of friendly intestinal microbes) and then, maintain healthy digestion afterwards.

Healthy Digestion
Digestion is an intricate dance between enzymes, stomach acids and microbes. One partner preparing the food for the next with one goal – a strong, healthy body.

It is the process that keeps you alive, breaking down the food you eat, converting it into different nutrition components that are absorbed carrying the nutrition in the blood stream to nourish and sustain your body.

In truth, everyone benefits from a healthy digestive system. But, they pay a terrible price when it goes astray -   they learn how much pain these powerful, caustic substances can create.

The Process of Healthy Digestion
There are three parts of digestion: Enzymatic, Gastric and Microbial. The process is an elegant interplay of these functions which occur along a tube called the digestive tract.

Related Information • The Perfect Breakfast • Tanya’s Recipes Related Articles • Managing Constipation • Managing Human Parasites • More Articles

Advertisement How’s Your Gut? Belching, bloating, gas, food intolerance, IBS, headache, heartburn Restore Digestion >>

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