3 Rules to Reboot Your Metabolism

3 Rules to Reboot Your Metabolism This 3-step plan is a surefire way to get your metabolism back in gear. By Dr. Mehmet Oz Stalled weight loss can be frustrating. There are a few reasons why you might have a hard time losing weight, and a big one is a metabolism that’s off-balance. Take this quiz to find out if you might be at risk for an off-kilter metabolism. If you are, Chris Powell, a member of Dr. Oz's expert team, has three foolproof rules that will reset your metabolism to make it optimal for weight loss. 1. Boost metabolism every three hours with a "Power 3" plate. One of the best ways to keep your metabolism working is to eat a small meal every three hours. The plate should have three small portions: one protein, one carbohydrate or fat, and unlimited vegetables. Small, frequent meals keep things moving; the simple act of eating stimulates your metabolism by triggering digestion. Every time your body digests food, it ramps up your total metabolic rate. 2. Turn up your metabolic thermostat. Your thyroid acts as a metabolic thermostat. It releases hormones that play a major role in controlling your body’s temperature and the rate that your body burns calories. When your thyroid is working at its max, your metabolism will be sky-high. If your thyroid’s function is impaired, the metabolic rate slows down and leads to weight gain. The key to keeping your thyroid working hard is in eating good carbs, like whole grains, root vegetables and beans. Believe it or not, studies have shown that cutting out carbs from your diet completely can reduce thyroid function by 50 percent. So, make sure to keep complex carbs in your diet. 3. Build your metabolic muscle. The number-one consumer of calories in your body is muscle. The more muscle mass you have, the more your body works toward burning calories—even when you’re asleep. It’s extremely important to maintain muscle during any weight-loss endeavor. A great way to build muscle is by doing cardio with light weights. This will keep your heart rate up while sculpting your body to be more lean and muscular. Read Dr. Oz's beginner's guide to building healthy muscles—and lengthening your life. Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health/3-Rules-to-Reboot-Your-Metabolism/2#ixzz1wV2Qk8Jf

Four Questions To Free Yourself From Suffering

Byron Katie's Four Questions By Caitlin Flanagan All the suffering that goes on inside our minds is not reality, says Byron Katie. It's just a story we torture ourselves with. She has a simple, completely replicable system for freeing ourselves of the thoughts that make us suffer. "All war begins on paper," she explains. You write down your stressful thoughts, and then ask yourself the following four questions: Question 1: Is it true? This question can change your life. Be still and ask yourself if the thought you wrote down is true. Question 2: Can you absolutely know it's true? This is another opportunity to open your mind and to go deeper into the unknown, to find the answers that live beneath what we think we know. Question 3: How do you react—what happens—when you believe that thought? With this question, you begin to notice internal cause and effect. You can see that when you believe the thought, there is a disturbance that can range from mild discomfort to fear or panic. What do you feel? How do you treat the person (or the situation) you've written about, how do you treat yourself, when you believe that thought? Make a list, and be specific. Question 4: Who would you be without the thought? Imagine yourself in the presence of that person (or in that situation), without believing the thought. How would your life be different if you didn't have the ability to even think the stressful thought? How would you feel? Which do you prefer—life with or without the thought? Which feels kinder, more peaceful? Turn the thought around: The "turnaround" gives you an opportunity to experience the opposite of what you believe. Once you have found one or more turnarounds to your original statement, you are invited to find at least three specific, genuine examples of how each turnaround is true in your life. Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Byron-Katies-Four-Questions#ixzz1wUzlIYbn

Can BPA Make You Fat?

Can BPA Make You Fat? —By Tom Philpott Wed May. 30, 2012 The food industry likes to portray obesity as a matter of personal responsibility: People who eat too much gain weight, and it's their own fault. That view willfully neglects the role that industry marketing, particularly to children, plays on shaping people's food habits. Meanwhile, evidence is mounting that exposure to certain industrial chemicals in food, often at very low levels, changes the way people metabolize calories and can lead to weight gain. While no one would say that these chemicals, known as obesogens, are the sole cause of rising rates of obesity in the United States, they may well be contributing significantly to it. Advertise on MotherJones.com One of the most common of these obesogens is bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, the ubiquitous chemical found in everything from the lining of cans to the paper that most receipts are printed on. Research suggest that it's in the urine of upwards of 90 percent of Americans—evidently at levels high enough to cause harm. According to University of Missouri biologist and well-known BPA researcher Frederick vom Saal, it also affects how the body deals with fat. "BPA reduces the number of fat cells but programs them to incorporate more fat, so there are fewer but very large fat cells," vom Saal recently told Environmental Health Perspectives. "BPA exposure is producing in animals the kind of outcomes that we see in humans born light at birth: an increase in abdominal fat and glucose intolerance." A study released last week by University of California-Irvine researchers further implicates BPA in the obesity problem—and raises even greater suspicion about a related compound called bisphenol A diglycidyl ether, a combination of BPA and something called epichlorohydrin, this World Health Organization report explains. It's through BADGE that BPA makes it into in food can linings. UC-Irvine biologist Bruce Blumberg, who coauthored the study, explained to me in an email that the BPA that ends up in our food through can linings gets there when BADGE breaks down into its components. Blumberg and his team found, though, that BADGE in its whole state is an even more potent obesogen than BPA—and its effects are independent of BPA. Both BADGE and BPA can trigger preadipocytes—which are known as "pre-fat cells" because they can either lie dormant, copy themselves, or turn into fat—to become fat cells. The UC-Irvine researchers tested the effects BADGE and BPA have on stem cells, our bodies' cellular building blocks that can differentiate into the whole variety of human cells. They found that while BADGE can turn stem cells into fat cells at tiny doses, BPA doesn't have that effect at all. The result surprised Blumberg and his team, because they went into the study assuming that BADGE wasn't an obesogen. How small are the doses at which BADGE does its dirty work? Blumberg told me that the stuff can induce stem cells to become fat cells at levels as low as 3 parts per billion. That's way, way below the level the FDA has declared the "no observed adverse effect level" for BADGE, which is 15 parts per million, Blumberg wrote in an email. While numerous studies have measured how much BPA leaches from cans and into our bodies, very little research has been done on our exposure to BADGE in its whole state. But BADGE does appear to leach into food. Blumberg says that one study found it in humans at a level of around 15 parts per billion—significantly more than the 3 parts per billion at which his team saw fat-inducing effects. Clearly, more research needs to be done to sort out just how BADGE turns stem cells to fat cells at tiny doses. Perhaps it's the other ingredient in BADGE, epichlorohydrin, that has the fat-transforming effect on stems cells, or perhaps it's the way BPA and epichlorohydrin interact. But the UC-Irvine study represents yet another bit of evidence that the FDA, which recently reaffirmed its approval of BPA in can linings, isn't taking the threat of industrial chemicals in food nearly seriously enough. And it also strongly suggests that at least some of our obesity problem stems not from personal choice but rather from decisions made behind closed doors by the food and chemical industries, which have found it profitable to put this stuff in our food containers. http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/05/bpa-fat-obese-badge-cans

Maya Angelou Talks About Women & Wellness

Greens For Breakfast: Maya Angelou Talks About Women and Wellness 05/16/2012 Poet, author and living legend Maya Angelou revealed her latest project this week, the Maya Angelou Center for Health and Wellness. Today, she sits down to tell us what she knows for sure about women--and what gets in the way of our taking care of ourselves. On worthiness: "Because the mighty and the strong don’t hold women in high regard, we feel that we’re not worthy of being held in high regard. So we miss one of the greatest steps a woman can take, which is the chance to be on her own side; to be her own health advocate. You really have to believe you’re worthy. That is the first step." On fear. "So many of women don’t trust authority. They’re afraid of the mammogram machine. They’re afraid of the Pap smear. But those of us who know must show! Really, it is imperative that we not stop talking. We must not become impatient. And we must not think that we can lecture women into thinking better of themselves and their health. What we do is we love them. A person knows when somebody really cares." On colds. "I think quite often the mind can heal the body. In fact, if I’m traveling and in a hotel, and I wake up with a little scratch on my throat, I get up and begin to shout, “Get out of my body! I don’t need you! Get out! Get out of my body! Now, now!” Later, I go outside and the maids will be in the lobby and they look around like, “Who tried to get into that woman’s body?” It’s funny, of course. But you have to give your body permission to heal itself. On greens for breakfast. "My secret is that I eat green every day—collard, mustard greens, beet tops and maybe spinach. I pick through them at my kitchen table with newspaper on table, and then I wash them three or four times so there’s no sand. Afterward, I sauté a little butter and a little olive oil and an onion, some salt and pepper. I put all of the greens into the pot, with some chicken stock (or vegetable stock, which is good too) and I steam that slow over heat. When they’re done, I can eat that anytime I want. Sometimes for a snack or breakfast. You know, it's only Americans who have been visited with the idea that people are supposed to eat cereal in the morning. On what we learn of ourselves from other women: "Every woman and every young girl has got to understand, 'I am a human being, and nothing human can be alien to me.' She's got read and realize about other people in the world—Chinese girls, South African girls, Irish girls—and understand she’s just like them. She has another background, yes, but she’s got to see how wide the range is. She’s got to be able to walk the long walk." Read More: Maya Angelou's poem for Oprah How to write a poem (now) Read more: http://www.oprah.com/blogs/Greens-For-Breakfast-Maya-Angelou-Talks-About-Womens-Health#ixzz1wIYfH3Dl

Second Chances from Oprah Magazine

http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/Rules-for-Everyday-Senseless-Joy-Leigh-Newman

Jillian Michaels: Control Emotional Eating

Daily Dose With Jillian Michaels Jillian Michaels: Put the Brakes on Emotional Eating On a recent episode of 'Daily Dose With Jillian Michaels,' Jillian counsels a listener on how to control emotional eating and when to ask for help. By Annie Hauser, Senior Editor Jillian Michaels: Control Emotional Eating A bad day at the office soothed by a pint of creamy ice cream. Nightly boredom in front of the TV solved by a bag of crunchy pretzels. Stressful family events managed with heaping plates of gooey pasta. Whatever the cause, millions of people struggle with emotional eating, which is defined as eating because of an emotion, not hunger, every day. Experts estimate that 75 percent of all overeating is fueled by emotion. On a recent episode of Daily Dose With Jillian Michaels, Jillian advises Antoinette, whose son's Leukemia diagnosis has led her to self-medicate with food. Twenty pounds later, she's asked for help on how to curb emotional eating. Throughout all the family stress, Antoinette reports that losing weight has been tough, and sticking with a diet has been nearly impossible Sound familiar? Try Jillian's top tips for putting a stop to emotional eating and getting back on track with your health. Write a list of alternatives. The No. 1 piece of advice Jillian offers to emotional eaters: Focus on feeling good with something or someone that's not food. When she's feeling down, Jillian says she turns to uplifting activities, such as riding her horse, walking her dog, or even just relaxing and watching a favorite TV show. "I have these behaviors that I turn to, that I find pleasurable, that are going to help distract me from feeling scared, upset, emotional, or anxious," she says. "Make a list of hobbies you love and people you can turn to. Reach out to those people and establish the ability to call them at any time so they can be a support system for you.” Ask for help. To avoid emotional eating, you ultimately have to keep yourself accountable. But that doesn't mean you have to go at it completely alone. Find a diet buddy to confide in, or reach out to loved ones, and ask them to cover for you when you need a little time to yourself for your favorite stress-busting healthy activity, such as exercising, reading a good book, or getting a quick mani-pedi. "Do what you need to do to survive, to take care of your son, to take care of your daughter, to take care of your husband," Jillian suggests. "And that means leaning on other people." Know your triggers. If you can't stay away from chips and salsa or your favorite cereal, don't keep it in the house. You're more likely to overindulge in your favorite comfort food when its easily available. If your family can't live without the trigger foods that send you spiraling, keep them in a cabinet that's separate from your day-to-day foods — out of sight, out of mind. Analyze your hunger. When you're about to reach for that second serving, put the brakes on and stop to think. Are you really hungry, or tempted to overeat because of boredom or stress? If the answer is emotion, the next step is to ask yourself what's really missing from your life. Figure out which emotion is driving your eating, and take steps to solve it. Take a hike. If you're bored eating, some sort of activity is usually the answer. Pry yourself away from the kitchen and go for a brisk walk instead. If you're feeling lonely, call that friend who you asked to help keep you accountable. If you regularly eat to reward yourself, try a larger goal to keep you on track long-term, such as a massage, a movie ticket, or a long weekend away. Recover one day at a time. Busting long-standing habits is difficult, but not impossible. Each day you're able to resist overeating out of emotion, mark an "X" on your calendar. You'll be less likely to break the streak if you have a visual reminder of how far you've come. If you do slip up, don't beat yourself up about it. Instead, take a step back, and create a plan that will see you through next time. Check out new episodes of Daily Dose With Jillian Michaels each day at noon ET.

10 Tips from Skinny Women

http://www.ivillage.com/stay-well-secrets-10-tips-skinny-women/4-b-356253?nlcid=td|05-02-2012| Let's see if this link works. I used to post links all the time. In fact, I used to highlight entire articles and they came out, pictures and links and all! ;-) <3