DemandSports Fitness Articles

The Good News Is…You Are Now,
And Have Always Been, "The Programmer!"

The wonderful, liberating truth is that no program within you can be created, implanted, sustained, or deleted without your personal consent—no matter how long ago (or how unconsciously) your consent may originally have been given. YOU are always the programmer. It is true that external influences (parents, teachers, peers) have played a powerful role in steering you toward or away from certain beliefs.

But are those outside influences all-powerful? Definitely not!

For example, if I told you to jump off a tall building, would you do it? I think not.

If your parents had told you to, would you have done it? I think not. What if your parents had told you to eat poison or broken glass? Would you have done it? No way. However, beliefs and suggestions that were not so "obviously" destructive could and did make it past your childhood radar. And they still live in you today!

So what's the solution? How do we fix the mess we're in?

Well, let me ask you a question: Have ever argued or disagreed with your parents? Your professors? You boss? Of course! Was that a good thing? Maybe. But was it a good capability to have? Absolutely! You were not put here to live your entire life operating on "OPP" (other people's programming).

Next question: Why did you argue? What was the real point? You argued because you believed that you had a right—even an obligation—to do what you considered to be in your best interest.

And you know what? You can still do that today—right now! You can still argue with and replace any belief or program that doesn't serve you and make you happier and/or healthier.

Yes, your old programs are now habits. But that's all they are. They are NOT "life sentences!

Never Forget: YOU Are Still The Programmer!

OK, now having said all that, I want you to forget it. All of it. Why? Because I have a "cheat" for you—a "Cliff Notes" kind of shortcut to success!

What if you didn't even have to change your old beliefs? What if you could leave every one of those old, self-destructive beliefs intact—and just add a few new ones?

Do you think that might take some of the stress and struggle out of winning at weight loss, fat loss, fitness, or whatever healthy goals you have? You'd better believe it would! In fact, it would end the inner struggle completely.

No struggle, no battle. No battle, no losers. If you can't lose...well, how can you lose?

This Is The Ultimate Secret Key To Success!

It begins by understanding—by admitting—that we are just as programmed as the computer on our desk. Do you have a problem understanding and/or admitting that?

Do you know anything at all about computer programs? Have you ever heard of a “subroutine?” A computer subroutine is a tiny little program that is "tacked on" to a larger program to perform some specific function when called upon to do so.

And that's the other key to success. A subroutine doesn't run all the time, only when needed. On a computer, it might have the job of totaling a row of figures or sending out a report as needed. But in your programming, the new subroutine will do something that's very useful to YOU.

Remember, you're going to create only one new subroutine. Its purpose will be to serve as a "detour," a new behavioral path, at exactly the time you need it—when you would otherwise be doing your compensatory eating, blowing your diet, bingeing, or doing whatever other habitual behavior you know is messing you up.

Basically, what you'll do is to create a healthy new behavior option AND make sure you actually use it when you need it.

While we don't have room to go into a huge amount of detail about the process, the first step is to become very conscious about is your current "bad behavior" program. In other words, what are you thinking and saying at the precise moment you start doing what you know doesn't work? What is your internal dialogue, your inner experience?

This is your point of power—and here's how to use it:

To stop losing and start winning, you will only need to do two things. First, you will design an alternative replacement behavior that you will "activate" whenever you see or feel yourself "slipping" into your habitual unhealthy actions.

Second, you will use your own awareness of your slipping to AUTOMATICALLY activate your new, healthy behavioral subroutine.

That's really all there is to it!

No Stress, No Struggle, Nothing Complicated About It!

Will you "get it right" on the first try. No, Grasshopper. But then, you didn't get your "bad" behavior solidified on the first try, either—did you?

You WILL succeed, but you need to not be in a hurry. What you DO need are practice, patience, and persistence—the "three Ps" of success.

I know from my years as a coach that you CAN do it. WILL you do it? That's totally up to you. But if I can help in any way, I sincerely hope you'll let me know.

And remember, thanks to GHF, you're entitled to a free 30-minute "sample" coaching session. People tell me find this "freebie" more valuable for weight loss than most things they've paid for!

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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

You are not free! If you are to succeed at weight loss—or at life—this is something you must understand!

Our lovely national anthem notwithstanding, you are not now—and never have been—free. You may believe you are free, but in reality, you are farther from free than you can probably imagine.

You may believe you have freedom of choice, but in reality you have virtually no choice at all—at least, not yet. The truth is that you are running on automatic! Your programming started at birth, and continues to operate to this very day. Just like the computer in your den, you are programmed to respond mechanically and automatically to the world around you, according to the beliefs that were programmed into you so long ago.

As a result, you are literally operating on "auto-pilot." Just like the cat that comes running every time she hears the electric can opener, or the dog who goes nuts when he hears the his owner's car door slam, you are programmed to do. . . whatever it is that you do.

You are, in effect, simply a unique collection of learned, habitual behaviors—some of which are helpful, and some of which may be extremely harmful, or even deadly. The worst part is that you don't have a clue what has been done to you. You live in an illusion so convincing that you can't even see it. (Think Matrix, but without the technology.)

We like to tell ourselves that “ignorance is bliss.” But I ask you—is your current programming creating a blissful life experience for you?

This is what you get for being born into “the devil's own back yard.” Or as Joni Mitchell put it in her song, Woodstock, you are “…caught in the devil’s bargain.” This is your earthly legacy. This is the world's gift to you. You don’t need to like it—but you absolutely need to know it!

Please understand: None of this is your fault. But it is your reality. And if anything is going to change, it's going to be your responsibility.

The good news is that you CAN be free! But there a few things you will need to do to get there. First, you will have to take a proactive role in the process. You will need to actively become the programmer. You will need to accept responsibility for the future direction of your own life.

* * *

OK, now that there is (hopefully) no doubt in your mind about what the problem is, Part Three of this article will reveal to you the solution. Your solution. Because the happy truth is that whatever was learned can be unlearned. Whatever was programmed can be reprogrammed. And best of all, whatever damage was done can be undone!

Now, nobody can do it for you. But you can definitely get help doing it. If you're truly willing to stop being the victim of your own past, and start playing an active role in creating your own future, then the sky really is the limit!

If you've had it up to here with the body (and the life!) your "old programming" has created for you so far, stay tuned! Next time we'll get in to some solid and specific techniques for getting your hands back on the steering wheel, reclaiming control of your life, and charting the course that will finally take you where you want to go!

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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

"Programmed" to fail? Wow, that's pretty strong language, isn't it?

No. Not at all. In fact, most of us don't have a clue how programmed we really are, how much we're "running on automatic," and how a huge percentage of our life today consists of "acting out" what we were programmed to do so many years ago.

Between the beliefs foisted upon us by other people (parents, relatives, teachers, ministers, siblings) literally from day one, and the daily / lifelong barrage of media info-noise. Our worldview, our cultural values, and even our sense of who we are—all are the products of forces that were virtually 100% beyond our control. Sad to say, most of us have never had a truly "original" thought in our lives.

So, even though we were created with a tremendous capacity for success, achievement, and living a truly awesome life, we also were—literally—programmed to fail.

If you're like most people, you are living what has been called a "second-hand" life—just plugging along, day to day—and from cradle to grave—believing, thinking, and doing things you have been externally programmed to think, believe, and do.

And all the while convinced it's "your" life you're living.

Why am I hammering on this point? Because, until we grasp how little control we've really had over own lives so far, we'll never understand (a) the damage that's been done to us without our knowledge or permission,(b) the importance of un-doing that damage, and (c) the tremendous power we have to do so.


FACT: You Have Powers You've Never Even Dreamed Of!


You just don't know it yet.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that this can be heavy stuff to think about, and maybe scary to look at. But the first step to activating your great powers is to understand why you haven't been able to so do in the past.

Who you are right now—who you have been all your life—is the product of outside forces that may not have had your best interest at heart, and may have caused (accidentally or deliberately) great damage to your budding self-image, self-esteem, and self-confidence when you were too young to fight it or even know about it.

As a result, most of us just don't have a clue who we really are, let alone who we could be. So our own magnificent potential may never be revealed—to ourselves or anyone else. Instead, we're trapped in a needlessly unhealthy body, living a needlessly unhappy life that we don't really love, and may not even like.

We never even understood the problem, let alone how to fix it. And all because of the thoughtless, careless, mindless actions of the people around us—who themselves may have been going cluelessly through life. And so it goes, from generation to generation. No wonder that the world is in the mess it’s in. No wonder our lives are in the mess they’re in!

Yet through it all, we suffer in silence, hoping we can make it through " just one more day." Is that really living? I don't think so.

But what can we do about it? A whole lot more than you may think!

In the second and third installments of "Born To Win...But Programmed To Fail," you'll learn the secret of improving your life to a level of health, energy, and happiness you may not even be able to imagine right now. So stay tuned!

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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

Mark Twain once wrote, "There are a thousand excuses for failure, but never a good reason.”

After being in the fitness industry for the last 17 years, I must have heard at least a thousand different excuses for not training consistently, for not eating properly, for “trying”, but not getting any results, or for not even starting at all. I'm telling you, I could fill up an “excuse encyclopedia” with all the lame excuses I've heard!

Do you know what an excuse really is?

An excuse is when people rationalize (“ration lies”) to themselves to uphold their current belief systems, to avoid taking risks, to avoid the fear of failure or making a fool of themselves, to justify failure to take action, to provide explanation for why something “cannot be done,” to let themselves off the hook to escape personal responsibility and accountability or to avoid the hard work and "growing pains" it takes to achieve personal change and success.

If you’re a chronic excuse maker, you will never reach a high level of success in your fitness endeavors or in life until you break this habit.

Fortunately, there is hope, and help for "excusitis," and it's called “THE EXCUSE BUSTER.” It’s a simple method that I’ve used and you can use too to squash those rationalizations once and for all.

All you have to do is ask yourself the excuse buster question:

“Has there ever been anyone, anywhere at any time who has experienced the same limitations, obstacles or challenges that I'm currently facing, but has gone on to successfully achieve their goals anyway in spite of them?"

By helping you find COUNTER-EXAMPLES or ROLE MODELS, the EXCUSE BUSTER question reveals the truth: What anyone else has done can be used as proof that you can do it yourself. It shows you that Whatever excuse you had for not achieving your goal does not hold water... you have been “rationing lies” to yourself!

What's most astounding is that A SINGLE COUNTER-EXAMPLE or just ONE GOOD ROLE MODEL is often all it takes to instantly, completely and permanently shatter an excuse or self limiting belief that may have been holding you back for years.

Let me give you a great example.

Many years ago when I had just started college, my friend and workout partner, Steve, had decided to take the plunge into competitive bodybuilding.

I had already been training for five years (I started when I was only 14), and I wanted to compete too. I talked about it all the time, but I was making all kinds of excuses for why I couldn’t do it. Such as:

I had a small business to focus on, I had a girlfriend and social life, I was in college taking five classes, I didn't have enough muscle mass yet (had to train a few more years to get bigger), I had recently injured my back, etc, etc. (believe me, I had a LOT of excuses!)

WELL… Steve went on to compete and at the age of 19, he won his first competition: the Teenage Natural Mr. America title. I didn't compete because I was too busy making excuses.

You should have seen him - he looked AWESOME! I had never met anyone who had developed a body like that at such a young age. And he did it 100% naturally (absolutely NO steroids!)

As you can probably guess, that was the single spark that lit a motivational bonfire under my butt!

But it wasn’t just the fact that Steve competed and won that motivated me. It was the fact that he had all of the same obstacles that I did, (and then some), yet he didn't let that stop him. He overcame, competed and won, and that's what “blasted" my own excuses out of the water.

Steve was in college too; except he had six courses, compared to my five.

On top of his full academic schedule, he also had a part time job as a foreman/manager at a textile factory.

He had also recently gotten married and although he didn’t have kids yet, but he did have three dogs to look after!

Steve even had a bad knee from a high school football injury which required surgery and forced him to drop off the varsity team. Even that didn’t stop him. He trained around it.

So what was MY excuse now?

All the lame excuses I had "conjured up" as reasons why I couldn't do it instantly evaporated because someone else had proved that it could be done under the same circumstances.

I said, "If he can do it, I can do it too." The undeniable proof was right there in front of me.

It’s no exaggeration to say my own competition training started the very next day. The following season, I was onstage and my competitive bodybuilding career had begun at the age of 20.

Since then, I have 28 competitions and numerous titles under my belt as a natural bodybuilder, but one thing I never did and will never be able to do is become a teenage bodybuilding champion like Steve simply because I was too busy making excuses to even try.

How did Steve do it? Very simply, he didn’t make excuses or look for reasons why it couldn't be done, he asked himself HOW CAN IT BE DONE and then he did what it took. He was out of the gym, finished with his training, showered, dressed and on the way to work or class before most people were even out of bed!

What excuses are you using to justify why you haven’t achieved your fitness goals yet? Too busy? No time? Family commitments? Can’t afford the gym membership or food? Single mom? Long hours at work? Too old? Poor genetics? Too much traveling? Injury? Going to school? Don't know how to exercise? Don't know what to eat?

Think about your excuses, and then ask the excuse buster question: "Has anybody else with the same challenges or obstacles as you gone on to achieve their goals in spite of them?" If you are being honest with yourself, you will immediately recognize that there are people all around you who not only have the same difficulties, but who have difficulties far greater than you have ever experienced who are succeeding in spite of them.

If you can't find an example or role model, I bet I can help you... I've seen people overcome odds that appeared almost insurmountable.

One great place to look for role models who prove it CAN BE DONE is in the ebook, Fit Over 40, (www.fitover40.com), which is filled with people who proved that age, (among other challenges such as injury or illness), is not an acceptable excuse or a barrier to success.

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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

Can you relate to this desperate dieter's dilemma?

"I'm pretty good about my diet and exercise program during the week. But when the weekend comes, all of that hard work goes out the window! I constantly find myself 'starting over' every Monday morning. How do I get out of this unproductive cycle?!"

One reason weekends are so difficult is that you fall out of your regular daily routines. There are always potlucks, dinners, dates and family gatherings, where trouble is lurking in the form of buffet lines or rich desserts. Weekend menus can also be more difficult to plan - and without a plan, you're more likely to stray from the healthy habits you have been working so hard to develop.

The "Weekend Survival Guide" is designed to help your diet survive those dreaded weekends. Keep it with you - in your purse, in the car - wherever you go. The checklist and helpful tips can keep you focused and on track. Meanwhile, the inspirational quotes can give you a boost of well-timed motivation. If nothing else, remember this: when you start feeling the temptation to slip, ask yourself how you will feel about your decisions once Monday morning rolls around.

TIPS FOR TURNING AWAY TEMPTATION

a. Plan family activities like bike rides or outdoor games. This helps you spend time with your family and burn calories all at once!

b. Carry a water bottle with you to your weekend activities. This will help you get your water for the day and resist the temptation to reach for a soda or other caffeinated beverage.

c. Set some "weekend specific" goals for yourself based on the realities of what you'll be doing. They may look very different than your weekday goals, and that's okay.

d. If you are going to be out all day, pack some healthy snacks in case you get hungry. There is nothing worse than being hungry at the mall, and the only food options are ice cream or pizza.

e. Set Monday as your weigh-in day. You are more likely to resist temptation if you have to face the scale first thing Monday morning.

f. Plan ahead!! If you are going out to eat, find the restaurant's menu (and any available nutritional information) online. You'll have plenty of time to make a healthy choice before you get there.

g. Don't save all of your splurging for the weekends. Allowing yourself a few treats throughout the week will help you avoid the mindset that the weekend is an excuse to go bonkers. And by spacing your treats evenly, you're less likely to get sudden, irresistible cravings.


With a little extra effort and planning, you can turn weekends into an enjoyable experience and an opportunity to keep your program moving in the right direction!


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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

Boy, that's a lot to promise, isn't it?

Yes, it sure is. But my clients wouldn't call it an exaggeration. When you stop spinning your wheels and wasting your time on "Diet Industry" weight loss approaches, and actually start doing what works, your entire life changes.

Sure, you lose weight. And the stress and struggle that had always been such an unhappy part of your weight loss efforts just disappears from your life.

But the real benefits show up in the way you feel every day--about your self, about your body, about your life. You will also probably see dramatic difference in the way others see you, treat you, and relate to you.

You see, the big difference between Diet Industry weight loss approaches and what my clients learn to do is that you'll make changes where it counts--in the beliefs, attitudes, and motivations that are the real reasons why your do everything you do in life.

When You Make Positive Changes Where It Counts,
There's Simply No Way To Stay Stuck Where You Were

If you have read either of my free e books, you know that I am radically opposed to conventional Diet Industry weight loss methods. The simple fact that they fail 96% of the time, and that people who use them gain back 95% of what they lose, are reasons enough for us to dump them.

But even though none of the Diet Industry weight loss methods are effective, they've been the only game in town until now. Not any more! Now we have a much better alternative--the truth.
And the truth is that the Number One reason you're overweight is bad information.

That's why we're going to leave Diet Industry thinking behind forever and begin to operate on something totally different: facts. Before we get into detail about what does work, it's vitally important understand what doesn't work, and why it doesn't work. Otherwise, the temptation is always there to fall back in to the old ways of thinking, and waste still more years of our lives doing what can't possibly get us where we want to go.

As we begin to un-brainwash ourselves, keep in mind that what you're about to learn may seem like "alien" thinking to anyone who's been exposed to decades of misinformation. Also be aware that your current thinking--however poorly it may have served you in the past--isn't going to give up without a fight. You may find yourself resisting the very truth that could set you free.

So please try to keep your mind as open as you can as we explore...

- The 4 Major Elements Of Weight Loss Success -
Success Element #1: Sufficient Motivation & Desire

The very first ingredient in your success, and perhaps the most important, is having enough motivation and desire to succeed. Ideally, this motivation and desire come about as a result of an eyes-wide-open assessment of both the costs of staying overweight and the benefits of losing weight.

In other words, you are fully aware of how dramatically your life will improve, and in how many different areas, when you get to your healthiest weight. You are also crystal clear about the many serious costs of being overweight, and you are completely out of denial about the very real health risks of obesity. In other words, you "get it," and you are now ready to do something about it.

While others can help you see the light and can build a fire under you from time to time, you know in your heart that it is very much in your own best interest--and in the interest of those who you love and who love you--to make your life a healthier, happier place.

Ultimately, your own motivation, based on your own realization, is what will power you to success. If you don't have enough motivation, you can get it. But be aware that your real motivation comes from your own deeply-held beliefs and attitudes and the conclusions they lead you to. If you don't have self-supportive beliefs and attitudes, then getting them must be your first step. Using professional help can make a tremendous difference here.


Success Element #2: Accurate Information

Again, the single biggest reason most people fail at weight loss is a lack of accurate information. They simply don't understand what doesn't work and why, or know what does work and why. On top of that, many of us have spent so much time and energy doing what can never work that we're almost too and frustrated, fried, and burned out to start doing what does work.

This is an attitude we simply can't afford--especially since doing what works actually gives us energy, instead of robbing it from us like Diet Industry methods do. Let's look a bit closer at those Diet Industry "solutions" and why they don't work.

Why Diet Industry Methods Fail 96% Of The Time

The fundamental problem with weight loss methods like drugs, diets, metabolizer pills, calorie counting, relying on will power, exercise machines, and self-starvation is that they are only aimed at altering what appears to be the problem--our extra pounds.

As the research has clearly revealed, our unwanted pounds are only physical manifestations-symptoms--of problems that exist on non-physical levels. In other words, the problem you can see (your unwanted pounds) is merely a symptom of a problem you can't see--those beliefs and attitudes we just talked about.

This concept is extremely important to understand. It truly is the central key to life-long weight control success. So why do we have so much trouble grasping it?

The "Logical" Mistake That Keeps Us Overweight

When someone decides it's time to lose weight, the first place they typically turn is to food--to dieting. And why not? It seems like the obvious thing to do. If we weigh too much, it must be because we eat too much. Which means that food must be the problem. So we need to go on a diet. It's the only logical solution, right?

No! Dieting is exactly the wrong place to start. If you're serious about success...

...dieting is the last "solution"
you should be considering, not the first!

But if dieting is so useless, why is everybody so focused on it? Simply because it's our "knee-jerk" response to being overweight, resulting from the avalanche of weight loss misinformation that has us snowed under all our lives.

You see, there's more to the weight loss puzzle then meets the eye. As we noted, the real causes of our excess weight are non-physical and non-visible. So what appears to be the problem really isn't. And what really is the problem isn't apparent. The result of this double-blindness is that we end up lost and clueless about what to do.

This same blindness is the reason Diet Industry approaches don't look beyond physical factors. As a result, they only attack symptoms, leaving the real, root causes of your problem unaltered.

So how could they help but fail?

I'm not saying that food, your body, exercise, and other physical factors are unimportant. But the real causes of your unwanted pounds have virtually nothing to do with anything physical. And when you focus on those physical factors before you correct the underlying reason you're overweight, you're simply heading down the wrong trail.

Trying to get rid of excess weight by dieting, drugs, self-starvation, calorie counting, fasting, will power, etc. is like trying to get rid of dandelions with a lawn mower. The best you can do is get rid of the symptom for a while.

But until you eliminate the problem at the root, you know it will be back--and bigger than before! Only after the underlying causes of excess weight are dealt with can physical factors like diet and exercise make any useful or lasting changes.

Success Element #3: A Success Plan That Is
Custom Tailored To Who You Are

One of the least obvious reason why Diet Industry approaches fail is their one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter mentality. Because their approach is entirely physical, they neither understand that the real, root causes of obesity are non-physical, nor do they offer any way to modify them.

They see all humans as more or less identical biological units, who will respond more or less the same to physical weight loss methods. This attitude is disastrously wrong for two major reasons.

First, we are not nearly so biologically similar as Western medicine would like us to believe. Eastern medicine long ago discovered the need to tailor treatment to individual body types. But more importantly, the Diet Industry (in fact, our entire healthcare industry) appears to be completely clueless that the root causes of obesity are non-physical, and revolve around your unique individual situation and personality, and the attitudes and beliefs that make you the unique and special person you are..

The sad consequence of their unawareness is the simple reality of the Diet Industry's 96% failure rate. So a major key to your success will be to take actions based, not some generic plan, but on a fully-customized program designed especially for your unique self and situation. Fortunately, this is now easy to do, using special assessments developed just for this purpose.

Success Element #4:
A Proven "Make-It-Really-Happen" Mechanism

This crucial fourth Success Element has proven to be the downfall of even the most dedicated dieters and anyone else who's serious about weight loss success. People find that they simply can't provide themselves with all the steam they need to get to the finish line.

What you MUST have is some mechanism that makes sure you stay with your plan until it creates weight loss success for you automatically. And make no mistake--once you correct the underlying beliefs and attitudes that are now sabotaging your weight loss success, the process of getting to your healthiest weight and staying there becomes just as effortless and automatic as staying overweight may be right now.

And yet, for some reason, many of us are hesitant to seek outside support. It's interesting to note that professional sports figures and Olympic athletes see no shame in seeking professional help, yet the average person somehow feels "incompetent" or "inadequate" if they do the same. We seem to think it's "un-American" to ask for help.

I respectfully submit that this is crazy. If we don't take advantage of the tools that are (finally!) available, it's as if we didn't even have them. It's as if none of these new weight loss discoveries had ever been made, and we were still stuck back in the "Dark Ages" of weight loss, where Diet Industry methods were all we had, and a dismal 96% failure rate was all we could hope for.

Please let it into your awareness that you do NOT have to put up with the endless struggle and frustration of useless and outdated weight loss methods. You CAN win at weight loss. In just a few months, you can see changes you scarcely imagined were possible.

All you need to do is to say goodbye to what has never worked and can never work, and open yourself to the success technology that's now available.

A Word Of Caution...

By the time you've finished reading either of my free e books, you'll know things about successful weight control that most health professionals don't know. So don't be surprised if your healthcare practitioners don't have a clue what you're doing. You'll be covering ground that few of them are familiar with, or even aware of. Be prepared to have your current ways of thinking challenged. And be ready to feel your own internal resistance to new information, because...

"When you're used to doing what's wrong,
doing what's right will feel wrong."

But don't let the newness of the information keep you from reaping the benefits you desire and deserve. Join the proud ranks of Christopher Columbus, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Edison. Leave the unbelievers behind and boldly go where most people will never go--into the "New World" of weight loss solutions that actually work!


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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

Ever wonder why, in spite of your best efforts, the ice cream, pizza, and potato chips still seem to have you in their death grip?

Instead of eating the healthy salad and heading to the gym, you end up eating the fries and being the couch potato. You try, you work hard, you struggle, you even curse. But you still end up doing the same old things you swore you wouldn't do.

And as you tear out what's left of your hair, you find yourself asking for the umpteenth time…

Why Is It So !@#$%! Hard To Make Healthy Behavior Changes?

Could something as simple as the way we spell a word hold a hidden clue to why we have so much trouble making healthy behavior changes?

I had a fascinating new insight today when I reflected on the fact that one of my overseas clients spells a few words differently than I do. We had jokingly razzed each other several times in past about whose spelling was "right."

But I got to thinking (as I always seem to do) about the deeper implications, and I realized how persistently we work to maintain and even defend our childhood programming (regardless of whether it is helpful or harmful) with a virtual death grip -- simply because we believe it is "right."

Which made me ask myself: If we are so doggedly determined to hold on to our learned beliefs about the "right' way to spell simple words like color / colour and tires / tyres, just imagine how much more aggressively we will defend (and hang on to) our personal programming that deals with deeper / larger / more important issues.

It really doesn't matter whether we picked up a particular belief in early childhood or yesterday at lunch. Once it's "in there," it becomes "the truth."

Two Major Success Barriers You Really Need To Be Aware Of

What does this mean to us in our journey to become self-aware and to replace our own self-sabotaging program with something healthier? It means that we are up against two very obvious barriers to success (in addition to all the not-so-obvious ones).

First, we're firmly convince that our beliefs are *right* -- regardless of whether they actually are or not, and regardless of how helpful or destructive they may turn out to be.

Second, because they are *our* beliefs, we will fight to the death (our death, not theirs -- and sometimes literally) to defend and protect these beliefs, no matter how helpful or destructive they may actually turn out to be.

Bottom Line: Any learned beliefs, no matter how true or false, no matter how helpful or harmful, once adopted will be staunchly defended. Why? Simply because our fragile human egos can't bear to think that we made a mistake in adopting a belief -- any belief

As Always, The First Step Is Increased Self-Awareness

As such, we are programmed to resist replacing any existing belief with any new belief, no matter how dramatically that change could improve our lives. The only way around this barrier is to be willing to take a very conscious and objective look at any evidence that a belief is not serving us in a healthy way.

What would this "evidence" look like? It could be the stress we feel in the pit of our stomach, or the way our stomach hangs over our belt. It could be found in our feelings of persistent depression or consistent anger.

The most common evidence of unhealthy beliefs is poor self-care, which can show up in countless ways (most of them being visible in the mirror). But whatever the consequences our unhealthy beliefs, if we're ever going to correct them, we'll have to first become aware that we have them, and then understand how much damage they are doing.

The good news is that, once you're willing to do those two things, you open the door to an experience of life that's so much healthier and more enjoyable that, right now, you probably can't even imagine how much better it will be!


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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

Have you gotten "derailed" on your way to success in the past, and didn't know why? That's a demoralizing and confusing experience, and it can totally sabotage your progress and stop you in your tracks if you don't know how to get the success process jump-started again.

Based on decades of experience with human behavior change, I have developed a powerful and proven 10-step system that will help you clearly identify where you've been getting derailed so you can get back on track and finally reach your destination!

10 Proven Steps To Lifelong Fitness Success

All you need to do is build your own personal program around these 10 steps. Not only will you then have all your bases covered, but you'll also be able to clearly identify what's been keeping you from enjoying the success you so richly deserve.

Whether it's health, fitness, or happiness you want the most, the keys to all three will be found among these 10 steps. So if you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and get some traction toward your goals, then let's get started!

First I'll list the steps with a brief explanation of each. Then in the next section we'll get started creating your custom-tailored success plan!

Step 1 - Identify Your Specific Goals - It's no coincidence that first place most people fail is right here at the first step. If you don't know where you want to go, then your odds of getting there are pretty slim. So the success process begins by clearly identifying your destination.

Step 2 - Create Your Clear Vision - A major problem for most people is the failure to create some kind of the vision of how their success should look and feel. Many people claim that they "can't visualize," but this simply isn't true. Any of us can envision the appearance of our house, our car, or our loved ones. And that's all that visualization really is. The only difference is that, with visualization, you are picturing what you haven't yet seen with your physical eyes.

Step 3 - Develop Your Compelling Motivations - Motivations are the rocket fuel that will blast you to success. Many of my clients come to me with a fairly clear picture of where they want to be, but without clear reasons why they want to be there ("pull" motivations), or without clear reasons why it's unacceptable to stay where they are ("push" motivations). Both "push" and "pull" motivations are necessary for success.

Step 4 - Affirm Your Desired Results - This is a step that very few people understand the need for, and even fewer know how to do. We've all heard affirmations like "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better." That is the ultimate in lame, impotent, useless affirmations! Yet it's tragically typical of the ones most people use. You can do much better! And you'll need to if you expect to get any real results.

Step 5 - Define Your Action Plan - A clear destination is of little value without a plan for getting there. And the more specific and detailed your plan is, the better your chances of getting there. But what most people don't understand is that they need both a "Plan A" and a "Plan B." You'll soon see why.

Step 6 - Act Appropriately And Consistently - There's no point having a plan if you don't take action on your plan, and do so consistently. SO many people fail at this point. They start off with a bang, and end up with a whimper. (Sound all too familiar?)

Step 7 - Evaluate Your Results Objectively - OK, you followed your plan, and you met with less than stunning success. But that's not a problem! In fact, that's what a wise person will expect. Only the foolish expect to get everything right on the first try. The key is to figure out what went wrong so you can fix it. It's called "learning."

Step 8 - Identify Your Problems Clearly - This is no place for vague answers. You need to identify -- in very specific terms -- what part of your plan is working and what part is not. If you don't clearly identify what's wrong, how in the world will you know what to fix?

Step 9 - Modify Your Strategy Accordingly - Once you figure out what's broke, then you need to fix it. And you may not get this right on the first try, either. So you need to have a solid commitment to success, and the resilience to keep experimenting and learn through trial and error without giving up.

Step 10 - Repeat Steps 6-9 As Necessary - When you figure out what needs changing, simply change it. Redesign your action plan as necessary, and see how the new plan goes. And if you find something else that's not working, fix it and try again. The only true failure is quitting.


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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

I'm not a medical doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But my education and years of experience have taught me plenty about diet drugs. I also keep current with journals, textbooks, and magazines, and I can tell you that I have yet to see a single article or study that has anything positive to say about the overall effects of diet drugs.

The potentially dangerous side-effects of diet drugs and pills has, fortunately, gotten a great deal of publicity. In the opinion of many healthcare professionals, both prescription and herbal products can be extremely risky.

Yes, some drugs produce losses in body weight. But this loss consists largely of water. Many diet pills--be they prescription or "natural"--have dangerous side effects as well. Let's remember that, just because a substance is "natural," doesn't mean it's healthy. Many plant and animal substances are toxic to humans, and some are lethal. (Poison-tipped darts are 100% "natural.".)

Any diet pill can have unhealthy side effects. If you follow your doctor's prescription perfectly, your health may not be at risk. But many people don't follow doctors' orders very well. And even doctors may not get all the "downside" information from the drug companies.

Diet pills will also cost you $40-$60 a month until you run out of money, or your doctor says you've had enough. And remember, the weight-reducing effects of diet pills disappears the day you stop taking them.

In fact, you typically gain back more weight than you lost. That's because many diet pills only suppress hunger, which is almost never the real reason we overeat (more about that later). So even when physical hunger is satisfied, all of the other reasons for excess eating (especially the psychological and emotional ones) are still there--waiting to bust your diet.

All diet pills can really offer you is a quick, expensive, possibly dangerous, and ultimately very frustrating way to lose a few pounds...temporarily. Wouldn't it be much smarter to use an approach that leads to safe, effective and permanent weight control, without any negative health consequences? Of course it would. And that's exactly what we're going to do.

Since it's clear that we're not going to get any meaningful answers from the diet, fitness, and healthcare industries, it becomes our own responsibility to get a hold of the truth. And the first, most powerful, most important truth you must understand is this:

You Didn't Fail At Your Diet…The Diet Industry Failed You!

Please, please let that statement sink in. If you have ever felt even a single moment of guilt or blame because you couldn't "stick to your diet," you really need to hear what I'm telling you. It wasn't your fault! You can't possibly lose weight by doing what doesn't work.

Remember, we now spend more than $5 billion a year on diets and related weight loss products--only to rewarded with a pathetic 4% success rate! But "they" are supposed to be the experts, the ones with the answers, right? So how come they keep telling us to do the same old things that have been proven not to work? (Well, it might have something to do with that $5 billion.)

Of course, it's not just the Diet Industry that promotes weight loss misinformation. They're just the easiest group to identify. The Fitness Industry is just as much a part of the problem, wild-eyed claims and all. Yet nine out of ten of the machines we buy are seldom used after the first few weeks. Most of them soon become dust catchers whose ultimate destiny is a yard sale.

The Diet and Fitness industries are locked in a constant battle for the hypiest headlines and most outrageous claims Yet even though both have horrible track records, they still get us to spend billions of dollars on "solutions" that don't work.

In fact, just in America, we're now spending $45-50 BILLION a year on weight loss. And what do we have to show for it? Our own government statistics reveal that:

• An incredible 96% of all weight loss end in failure.
• We gain back a heartbreaking 95% of the pounds we do manage to lose.
• Obesity has now replaced heart disease as America's #1 health concern!

Clearly, it's time for a different approach. For more detail on the keys to successful weight loss, please download either of the free e books or read additional free articles.

If you'd like to stop doing what can never work and start doing what's been proven to work, just contact me at www.coachfranksmoot.com or call me at 540-567-2050. Ask how you can set up your free 30-minute coaching session, and start getting the results you desire and deserve!

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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

Some experts consider carbohydrate craving and addiction as something more of the body than of the mind, meaning biological factors are generally considered to be the main trigger for carb cravings. These cravings are described as a compelling craving, or desire for carbohydrate-rich foods; an escalating, recurring need or drive for starches, snack foods, junk food, or sweets.

This is where the cycle of carbohydrates and cravings start. High-sugar, refined starch, convenience and comfort foods feed the addiction like a drug. This results in high blood sugar and insulin levels which results in more cravings. The situation also results in higher levels of serotonin - a brain chemical that acts like Prozac. People eat sweets to get the “sugar high.”

Another contributing factor to overeating and sweet craving is stress. When we are tense, the adrenal gland produces more of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol stimulates production of a brain chemical called “neuropeptide Y.”

This is kind of a carbohydrate craving switch. Aside from this, neuropeptide Y also makes the body hang on to the new body fat we produce. In other words, tension not only triggers carbohydrate cravings, it also makes it more difficult to lose any additional weight. Cortisol also stimulates insulin, which leads to blood sugar dips and fat storage.

It's a vicious cycle that feeds on itself, over and over.

Food is not just a biological need; there is also an emotional element to it. Something in our emotional state, particularly a negative one evokes an urge for “comfort” food. By dealing with the issue behind the cravings, it produces emotional relief that can reduce or even eliminate the urge to overeat.

All in all, most experts agree that by eating enough wholesome foods at meals and by having a healthy afternoon snack, people can minimize their cravings for sweets.

Here are recommendations to curb carb cravings.

1. Eat less but more often. Eat small meals or snacks containing some PROTEIN every few hours to keep blood-sugar levels steady.

Skipping meals causes blood sugar levels to drop, which leaves you yearning for processed carbohydrates and sweets for energy.

2. Be selective about the carbohydrates you eat. Avoid nutrient-stripped foods made of white flour, white rice, refined sugar and highly concentrated sweeteners. Look for foods rich in fiber such as fresh vegetables and fruits, which level off blood sugar.

3. Don't skimp on protein to ?make room' for large amounts of carbohydrates. Protein gives the body extended energy, helps balance blood sugar and keeps cravings at bay.

4. Limit your intake of alcohol, fruit juice and caffeinated drinks. These cause abrupt blood-sugar highs followed by troublesome blood-sugar lows, leaving you starved for energy.

5. Eat small portions of seasonal goodies AFTER protein-containing meals or snacks, if at all. If you eat sweets on an empty stomach, you'll experience blood-sugar lows that trigger the desire for more sweets.

6. Avoid becoming famished during shopping trips and while traveling. Carry protein-rich snacks such as nuts, hard-boiled eggs, nutrient-balanced energy bars or "vegetable greens" like those listed. These high-power foods are great when you feel your energy drop.

7. Get enough sleep. When the body and mind are well-rested, cravings for carbohydrates often vanish.


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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much more!

Most people's primary motivation for weight management is to improve their appearance. Equally important, however, are the many other benefits of proper nutrition and regular exercise.

Weight management through reduction of excess body fat plays a vital role in maintaining good health and fighting disease. In fact, medical evidence shows that obesity poses a major threat to health and longevity. (The most common definition of obesity is more than 25 percent body fat for men and more than 32 percent for women.) An estimated one in three Americans has some excess body fat; an estimated 20 percent are obese.

Excess body fat is linked to major physical threats like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. (Three out of four Americans die of either heart disease or cancer each year; according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey, approximately 80 percent of those deaths are associated with life-style factors, including inactivity.)

For example, if you're obese, it takes more energy for you to breathe because your heart has to work harder to pump blood to the lungs and to the excess fat throughout the body. This increased work load can cause your heart to become enlarged and can result in high blood pressure and life-threatening erratic heartbeats.

Obese people also tend to have high cholesterol levels, making them more prone to arteriosclerosis, a narrowing of the arteries by deposits of plaque. This becomes life-threatening when blood vessels become so narrow or blocked that vital organs like the brain, heart or kidneys are deprived of blood. Additionally, the narrowing of the blood vessels forces the heart to pump harder, and blood pressure rises. High blood pressure itself poses several health risks, including heart attack, kidney failure, and stroke. About 25 percent of all heart and blood vessel problems are associated with obesity.

Clinical studies have found a relationship between excess body fat and the incidence of cancer. By itself, body fat is thought to be a storage place for carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals) in both men and women. In women, excess body fat has been linked to a higher rate of breast and uterine cancer; in men, the threat comes from colon and prostate cancer.

There is also a delicate balance between blood sugar, body fat, and the hormone insulin. Excess blood sugar is stored in the liver and other vital organs; when the organs are "full," the excess blood sugar is converted to fat. As fat cells themselves become full, they tend to take in less blood sugar. In some obese people, the pancreas produces more and more insulin, which the body can't use, to regulate blood sugar levels, and the whole system becomes overwhelmed. This poor regulation of blood sugar and insulin results in diabetes, a disease with long-term consequences, including heart disease, kidney failure, blindness, amputation, and death. Excess body fat is also linked to gall bladder disease, gastro-intestinal disease, sexual dysfunction, osteoarthritiis, and stroke.

Reducing Body Fat Reduces Disease Risk

The good news is that reducing body fat reduces the risk of disease. At the University of Pittsburgh, researchers studied 159 people as they followed a weight management program. The subjects were under age 45 and 30-70 pounds overweight. Those subjects who were able to shed just 10-15 percent of their weight and keep it off during the 18-month study showed significant improvement in HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, waist-to-hip ratio, and blood pressure. In fact, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, body fat reduction is a more powerful modulator of cardiac structure than drug therapy.

For people with a family history of heart disease, an active lifestyle can slow or stop the process for all but those with serious genetic disorders. Studies by Dean Ornish, MD, have shown that a comprehensive intervention program that includes regular physical activity, a low-fat diet and a stress reduction program can even reverse the heart disease process.

Evidence also shows that an active lifestyle and its help in reducing body fat is associated with a reduced risk for some types of cancers: prostate for men, breast and uterine cancers for women. (Frisch, et al 1985)

In addition, regular physical activity and a low-fat diet are successful in treating non-insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM); for some patients, it has reduced or eliminated the need for insulin substitutes. In general, regularly active adults have 42 percent lower risk of developing NIDDM.

Gaining Weight Happens to Most of Us

The average American gains at least one pound a year after age 25. Think about it. If you're like most Americans, by the time you're 50, you're likely to gain 25 pounds of fat, or more. In addition, your metabolism is also slowing down, causing your body to work less efficiently at burning the fat it has. At the same time, if you don't exercise regularly, you lose a pound of muscle each year. Consequently, people are not only increasing their body fat stores, increasing their risk of disease, but they're also losing muscle, increasing the risk of injury, decreasing activity performance, and further slowing down metabolism.

Very few Americans exercise in any significant way. The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports estimates that only one in five Americans exercises for the healthy minimum of 20 minutes, three or more days a week. In fact, the average American gets less than 50 minutes of exercise per week. Even worse, two out of five Americans are completely sedentary.

The Answer: Healthy Eating and Physical Fitness

But there is hope. Moderate weight loss--of fat, not muscle--and a healthy and active lifestyle--not dieting--have been found to lower health risks and medical problems in 90 percent of overweight patients, improving their heart function, blood pressure, glucose tolerance, sleep disorders, and cholesterol levels, as well as lowering their requirements for medication, lowering the incidence and duration of hospitalization, and reducing post-operative complications eight times less likely to die from cancer than the unfit, and 53 percent less likely to die from other diseases. Fit people are also eight times less likely to die from heart disease.

So, are you willing to be patient and make gradual changes in your life that will lead to a healthier, happier you? Once you have made the decision to go forward and accept change, the hard part is over. Sure, there is plenty of work to be done, but it really doesn't matter how long this new process takes. If you allow changes to take place over several years, your body will adjust comfortably, and you will be more likely to maintain the healthy lifestyle permanently.

When you begin achieving improvements in energy and physical and psychological performance, the fun and excitement you experience will make the change well worth the effort. Action creates motivation! Good luck: I hope you enjoy all the wonderful benefits of a safe and effective weight management program.

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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here
to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds
of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much
more!

Here are the cold, hard facts – whether we like them or not. The findings of 47 separate clinical weight loss research studies involving more than 14,700 people boil down to these 12 statements:

1. The reason we are overweight has virtually nothing to do with diet or exercise, and everything to do with our own unconscious motivations – which are created by our own unique beliefs and attitudes.

2. You are, by definition, not aware of your unconscious motivations. But even so, they greatly influence everything you do, and are much more powerful than your unconscious motivations.

3. So everything in your life that's working (and everything that isn't) has its origins in your own unconscious mind. This is not theory. It has been known and accepted for more than 100 years.

4. What does this mean to you in terms of weight loss? It means that no matter how strong your conscious desire to be fit and healthy may be, if this desire isn't supported by your own unconscious beliefs and attitudes, you are destined to struggle and fail.

5. Trying to overpower your own unconscious motivations with your conscious desires is called "will power." Will power is not only ineffective, it's actually counterproductive. Here's why.

6. Trying to overpower your own unconscious motivations with your conscious desires puts you into a battle against your own deepest motivations. It's like declaring war on yourself.

7. And as you may already have discovered, it's a war you can't win. It's like having your own personal Vietnam conflict going on inside you.

8. So if you have a history of struggling and failing at weight loss, you can be sure that you have some beliefs and attitudes that are silently, invisibly, and powerfully sabotaging your success.

9. Unfortunately, as long as your self-sabotaging beliefs and attitudes remain intact and unchanged, there is no way you can achieve lasting weight loss success – or perhaps any success at all.

10. Obviously, since the root cause of your weight problem is not physical, no amount of trying to lose weight through physical means such as diet, exercise, or even surgery will bring you success.

11. Instead, your constant inner war will only create more stress, struggle, and failure until your unconscious and conscious beliefs are both aligned toward success. No other outcome is possible.

12. Bottom Line: If your present self-sabotaging but unconscious beliefs and attitudes remain unchanged, your chances of enjoying real and lasting weight loss success are essentially zero.

We may not like it, but this is the reality we need to know about and deal with. If you've every wondered why your past weight loss efforts failed, or why it all felt like such a struggle, now you know.

You can try every diet plan on the planet, count carbs and calories until your eyes are bloodshot, and buy every ab flattener and butt trimmer on the planet.

But if you don't do something about fixing your own self-sabotaging beliefs and attitudes, your future will be just endless reruns of your past.

I would much rather my clients know the truth – whether they like it or not – because life is simply too short to waste precious time doing things than can't possibly get you where you want to be.

Wouldn't your time be much better invested in doing what actually works, even is it means learning a new skill or two?

I certainly think so. And you know what? So do my success stories!

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This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here
to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds
of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much
more!

Some experts consider carbohydrate craving and addiction as something more of the body than of the mind, meaning biological factors are generally considered to be the main trigger for carb cravings. These cravings are described as a compelling craving, or desire for carbohydrate-rich foods; an escalating, recurring need or drive for starches, snack foods, junk food, or sweets.

This is where the cycle of carbohydrates and cravings start. High-sugar, refined starch, convenience and comfort foods feed the addiction like a drug. This results in high blood sugar and insulin levels which results in more cravings. The situation also results in higher levels of serotonin - a brain chemical that acts like Prozac. People eat sweets to get the “sugar high.”

Another contributing factor to overeating and sweet craving is stress. When we are tense, the adrenal gland produces more of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol stimulates production of a brain chemical called “neuropeptide Y.”

This is kind of a carbohydrate craving switch. Aside from this, neuropeptide Y also makes the body hang on to the new body fat we produce. In other words, tension not only triggers carbohydrate cravings, it also makes it more difficult to lose any additional weight. Cortisol also stimulates insulin, which leads to blood sugar dips and fat storage.

It's a vicious cycle that feeds on itself, over and over.

Food is not just a biological need; there is also an emotional element to it. Something in our emotional state, particularly a negative one evokes an urge for “comfort” food. By dealing with the issue behind the cravings, it produces emotional relief that can reduce or even eliminate the urge to overeat.

All in all, most experts agree that by eating enough wholesome foods at meals and by having a healthy afternoon snack, people can minimize their cravings for sweets.

Here are recommendations to curb carb cravings.

1. Eat less but more often. Eat small meals or snacks containing some PROTEIN every few hours to keep blood-sugar levels steady.

Skipping meals causes blood sugar levels to drop, which leaves you yearning for processed carbohydrates and sweets for energy.

2. Be selective about the carbohydrates you eat. Avoid nutrient-stripped foods made of white flour, white rice, refined sugar and highly concentrated sweeteners. Look for foods rich in fiber such as fresh vegetables and fruits, which level off blood sugar.

3. Don't skimp on protein to ?make room' for large amounts of carbohydrates. Protein gives the body extended energy, helps balance blood sugar and keeps cravings at bay.

4. Limit your intake of alcohol, fruit juice and caffeinated drinks. These cause abrupt blood-sugar highs followed by troublesome blood-sugar lows, leaving you starved for energy.

5. Eat small portions of seasonal goodies AFTER protein-containing meals or snacks, if at all. If you eat sweets on an empty stomach, you'll experience blood-sugar lows that trigger the desire for more sweets.

6. Avoid becoming famished during shopping trips and while traveling. Carry protein-rich snacks such as nuts, hard-boiled eggs, nutrient-balanced energy bars or "vegetable greens" like those listed. These high-power foods are great when you feel your energy drop.

7. Get enough sleep. When the body and mind are well-rested, cravings for carbohydrates often vanish.

----

This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here
to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds
of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much
more!

Some experts consider carbohydrate craving and addiction as something more of the body than of the mind, meaning biological factors are generally considered to be the main trigger for carb cravings. These cravings are described as a compelling craving, or desire for carbohydrate-rich foods; an escalating, recurring need or drive for starches, snack foods, junk food, or sweets.

This is where the cycle of carbohydrates and cravings start. High-sugar, refined starch, convenience and comfort foods feed the addiction like a drug. This results in high blood sugar and insulin levels which results in more cravings. The situation also results in higher levels of serotonin - a brain chemical that acts like Prozac. People eat sweets to get the “sugar high.”

Another contributing factor to overeating and sweet craving is stress. When we are tense, the adrenal gland produces more of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol stimulates production of a brain chemical called “neuropeptide Y.”

This is kind of a carbohydrate craving switch. Aside from this, neuropeptide Y also makes the body hang on to the new body fat we produce. In other words, tension not only triggers carbohydrate cravings, it also makes it more difficult to lose any additional weight. Cortisol also stimulates insulin, which leads to blood sugar dips and fat storage.

It's a vicious cycle that feeds on itself, over and over.

Food is not just a biological need; there is also an emotional element to it. Something in our emotional state, particularly a negative one evokes an urge for “comfort” food. By dealing with the issue behind the cravings, it produces emotional relief that can reduce or even eliminate the urge to overeat.

All in all, most experts agree that by eating enough wholesome foods at meals and by having a healthy afternoon snack, people can minimize their cravings for sweets.

Here are recommendations to curb carb cravings.

1. Eat less but more often. Eat small meals or snacks containing some PROTEIN every few hours to keep blood-sugar levels steady.

Skipping meals causes blood sugar levels to drop, which leaves you yearning for processed carbohydrates and sweets for energy.

2. Be selective about the carbohydrates you eat. Avoid nutrient-stripped foods made of white flour, white rice, refined sugar and highly concentrated sweeteners. Look for foods rich in fiber such as fresh vegetables and fruits, which level off blood sugar.

3. Don't skimp on protein to ?make room' for large amounts of carbohydrates. Protein gives the body extended energy, helps balance blood sugar and keeps cravings at bay.

4. Limit your intake of alcohol, fruit juice and caffeinated drinks. These cause abrupt blood-sugar highs followed by troublesome blood-sugar lows, leaving you starved for energy.

5. Eat small portions of seasonal goodies AFTER protein-containing meals or snacks, if at all. If you eat sweets on an empty stomach, you'll experience blood-sugar lows that trigger the desire for more sweets.

6. Avoid becoming famished during shopping trips and while traveling. Carry protein-rich snacks such as nuts, hard-boiled eggs, nutrient-balanced energy bars or "vegetable greens" like those listed. These high-power foods are great when you feel your energy drop.

7. Get enough sleep. When the body and mind are well-rested, cravings for carbohydrates often vanish.

----

This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Click Here
to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds
of exercise instructions and video demo's, a free fitness analysis, and much
more!