The Benefits Of Jump Rope Training

The Benefits of Exercise Go Beyond Weight Loss

Whether you want to lose a few or a hundred pounds, it’s crucial that you understand that the benefits of exercise go way beyond weight loss and cosmetic enhancement. Some benefits of exercise pertain to your health in particular. 

Exercising often (3-4 times a week, an hour and a half at least each day) has been found by experts to greatly reduce the risk of several diseases and health conditions. Some diseases that exercise will help you prevent are heart disease, stroke, and Peripheral Vascular Disease. 

High blood pressure and high cholesterol are both health conditions that could be avoided by regular exercise. Diabetes that’s non-insulin-dependent can be controlled by eliminating most body fat and increasing your daily physical activity.

 

Over 40% of American people alone are considered medically obese.  This is caused by a lack of activity in your everyday life and the increase in fast food in our diets.  By building muscle mass rather than fat, it will help your metabolism increase, which makes burning calories easy.

Most patients that come into a doctor’s office complaining of back pain are overweight.  Doing exercises that improve your flexibility; such as yoga, Pilates, and tai chi, for example will be able to help reduce back pain.

The benefits of exercise clearly go beyond weight loss. It’s more than just making your body look great - it also makes your life-span increasingly longer so that you can enjoy your loved ones and all that life has to offer.

Take Advantage of Swimming for Exercise during the Warm Months

Do you enjoy soaking up the summer sun with sand in between your toes?  Do you want to make sure you’re able to rock that little polka-dot bikini?  Take advantage of swimming for exercise during these warm months!

Swimming for exercise could very well be the best thing you do during the summer for your health. Swimming is great for your body - it works so many different muscles. Swimming hits your lungs, arms, legs, and abs, too - all while cooling you down. 

While in the pool, you can create fun while using swimming for exercise with lots of toys such as a basketball net, water volleyball net and ball, water bombs, and weights.  While these may seem like they’re for children, adults will have lots of fun doing it too because you’re squeezing in exercise while playing.

The great thing about using the water while you work out is that it’s easy on your body. You won’t feel the strain on your joints that you would if you were jogging on a hard surface such as a road or even the treadmill.

Water weights are great for extra resistance – up to 12 times as much as exercise done in air. You don’t have to be in a gym, sweating and miserable while you build muscle. Swimming for exercise during the warm months is the best thing to do so that you have fun while working out. 

Tai Chi for Beginners, 8 Lessons with Dr Paul Lam - first lesson below

Tai Chi Is Good for All Ages and Body Types

No matter what shape or size you are, tai chi is a great workout.  Tai chi incorporates many aspects of your body’s muscles and mental abilities and puts them to work. Tai chi can work for people any age from 11 on up 80 and over. 

Tai Chi Chuan, in Chinese, means “Supreme Ultimate Force.”  Tai Chi is best described as moving yoga and meditation combined together into one exercise.  Many of the moves come from martial arts, except slower. 

Tai Chi is great for everyone because of how slowly it’s taken.  The movements are soft, graceful, and mindful.  This makes it easy for men and women of any body type - whether it be curvy or petite. 

For many people the meditation aspect of Tai Chi is most enjoyable - for others, the combat aspects are the best. The purpose of Tai Chi is to attain a tranquil and calm mind, focused completely on the precise movements that are instructed.  Tai Chi practices good posture, alignment of the body, rhythm, and finding your center of balance. 

Tai Chi can be practiced alone or in pairs.  If you chose to do Tai Chi with a partner, try the ‘push-hands’ exercise.  Tai Chi tries to develop being responsive and sensitive to another person’s Chi (hence Tai Chi).

Tai Chi is great for everyone - little, big, young, old - it doesn’t matter.  Tai Chi is slow and steady so that anyone can catch on very easily.  If you want a workout that you can do with a parent or your child, this is it!

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If You Can Buy One Piece of Exercise Equipment, Get This!

If you’re on a budget but need just one piece of exercise equipment you can use day after day - get a treadmill. Treadmills are the best pieces of exercise equipment out there because everyone can use them to the degree that suits your cardiovascular needs. Believe it or not, treadmills are multi-use machines. 

Treadmills can be used rain or shine – so no more weather excuses. You can take a long walk, quick run, or medium-length jog and be able to just jump off whenever you please instead of having to turn around and go back to where you came from. 

This piece of exercise equipment is also helpful because it makes your heart stronger.  When you run on the treadmill, your heart pumps out blood faster and faster - the more pumps, the stronger it gets.  It’s been said that fitness is the best way to get healthy, that exercise will out-perform medicine in many cases. 

A treadmill is a great piece of exercise equipment because it burns fat fast.  According to experts across the country, the treadmill burns the most calories out of all other exercise equipment - beating out thing such as rowing machines, stair machines, and even the elliptical depending on how you use it. 

Many may argue that these pieces of exercise equipment, while effective, may not be as good for you as a walk outdoors because they don’t give you the ups and downs of a normal road, but they’re mistaken. 

Almost all treadmills that are sold now have resistance training (uphill, downhill slants) and have different workout options such as fat burner, marathon training, and more that will create a variety in your walking instead of just walking on a flat surface.

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Ways To Make Your Workout Routine Less Boring | eZeFitness

How to Make Exercise Less Boring

Tired of the same old 12 reps, 10 squats, and 20 minutes on the treadmill?  There is a way to make exercise less boring! If you’re sick of walking on a flat surface on your treadmill, there are many ways to liven up that work out. 

Putting on an hour-long TV show that you have to get involved in is a great way to make your mind wander.  While watching your show, set your pace at a very light jog. When a commercial comes on, pick up your pace then slow back down when the show returns.

Another way to make exercise less boring is to add other things to make it exciting. Add people or music.  Set your iPod to shuffle and get moving.  Create various exercise playlists and then don’t stop until the music does. 

Adding people to your workout is another way to make exercise less boring. Generally, people have five times more chance of taking the initiative to even go to the gym when they’re with a friend - and are ten times more likely to continue going to the gym when they have a partner to help motivate them.

Rewarding yourself when you do a good job at the gym is a key element of making exercise less boring.  Don’t get too excited - this doesn’t mean you can have a whole box of Twinkies.  This means that after a long and strenuous workout, you can treat yourself to a massage at a spa or a new outfit to suit that trimmer, healthier figure you’re now sporting. 

Insane Outdoor Fat Loss Workout

Five Fun Exercises You Can Do Outdoors

Want to know five fun exercises you can do outdoors?  When you’re outdoors, it makes it more fun to exercise since you can focus your mind on other things instead of how much your legs burn. 

Swimming is one of the top five fun exercises you can do outdoors.  Swimming works many aspects of your body: your lungs, legs, and arm muscles - not to mention it greatly strengthens the most important body part - your heart.  Swimming allows you to get a great workout without having your body weigh you down with every move you make.

Hiking is also one of many fun exercises you do outdoors.  There are many benefits of hiking - not just helping you control your body weight - but also improving your mental health as well. Pack a small, healthy lunch and set up a picnic once you reach a good resting spot.

Rock Climbing is another one of the top five fun exercises you can do outdoors.  While you can do rock climbing inside, it’s always better to get some fresh air. Rock climbing works mostly your arms and legs, but it also helps your lungs learn how to breathe better.

Biking is fun because you can do it basically anywhere, anytime!  You can enjoy the scenery by yourself or you can bring a friend along. Just make sure you always wear your helmet for extra safety precautions while you get your workout in.

Obstacle courses are a great form of fun exercises. They work almost all aspects of your body and with each turn on the course, you can try to be faster. This will help you build endurance.  These activities that you do outdoors will replace your fitness boredom with some healthy fun exercise activity! 

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Exercise Toys for the Home Gym

Are you lucky enough to be able to have your own home gym but are unsure of what exactly to put into it?  Or do you have enough space to work out in, but aren’t sure what exercise equipment will fit into your living space? Here are some exercise toys that will finally make your home gym complete. 

If you have a home gym with a cable pulley, then there are many great exercise toys to add onto that.  One of them is a rope attachment. This makes triceps press downs easier to perform.  This is also great to replace a lat bar that is generally used for triceps press downs.

 

Other great exercise toys for the home gym are fun things such as yoga or exercise balls.  These help many aspects of your body, most important the core strength you build.  These balls can be used in combination with DVDs (that may or may not come with it) or they could also be used to create your own workout regimens. 

Yoga mats also make nice exercise toys for your home gym.  They come in many colors and sizes - you can pick them according to your taste and what you will be using them for.

An E-Z Bar is another great addition to your home gym.  In many fitness and exercise stores, these can be found for under $40.  The E-Z Bar allows you to enhance your workout as well as create a new one.  Curls can be interchanged with E-Z Bar Curls in order to work the biceps from a different angle.

Other great additions to a home gym include steps, various dumbbell sets, and stretch ropes. Exercise toys for the home gym come in all shapes and sizes. You just have to find the ones that are right for you. 

Unbelievable Benefits of Broccoli | Well.Org

An Anatomy of Broccoli: Nature’s Perfect Food

You probably didn't see what was so great about broccoli as a child, but the truth is that this vegetable is one of nature’s super foods. From its stalk to its flowering head, broccoli is packed with nutrients and vitamins needed for your overall health and well-being. This vegetable has been around for centuries, and it has always been used and viewed as the perfect go-to food.

It’s healthy, can be eaten in a number of different ways, comes with a variety of benefits, is easy to cook, and offers the body a single boost of minerals in every serving. For a comprehensive understanding of this perfect food, check out the following information.

The Anatomy of Broccoli: Understanding the Veggie from Top to Bottom

Many people aren't aware just how much there is to know about broccoli. Yes, it’s a vegetable, and yes, it’s incredibly good for you—but that’s not all. This anatomical breakdown of broccoli should teach you everything you need to know about this vegetable and more. So, let’s begin with the basics.

What Exactly is Broccoli?

An edible green plant belonging to the cabbage family, broccoli is a vegetable that originated in Italy as many as 2,000 years ago. While, its flowering head is usually used as a vegetable in a variety of meals, the entire vegetable can be eaten and contains a host of nutritional values.

Arranged like a small tree, broccoli closely resembles cauliflower, which is another vegetable of the same species. Due to its rich green colour, broccoli is high in antioxidants and other essential vitamins.

Parts of the Broccoli Plant

A broccoli plant is made up of three main parts:

·         The root system

·         Leaves and stalk

·         The crowning head

When still in the ground, the root system of the broccoli plant needs nutrient-rich soil in order to grow and support the plant. Broccoli plants need to be watered often in order to keep the plant hydrated and well fed as it approaches maturity.

The leaves and stalk are lesser-known parts of the broccoli plant because gardeners and farmers often discard these pieces at harvest. However, they are actually edible and highly nutritious. Broccoli leaves can be long and thin or short and wide and grow along the stalk. They are often blue-green in colour and thicken towards the head of the plant.

The crowning head is the part of the broccoli most familiar to people. Sometimes called the curd or the head, the top of the broccoli is most commonly eaten. This head is made of small, dense edible floral shoots. Usually, the head is harvested long before the shoots, or little florets open. Sometimes the heads are purple, but the green shoots are most commonly cultivated by gardeners. The best growth environment for the broccoli plant is in full sun, with plenty of water, and of course, the nutrient rich soil mentioned earlier.

What is Broccoli’s Nutritional Value?

Broccoli is a great food to eat when you are looking to get extra fibre and vitamin C into your diet. It contains various nutrients that hold anti-cancer properties and support a strong, healthy immune system.

A great source of natural energy, broccoli is low in carbs, and fat but high in protein.

Nutrients: It contains B vitamins, Thiamine, Niacin, Riboflavin and Folate as well as traces of calcium, iron, potassium, and phosphorous.

High Fibre: Broccoli is also high in fibre that supports heart health, helps lower bad cholesterol and supports healthy weight management because it is filling and very low in calories.

How is Broccoli Prepared?

Broccoli can be steamed, boiled, microwaved, stir-fried, or eaten raw. However, over cooking or boiling broccoli has been proven to reduce levels of anti-carcinogenic compounds present in the food. It is therefore best to steam it until it reaches a bright green colour, but no longer.

How You Can Add Broccoli to Your Diet

Adding broccoli to your daily diet can do wonders for your health. A side of broccoli at dinner, a broccoli salad for lunch, chopped broccoli along with eggs or in an omelet for breakfast, and even eaten raw as a healthy snack is great way to include this super-food in your diet.

All parts of broccoli can also be juiced, including the stems, leaves and heads, and it makes a great addition to green juice, along with kale, spinach, green apples, celery, cucumber, and lemon. 

Jillian Michaels Exposes Common Dieting Myths

6 Common Dieting Myths Revealed

 You may have wanted to start a diet many times in the past, only to shy away from it because of some of the things you've heard or the self-doubt you have to succeed. There are many myths about dieting, and hopefully, we’ll dispel them today!

The number one myth people fall prey to is that you can lose weight fast by eliminating as many calories as possible from your diet or by starving yourself. This is an extremely unhealthy way to go about it because your body goes into starvation mode, shutting down as much weight loss as possible.  Some people only want to lose weight fast because they have an outfit they want to fit into for a special occasion coming up next week. Don’t wait until the last minute to start a diet.

Another myth we face in our quest for a slimmer waistline is the one that tells us to only eat a certain type of food all day, every day. Grapefruit, pepper-laden water, and even hot dog diet fads have resulted in many binges over the years. Following dangerous fad diets means your body’s not getting the necessary nutrients it needs to fight off illnesses and stay healthy.

You may have also heard that you can never stray from your diet. If you do, you’ll need to exercise for hours to make up for it. This isn't true. It’s okay to have that fudge brownie once in awhile. You only need to adjust your calorie intake for the day. There’s really no need to exercise for hours just to compensate for one little treat.

One myth you may hear is the one that says you can’t eat before you go to bed, because you’ll get fat in your sleep. This one isn't true because a diet only means that you’re eating healthy and watching your caloric intake for the day. Having a light snack before bed isn’t going to make a big difference unless it’s a 7-course meal or a full gallon of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.

How about the one that says you can’t eat anything between meals? It’s better that you do eat snacks. Eat smaller meals throughout the day to keep your hunger satisfied. By eliminating snacks between meals, you’re only going to make yourself hungrier at meal times, which cause you to eat a lot more than you really need just to satisfy your hunger.

There’s another myth that says you shouldn’t consume any dairy products at all because they’re too fattening. Dairy contains nutrients your body needs, so you should have some dairy – n fact, some studies suggest those who consume, have better weight loss success! Just make sure you limit your amounts and go for the low-fat versions.

Try not to fall victim to the myriad of diet myths circulating the ‘net. A healthy balance of proper eating (most of the time) and exercise can work wonders for your diet success!

How To Eat Clean ♡

What You Gain from Clean Eating

The way you eat should always give you nutritional benefits. If you’re not getting any health benefits from the way that you eat, that’s a good sign that your body is crying out for something better.

Any eating plan that makes you feel sluggish, causes you to gain weight or gives you health problems - such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure - needs to be changed.

The sooner you decide that you want to practice clean eating, the better you’ll feel and the more benefits you stand to gain from it. When you practice clean eating, you’ll feel better, plus you’ll be healthier.

Even if right now you’re experiencing some health issues as a result of the way you've eaten in the past, if you begin clean eating, you can eliminate those problems. With clean eating, you’ll be able to get rid of the extra weight that can lead to illnesses, diseases and pressure on your joints from the weight.

When your body feels better, you feel better. This will make it easier on you to want to get up and be more active than you have been in the past. Plus, when you do get rid of any extra weight, it will be easier to keep it off with clean eating.

You’ll be getting a better intake of vitamins and minerals with clean eating than you would with eating processed foods or foods that aren't whole or natural. These vitamins and minerals can help keep your immune system healthier which, in turn, will allow you to be able to fight off illnesses.

One of the problems with eating any old way is that you can often feel hungry half an hour after eating a sugar or salty food. Because natural foods are bulkier, you won’t be as tempted to run to the pantry looking for a snack.

This means that you’ll not only have longer lasting energy with the better way of eating, but you’ll also be less likely to fall back into your old eating patterns. Clean eating can help you live longer.

When you have a clean eating plan, you can keep your heart healthier. This way of eating helps prevent cardiovascular diseases - and it’s a great way to fight back against diseases like diabetes, which can lead to heart problems.

Clean eating is a way of eating foods that have a lot more fibre in them. This means that you’ll be less likely to experience digestive problems such as constipation. Eating this way also helps you fight back against ageing. It helps boost the cell growth within your body so that your skin looks smoother and you appear younger, too.

Other articles I have posted can be found in my older posts.

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MEAL PREPPING ♥ HOW I PREPARE HEALTHY MEALS FOR THE WEEK!

What Is Clean Eating?

Clean eating is something that many people are doing. You may have heard about it in the latest celebrity magazine. This way of eating is not some new fad diet that will be here today and gone tomorrow.

Clean eating just means that you've made the choice to get away from foods that are bad for your body and you’re going to choose healthy, whole foods instead. The best part about clean eating too is that not only is it healthy, but if you have some weight to lose, it can help you lose those extra pounds.

Plus, it’s a great way to detox if you want to a fresh start. You’ll have more energy and be in better shape than you would be if you were eating processed foods.

Some supposedly healthy eating plans will have you eliminating entire food groups such as not having any protein. But that’s not what clean eating is all about.

When you practice this way of eating, it means that you pay attention to the food that you put in your body. You make sure that the foods that you eat are whole foods that have limited or no processing at all.

One of the best ways to remember how to excel at clean eating is to eat foods as nature made them and nature doesn't put things in cans. Clean eating means that you won’t be putting the extras into your body that are bad for you.

Foods that are processed contain a whole lot of additives to keep the food fresh enough to be eaten even years down the road. While that might make the food last, these additives can derail your health

Many of these foods will contain things like chemicals so that the food tastes better. Some of them will have a lot of salt, enough to fulfil a whole day’s sodium intake, to preserve the food.

There will also be artificial flavouring or colouring in the foods. For example, not all the roast beef that you buy packaged in the lunch meat area naturally looks that way.

Colouring is added to give it the look of roast beef. Every food that you eat that’s in boxes, cans or jars has been processed in some way. That means that it’s not the healthiest choice to put into your body.

Many of these additives contribute to health problems later in life. All you have to do is read the labels to see what some of these additives are. Look them up and you’ll see exactly what they are and how they can affect your body.

When you choose to follow a clean eating lifestyle, it means that you’re going to forego the refined foods and opt for everything natural from your breakfast cereals, to your breads to your vegetables, fruits and meats. 

 Following a few of these little tips can help you with weight loss.

I run a series of topics on health, diet and exercise, if you have any particular topic that you would like included please let me know. I have done a series of articles on the following or if not I will be.

Healthy diet, weight loss, weight loss tips, Lose weight fast, lose weight, losing weight,

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best exercise to lose weight, weight loss exercises, exercises to lose weight.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO FOOD PREPPING - How to make 15 clean healthy meals...

What Is a Clean Eating Plan?

A clean eating plan means that you look at the options available for you to eat and you choose the one that’s the most natural. All of the foods that you buy in cans, bags and in the frozen section of your grocery store started out in their natural state.

The reason that a lot of shoppers buy these processed foods is for the sake of convenience. But when you weigh this convenience against being healthier, then it really is no contest.

It might take you a little bit more time to prepare foods that are in their natural state, but it’s better for you physically and even emotionally in the long run. It’s better emotionally because there’s a link between processed foods and depression just like there’s a link between sugar laden foods and addictive behaviour.

Choosing foods in their natural state for your eating plan means picking the apple over the apple sauce. But if you have a choice between an apple turnover or apple sauce, then you would take the apple sauce because it’s the least processed.

If you had the choice between an orange, orange juice or orange soda, then you would choose the orange. If that option wasn't available, then you go with the next natural choice.

If you need to eat fruit and the only option was in a can, then you would choose the fruit that was packed in water or in light syrup over heavy syrup. When it comes to buying lunch meat, if you have to have that, then you would choose meat from the meat counter first.

If that wasn't an option, then it’s healthier to pick up deli lunch meat rather than buying the processed kind that’s already packaged. When buying meats, look for ones that are grass fed over grain fed.

Make bagged, frozen meats your last choice. In the dairy department, buy low fat milk and yoghurt that doesn't have any flavourings. The flavourings are additives that aren't healthy.

If you need bread, always go with a whole grain first. Make white bread your last option because it’s packed with additives and is the least healthy. Choose natural peanut butter over any other kind for your clean eating plan.

Think of your clean eating plan as direct from nature to your plate. If you can pick whole foods such as fruits or vegetables, wash them and eat them, that’s the best choice.

If you need it cooked, then you would steam it or stir fry it over frying it or deep frying it. But if you had to something other than steaming it, to avoid the worst option of frying it, you would bake the food.

Nutrition - Simple Guide To Any Body Transformation | Furious Pete

How to Practice Clean Eating

 When you’re used to one way of eating - especially if it’s the way you've eaten most of your life - change can be difficult. Fortunately, it’s not impossible to choose clean eating so that

you have a healthier, long lasting life.

When you decide that you’re going to make changes in how you eat, there’s more to it than just staying away from foods that aren't healthy for you. You need to know which foods you should eat in order to get the vitamins and minerals that your body needs to have in order to function properly.

Choose the majority of the foods that you eat from the way that nature made them. This will be whole foods like you would find on any healthy eating plan. You should eat plenty of whole grains along with fruits and vegetables.

Use only dairy products that are low in fat. When you do eat plant products - such as nuts - buy the brand that doesn't use salt. Additional salt in a product can push your sodium level over the healthy limit.

You’ll want to stay away from as much processed foods as possible. Because life is what it is with time crunches, you might end up having to choose a processed food every now and then.

If that’s the case, choose the healthiest food from among your choices. For example, if you have to buy a boxed pasta, make sure that you pick the one that’s whole grain.

Look over the label carefully. The more ingredients listed on the side, the higher the odds there are some dangerous additives in the box. For the healthiest result, pick the foods that have short labels with a list of ingredients that you can understand.

Clean eating means that you need to watch the amount of sugar that goes into your eating plan. Foods that contain sugar can cause you to develop a sugar addiction.

Plus, the additional added sugar can lead to weight gain and health problems. How many times a day that you eat is just as important with clean eating as what you eat.

The number one reason that drives people to unhealthy eating is hunger. When you allow yourself to get so hungry that you feel as if you need to eat immediately, it’s easier to grab something that’s not healthy for you.

When you eat only three meals a day, you have longer periods of time to cause your glucose levels to fall. At the same time, your metabolism slows down when you space your meals out that far apart.

Instead, eat at least five meals a day. You’ll want these meals to be smaller than if you were eating a three meal plan. What eating at least five times a day will do for you is it keeps your glucose levels steadier and it also keeps your metabolism from slowing down.

5 Tips to Make the Transition to Clean Eating Easier

Clean eating might be easier for some people if they already have a fairly healthy way of eating. But for others, transitioning to clean eating can be as jarring as a physical move from one state to another.

There will be a little bit of an adjustment period as well as a conscious awareness to step away from bad choices. First, you need to eat between five and six times a day to make it easier on your body.

This will keep your energy up and your desire to snack down. It can also help you eliminate the cravings for foods that aren't good for you. There are four things you need to make sure you have with your meals and snacks when you’re practising clean eating.

Make sure that you have a protein, a fruit and a vegetable - and with meals, a complex carb. The protein will help you keep your energy level up. It doesn't have to be something big.

For example, if you need a protein with your snack, then opt for a serving of unsalted, unprocessed nuts. Second, make label reading an automatic part of your shopping.

Remember that the more ingredients that are listed on the label, the further away from clean eating the food will end up being. When you’re choosing clean eating, there should only be one (at the most two) things listed on the side of the can or bag.

Watch labels for potassium bromate, artificial sweeteners, trans fat, food dyes, BHA and BHT, monosodium glutamate and avoid these ingredients. If it’s possible for you to choose organic food products, then do that.

As part of a clean eating plan, organic foods are free of harmful pesticides and GMOs, both of which can be harmful to your health. Third, make sure that you get plenty of water.

Clean eating means making sure that you’re maintaining a healthy water intake. You should have at least sixty four ounces of water a day. Fourth, if possible, get the entire family involved in clean eating.

Not only will this make it easier for you, but it’s healthier for them, too. If you start kids out on healthy eating plan when they’re younger, they’ll already know how to make good choices when they’re older.

Fifth, because clean eating can be a little bit more time consuming than just grabbing that processed food at the store, you’ll want to find ways to make it easy to stick to this way of eating.

One of the ways that you can do that is to package the foods that you eat yourself. This means that you can go ahead and chop, cut or cook the foods in advance so that on those days when you’re short on time, you can grab something that’s healthy and stick with your plan. 

10 Habits Of Healthy Eaters Video

3 Secrets to Stop Binge Eating | Tips to Lose Weight [HD]

The Many Health Risks Of Emotional Overeating

Few people who eat for emotional reasons eat the right kinds of foods nor do they eat the right amount of food. Emotional eating is almost a part of overeating in general. When you eat to hide or comfort yourself around life’s disappointments, negative feelings, or stressors, you tend to eat too much and you tend to make poor food choices. This can lead to negative health consequences that build up over time. 

What emotional eating can lead to…?

The health consequences of emotional eating are many. First, emotional eating is often associated with overeating. You don’t pay attention to normal hormonal mechanisms in the body that tell you to stop eating because you have eaten enough and you gain weight over time.

Weight gain can lead to obesity, which is a risk factor for diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, like breast cancer and colon cancer. Obesity keeps you from exercising properly because it feels too uncomfortable when you must do so lugging around excess weight. It becomes a bad cycle of eating too much, not exercising, feeling bad about your body, and eating to cope with your bad feelings.

High Blood Pressure

Some emotional eaters are more prone to high blood pressure than normal eaters are. Emotional eating tends to involve eating high salt foods that interact with the kidneys to raise your blood pressure. High blood pressure alone can lead to an increase in heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral vascular disease. If you have a family history of high blood pressure, the connection between eating too much salt and having high blood pressure is even greater.

Type 2 Diabetes

Emotional overeating can lead to type 2 diabetes. If you are the type of person who craves sweet food as part of your unhealthy eating habits, you flood your bloodstream with excess sugar, causing your pancreas to overwork itself trying to release enough insulin to cope with the demand. Eventually, your body’s cells become resistant to excesses of insulin and you develop “insulin resistance” and type 2 diabetes.

Unhealthy Diet And Nutrient Deficits

When you eat emotionally, you tend not to make food choices that are high in nutrients. This can result in your being overweight and malnourished at the same time. Junk food eaten as part of emotional eating is bereft of vitamins, minerals, and food-related cofactors that you need for proper metabolism and functioning of the cells of the body. You can develop specific nutrient deficiencies that can make you feel worse physically. Nutrient deficiencies can involve cravings of their own but because you are not listening to your body, it is hit and miss as to whether you get the nutrients you need. 

Emotional And Mental Health Consequences

Emotional overeating leaves you not only with the stressors that caused you to eat in the first place but now you have the added stress caused by having guilty or shameful feelings around your eating. Again, a negative cycle is perpetuated because the added stress helps you turn even more to foods that make you feel only temporarily happy. 

Emotional eating has mental consequences as well. You can eat yourself into a state of depression brought on by guilty and negative thinking on your part. You feel helpless around eating and this leads to feeling helpless around other areas of your life. This helplessness and hopelessness can trigger you to have lower levels of serotonin and dopamine in your brain so that you can go into a clinical depression just because you are overeating and have developed a general lack of satisfaction over your body.

When you emotionally eat, you tend to isolate yourself physically from others, consumed by emotional pain that you think food will solve. This isolation can lead to negative feelings about yourself, your body, and your place in the world and can lead to mental illness caused directly from overeating and the feelings that go with it. 

Get Help

There is help for emotional eating and you can get that help by asking your doctor for help, seeking the advice of a nutritionist, or talking to a therapist about the underlying feelings that go along with your poor eating habits.  

How To Stop Emotional Eating

Self-Assessment Test: Do You Eat For Hunger Or To Stuff Emotions?

People eat for many reasons. For some, eating is a time of social interaction or fun. Others eat strictly because the body is sending signals from the stomach by way of hormones telling them they are hungry, in other words they eat to live.

Unfortunately, there are still others for which eating is an emotional crutch. They eat because stress and strong emotions have invaded their mind and food becomes a way to block the unpleasantness of the feelings. Some of the most common feelings that people eat behind are loneliness, stress, sadness, heartache, and boredom.

When we eat emotionally in order to stuff feelings, we end up eating too much or eating the wrong foods. Our overall health suffers because of this kind of eating. It can lead to weight gain, and obesity, which leads to complications such as, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and premature death. Emotional eating also places burden over burden so to say because eating in this manner often results in feelings of guilt, shame and has a negative impact on self-image and self-esteem. A vicious cycle often consumes those who fall into the dysfunctional habit of using food as a coping skill.

How can you know if you are eating for emotional reasons?

To assess if you eat stuff emotions, you must ask yourself a few questions and of course, be sure that you are as honest as you can be. For every yes answer you give to yourself, it is more likely that you are an emotional eater.

Ask yourself these questions:

·         Do I eat when I have a full stomach?

·         Do I eat when I am under more stress?

·         Has food become a part of my reward system?

·         Do I eat in order to calm myself during episodes of anger, sadness, loneliness, anxiety, or boredom?

·         Do I feel powerless when it comes to eating?

·         Do I eat to the point of being overstuffed?

·         Do I often feel guilty after I eat?

·         Do I often feel regret after eating?

·         Does food feel like a friend to you—someone with whom you feel safe?

If many of the above questions apply to you, you may be using food as a way to control unpleasant emotional states.

Feelings of hunger can be confusing when you eat emotionally and the hunger you feel when you are an emotional eater is qualitatively different than the hunger you feel when you are physiologically hungry.

Sudden and uncontrollable cravings

For example, when you become hungry because you really need to eat, the hunger pangs come on gradually. In emotional eating, the hunger comes on quite quickly and you feel a need to eat right away, much like a cigarette smoker craves a hit, or an alcoholic craves a drink. If you feel you cannot wait in order to be satisfied, you may be an emotional eater.

Emotional eating isn’t satisfied by just any type of food

When you eat to stuff emotions, only certain comfort foods are craved. Emotional eating tends to offer up uncontrollable cravings for sweet food, salty food or food that is high in fat. These kinds of foods make you feel a rush of endorphins—brain chemicals released when you are extremely happy or when you have taken certain pleasure-enhancing drugs.

Emotional eating is mindless

You sit down in front of a television set and, before you know it, you have consumed an entire container of ice cream or a bag of chips, barely remembering the actual eating. Healthy eating is eaten mindfully, with attention paid to what you are eating. The eating is a powerful experience you remember and look forward to again.

Even when your stomach is full, you tend to want to eat more

This is because you have mentally and emotionally blocked out the influence of the hormone “leptin,” released by fat cells that tell you to stop eating. If you eat just for physiological reasons, you pay attention to leptin and stop eating when your stomach is full. You don’t feel the familiar growling in your stomach or stomach pangs when you are eating for emotional reasons. The source of the hunger doesn’t come from your stomach, which releases the hormone “ghrelin” to tell you that you are hunger. The hunger comes instead from your mind and you are consumed by thoughts of eating. 

Guilt And Shame

Finally, after you have eaten out of emotional needs, you tend to feel guilty, shameful, or regretful about what you have done. On some deeper level, you know that your body didn’t really need to eat the food you have just eaten and you feel bad about yourself. This is a powerful indicator of dysfunctional eating because food consumption is necessary to sustain life, so feelings of guilt are in no way appropriate unless that consumption is problematic.