According to the latest statistics, the obesity epidemic continues to grow worldwide and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. An astonishing 59.6% of Australian and New Zealand adults are overweight or obese, while 30% of Australian and New Zealand children are clinically overweight. More than half of the American population is overweight.

Those who have adequate amounts of protein in their diet, however, may find they’ve escaped being part of this alarming trend. That’s because the latest nutritional research indicates that protein has numerous dietary benefits that give a boost to weight loss and weight management efforts. Lets look at some of the ways you can benefit from a healthy daily protein intake.

One of the principle advantages of protein is that it creates a feeling of fullness and satisfaction in the body that makes overeating much less likely. Besides being filling, protein is a smart addition to any weight loss or weight management programme because of the effect it has on carbohydrate cravings.

As nutritional research has documented, carbohydrates trigger the brain to crave more carbohydrates, leading to a cycle of carbohydrate eating that becomes hard to control. Protein can block that triggering effect in the brain. If you eat protein with a carbohydrate it will reduce the cravings caused by eating the carbohydrate.

Simply adding protein to a meal (including breakfast), provides you with an incredible advantage in your quest to lose or maintain weight. But protein provides more than just weight benefits - it provides you with an important necessity as well. Adequate daily protein intake is essential for building and maintaining lean muscle mass.

It may sound like a term that applies only to athletes, but in fact, everyone has a certain percentage of lean muscle mass in their body. The higher your percentage of lean muscle mass, the more calories you can burn in a day.

Besides determining how many calories you burn each day, lean muscle mass also serves a vital function for those trying to lose or maintain their weight. If your diet does not contain enough protein to build or maintain lean muscle mass, your body will begin to lose weight from the heart, muscle and organs.

This type of dieting is unsafe and can prove fatal. So, how much protein do you need every day? Women need approximately 80-100 grams daily,* while men need roughly 120-150 grams.*

But as you incorporate protein into your diet, remember that not all protein is equal when it comes to calories. For example, a serving of prime rib has 1,500 calories! That’s why it is important to source your protein from healthy, lean protein sources such as fish, the white meat of chicken and turkey and very lean sources of beef. If you can see the fat…cut it off before you cook it, and don’t eat it.

Kim Beardsmore M.B.A. (H.R.M.), B.Sc. (Biochemistry) is an independent Herbalife distributor, weight loss coach and creator of the online weight loss & health magazine Weight Loss Health. For a free weight loss consultation, newsletter and resources to help you lose weight and keep it off forever, visit http://weight-loss-health.com.au Your online Herbalife store at http://weightlosshealth.herbalcoach.com The Herbalife home business opportunity visit: http://free2liv.com

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Experts tell us we are what we eat. A disturbing thought when we consider how much sugar, fat and white flour is consumed daily, hidden in ready meals and fast foods. It’s time to change the bad habits we have developed over the last three decades and start eating to improve health, not destroy it!

A vital area of life that requires our attention is this.learning to answer hunger pains appropriately. If we neglect this, weight can increase and well-being may suffer.

Whether you need to lose weight, maintain weight or tone up your body; inappropriate eating habits can jeopardize your best efforts. This articles will help you start to understand how to manage hunger in a busy lifestyle.

If it’s sticky and sweet, made with sugar and saturated fat, then you must only eat it as a rare treat. Can the same be said for a delicious bowl of strawberries, or a juicy sweet orange? That is the problem here? Why do we choose cakes and chocolate over nature’s best offering?

If you do not have a genuine glucose imbalance, one cause perhaps is that sweet treats are deeply connected to our childhood, where frequently, ’sweeteners’ were given as a reward for good behaviour, or to placate or console the unhappy child. Our memory will automatically associate sweet foods as a reward or a comfort. That bar of chocolate or sticky bun you devour mid-way through a stressful afternoon could be you rewarding yourself for hard work!

If you think you may be using sweet treats as a ‘reward’ or comfort and want to kick the habit, simply remember that putting on weight is NOT a reward. Then think of a reward that doesn’t involve food!

Guard yourself from the sweet snack attacks by being prepared and planning your day’s food patterns.

1. Incorporate protein in to your breakfast AND lunch. Protein is key to controlling carbohydrate cravings. The RDA of protein for women is 60 grams a day. For women wanting to lose weight, health professionals recommend approximately 100 grams of protein daily. Why? One of the principle advantages of protein is that it creates a feeling of fullness and satisfaction in the body that makes overeating much less likely. Source your protein from ultra lean sources so you don’t pick up unwanted calories and saturated fats.

Even better, than providing a sense of sustained fullness, protein can block the triggering effect that carbohydrates can have on the brain. If you eat protein with a carbohydrate it will reduce the cravings caused by eating the carbohydrate.

2. Never skip meals. Research has shown that people who skip meals are more prone to obesity than those who regularly eat 3 meals a day. In fact, people who space their daily food requirements by making appropriate use of healthy snacks do even better. Why is this? When you skip meals you are more likely to get hungry and fill up on easily obtained fast foods which are often trigger foods.

3. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water throughout the day. For some people sugar laden soft drinks are a trigger food. Make sure you don’t get thirsty in the first place. Water creates a sense of fullness and has a host of other health benefits.

4. Plan the timing of your meals so that you don’t get hungry. Despite having three healthy meals a day, sometimes your work schedule can mean the spacing of those meals still does not guard against the carbohydrate cravings. If you have a long gap between meals, make sure you carry healthy snacks to cover the distance, otherwise hunger will set in

5. Plan your snacks. Plan out your weekly snack schedule with some delicious, healthy snacks. Purchase these with your weekly shopping so that you are fully prepared. If you need to, get up a few minutes earlier in the morning so you have time to prepare and take your snacks to work. Remember, healthy snacks don’t live in a vending machine! You are less likely to get hungry when you have a ready supply of healthy snacks.

6. Carry emergency supplies of nutritional protein bars in your handbag or brief case. When you feel a carbohydrate craving, eat the protein bar instead and wait 30 minutes before acting on the craving. More often than not the craving will pass and you will be in control again. This truly works.

Kim Beardsmore M.B.A. (H.R.M.), B.Sc. (Biochemistry) is an independent Herbalife distributor, weight loss coach and creator of the online fitness magazine Weight Loss Health. For a free weight loss consultation, newsletter and resources to help you lose weight and keep it off forever, visit http://www.weight-loss-health.com.au Your online Herbalife store at http://www.weightlosshealth.herbalcoach.com and for an introduction to the Herbalife home business opportunity visit: http://www.free2liv.com

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Plan to solve your weight-loss problems in 3 weeks? This is possible if you understand what is happening to the neuro-chemical and hormonal systems in your body.

The cumulative results of decades’ worth of research have led experts to conclude that the key to speedy, lasting weight loss lies in nurturing and repairing three interrelated body systems. In order to make the biochemical changes necessary for fast weight loss, the glandular, neuro-chemical and hormonal systems each need to be given specialized treatment inoder for weight loss to take effect.

You may want to start off with a three-week plan. It starts with a well-rounded basic meal plan, then adds key nutrients in week 1 that restore the master weight-loss glandsthe thyroid and adrenals. Then week 2 adds nutrients that boost neuro-transmitter production, making it possible to dodge the powerful food cravings that sabotage weight loss during the second week of most diets. Finally, week 3 incorporates foods that naturally boost hormone levels, shutting off fat cells’ genetically programmed drive to plump up in order to produce more estrogen. The result is a strong restorative base that optimizes all three areas of the female weight-loss puzzle through week 4 and beyond so the weight continues to reduce and never returns.

Each week fine tune your slimming system

In addition to following a pound-paring meal plan designed to nourish the entire body, each week you’ll incorporate two dietary approaches scientifically proven to optimize the health and functioning of the glandular, neurochemical and hormonal systems, in that order. Rather than shocking your body with a hard-to-maintain diet over

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