My 2 cents

I care about health and truly want people to be healthy and happy with their body. The only "diet" that has with stood the times is simple EXERCISE and HEALTHY EATING! (This isn't a diet, but a way of living!) Our bodies are AMAZING creations. Seriously! They do so much for us every day. They can change what we eat into energy. If we do not use the energy we store it for use later on.

If we go back LESS than a hundred years ago we will see that food was not plentiful. There was no such thing as "Fast Food." People WORKED for every piece of food. They waited for the food to come in season before they could eat it. They WORKED in their fields doing MANUAL labor to be able to have a good harvest. If the harvest was good they ate it and continued to work in their fields for the next harvest. Now let us pretend that they got an early rain storm that flooded their fields and they lost all they had. They would only have a little bit of food to consume and it would have to last them all winter.

At this moment is when the AWESOMENESS of our body comes into play. Our body stores what we don't use just in case there is that flood in our lives when we are no longer able to provide for ourselves. When we have to WORK for our food we lose calories or we use energy. Energy is another word for calorie.

Now in 2011 we do not have to work for our food. No I do not think that makes us lazy. However we are consuming food and we are not using the energy from the food that we consume. We are eating a lot more than using causing us to be overweight. We are saving that food just in case there is a drought or flood or a freeze.

IN ORDER TO LOSE WEIGHT WE MUST be USING more calories than we are taking in. In saying that the way that we USE more than we take in is by EXERCISE! Just get in more activity than you did the day before. It doesn't need to be drastic, but it does need to be more than you are doing NOW! The reason I feel  I can talk so bluntly about this situation is because I can learn from this as well. I need to get more exercise as well. I get that. I also get that people reading are probably ticked. Possibly some of my family members. *HI GUYS*

Lowering our intake by by 100-200 calories a day and then burning an extra 200-300 a day will show you weight loss. Sure it's not going to be drastic. It's not going to be 40lbs in 40 days. It's going to be maybe 1-2 lbs a week.

DIETS DO NOT WORK!

LIFESTYLE CHANGES DO!!!!

The USDA came out with the food pyramid a while back. This year they updated it. They updated it to myplate. Why did they update it? Because people did not understand how to read the pyramid. There are 5 food groups. Grains- Over half of your grains need to be whole grains. Yes this means wheat not white!
vegetable- Eat more of a variety. Fruit- They give you natural sugar and are healthy. Calcium- Healthy bones. You never think this is important until they start to fail you. Protein- Your body can not store LEAN protein. Therefore it is a good source of energy.

Why is the HCG diet not healthy? You ARE, in fact, STARVING your body of nutrition. You are not treating your body with enough respect to do what it needs. 500 calories is not enough for anyone. You are putting your body into starvation mode. Yes you will lose weight starving yourself. People that are anorexic do the same thing. They starve themselves. When you decide you have lost the weight you would like to lose, you WILL, in fact, GAIN it ALLLLLL back if not more. Why will this happen? Because you HAVE NOT made ANY lifestyle changes. You are not dieting in a healthy manner so your body will store anything it gets because it will be afraid of going into starvation. You are not doing anything to help get rid of energy or calories. You are still doing nothing. (Once again I need to step up my cardio as well.) If you do not believe me here is a double blind study. (double blind studies are one of the best ways to do studies.) In this study they took 40 obese women. 6 days a week for 6 weeks they either got placebo or HCG. They all went on the restricted diet. The ones that had the HCG had NO advantages over those who just starved themselves.

It's not HEALTHY. It's not safe. It can cause a ton of side effects. HCG can cover up cancer cells and tumors because they way they are tested for those are by testing HCG levels in the body.

I understand being overweight. I understand looking in the mirror and feeling ugly. I had a boyfriend that would grab my ribs, the thinnest part of me, and say look how skinny you COULD be. So what did I do? I stopped eating. Yes I starved myself. I was probably consuming that 500 calories a day. (which is less than half of what I should be consuming) Then I opened up and told my family. I began eating again. I gained it all back, but what changed? Nothing. Then over the next few years I did my research. I studied. I learned. I was able to lose weight in a HEALTHY way. None of this restricting crap. You have to love yourself enough to be healthy and lose weight the right way.

As of today I am sure I need to do more cardio and I could make excuses 'til the cows come home as to why I'm not, but I know that excuses and good intentions pave the way to HELL, or in this case a non healthy body which can be like living hell. (And I would know because my body has it's own issues, but I try my best to be heart healthy)

I believe that everyone CAN be healthy with out going to extremes. Doctors have come out and said how when extremes happen your body can fail because of too much stress. Extremes in any situation. Extreme temperature, hot or cold. Extreme pain. Extreme exhaustion...bla bla bla.

I wonder at this point how many people are still reading. I know this all seems so harsh, but you can be healthy in any situation. You just have to START. Each day you have to ask yourself what is important and if you are willing to really achieve that goal.

There is a website called Shape Up America where it gives some secrets to shaping up. This website is raising awareness about obesity in America and challenging each of us to be healthy and get moving.

When your new lifestyle takes control in your life is when you will see changes. YOU WILL BE HEALTHIER. I can promise you that. I had blood taken at the end of 2010 and when I got my blood levels checked again when I had my heart issues my good cholesterol level was so high the cardiologist was impressed. My triglycerides had gone down to a good level. My heart was healthy even though I didn't physically feel healthy.

Being healthy isn't just a diet. It's a LIFESTYLE CHANGE. That's my 2 cents. I do apologize for offending anyone because this blog was to inform and educate not to make you feel angry or guilty.