Tips For A Flat Stomach

• Drink skim milk: studies show that five servings of low fat dairy encourages weight loss, especially in the stomach. This may include low-fat milk, cheese, yogurt or cottage cheese.
• Fill up on whole grains: brown rice, quinoa, oats and other fiber rich whole grains can encourage the loss of belly fat when eaten in place of refined grains like white rice.
• Eat good fats: replace saturated and trans fats with monounsaturated fats, like those found in nuts, olive oil, and avocados.
• Drink plenty of water: replacing high calorie beverages with water can promote weight loss, but it can also reduce constipation and bloating, which may contribute to the appearance of a swollen belly.
• Do your cardio: while stomach crunches can strengthen your abdominal muscles, you can’t have a flat stomach if there’s belly fat on top of those strong muscles. Cardio exercise helps promote fat loss all over your body, which is actually the best way to lose belly fat.

If you’re working to keep your entire body healthy and tone, you’ll probably end up with a flatter stomach in the process.

Tips For Safe Summer Exercise

• Stay hydrated: getting dehydrated will interfere with your body’s ability to cool itself down. Make sure to drink water before, during and after a workout even if you don’t think you’re thirsty. Drinking sports drinks during long workouts can help sodium, chloride and potassium lost during sweating, but water should be sufficient for an average workout.
• Dress for the weather: wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing that lets the air circulate over our body. This allows sweat to evaporate more easily, which is your body’s natural way of cooling down. You should also avoid dark colors than can absorb heat and wear a hat to protect yourself from the sun.
• Avoid exercising in the heat: of course, the best way to avoid overheating in the sun is to stay out of the sun. Try exercising in the morning, after sunset, or indoors. If you normally take a walk on your lunch break, for example, consider walking at an air-conditioned mall instead.

The most important safety tip is to know when you’ve pushed your body too far. If you experience weakness, headaches, dizziness, muscle cramps, nausea or a rapid heartbeat, it’s time to stop. Go inside and drink plenty of water. If your symptoms persist for more than an hour, contact your doctor.

During my less lean days, I ate 3-4 slices of New York style pizza (1500-2000). Afterwords, I would food bloated, stuffed and uncomfortable. Ugh!

I now use a new system that works great for me. I pay for a single slice of pizza and order a large dinner salad with dressing on the side. I also drink plenty of calorie-free fluids. After I finish my salad, I ask the sever to heat up my slice of pizza. When I am done, I am always surprised to find how satisfied I am after the meal. Instead of eating 1500 calories, I have only consumed 500.

I am not suggesting someone trying to lose weight go on the “Pizza Diet,” but eating a salad and drinking lots of water early in a meal (“preloading”) is a great maintenance tool.

A weight loss plateau is usually the result of your body adjusting to your new routine. Your metabolism may have actually slowed down a little bit to make up for a lower calorie intake. How do you jump-start your body (and your weight loss) again?

3 Ways To Break Through A Weight Loss Plateau

1. Cut back on your calories: Is there still excess that you can cut from your diet? Perhaps you haven’t given up soda or are still indulging in that late night snack. Lowering your calorie intake can help you start losing weight again, but it’s important to make sure you’re consuming enough calories. If you’re feeling hungry all the time, you may be consuming too few calories. Most people need at least 1,200 calories per day.
2. Get more out of your workouts: Most people don’t have enough room in their schedule to double the amount of time in the gym, but you can increase the intensity of your workouts to get more results from the time you’re already investing. Try running fast, lifting more, or bumping up the incline and resistance on cardio machines.
3. Change your exercise: Your body will adapt and become more efficient, which means burning fewer calories, if you do the same movements over and over again. If you’ve been using the elliptical every day for three months, try taking a spinning class or trying out kickboxing.

The important thing is not to give up. A weight loss plateau is a temporary stop on your weight loss journey, but you will continue to see results if you stick with your new habits.

Obesity has been shown to cause or worsen serious health complications, including:

• Heart disease and heart attack
• Stroke
• Type 2 diabetes
• Infertility
• High blood pressure
• Arthritis
• Respiratory problems
• Sleep problems
• Digestive problems
• Certain types of cancer

In fact, obesity is considered a major risk factor for heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Losing weight can not only reduce your risk of developing these chronic illnesses, but also resolve symptoms if you already suffer from them.

Doctors encourage obese patients to work towards healthy weight loss to avoid or alleviate symptoms associated with these health problems. For most people, that means losing 1 to 2 pounds per week through a combination of a healthy diet and regular exercise. Many people can see improvements in their health even before they reach their goal weight.

A few steps you can take to begin to lose weight and improve your health include:

• Eating more fruits and vegetables
• Substituting refined carbohydrates with whole grains
• Eating lean proteins instead of fatty meats
• Drinking water or low-calorie beverages instead of sodas
• Cutting down on the time you spend watching TV
• Going for a walk once a day
• Using smaller plates to help manage your portion sizes

These simple steps can help you work towards a healthy weight and manage your risk for serious diseases.

4 Ways to Lower Your Cholesterol:

1. Lose weight: A weight loss of 5 to 10 pounds can be enough to lower your cholesterol and your risk of heart disease.
2. Replace bad fats with healthy fats: A no-fat diet isn’t the answer to your cholesterol woes, but getting rid of saturated and trans fats found in processed foods is a start. Replace these bad fats with heart healthy unsaturated fats that can lower your bad cholesterol and raise your good cholesterol levels. These fats can be found in olive, peanut and canola oils as well as seafood like salmon, mackerel and herring.
3. Bulk up on whole grains: A bowl of oatmeal in the morning may help you lower your cholesterol. Other whole grains that can promote heart health include whole wheat breads, whole grain pasta and brown rice.
4. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables: Fresh produce helps lower your cholesterol because it’s rich in dietary fiber. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables instead of fatty or sugary snacks can also help you lose weight.

These small changes may help you avoid cholesterol medication, heart disease and other chronic illnesses.

Some experts believe that reaching a healthy, happy weight starts with taking a closer look at your relationship with food and what that says about your relationship with yourself. Two thoughts are that we use food for more than satisfying our hunger, or that we don’t put enough time and energy into taking care of ourselves. Both problems can lead to weight gain and may be indicative of a larger self esteem issue.

Examine what obstacles you face when dieting. Do you find that you’re having trouble making healthy food choices because you’re not making time to eat healthy? Healthy eating may require extra planning and preparation, it’s true. But isn’t taking care of yourself worth it? Perhaps not taking the time to eat healthy is a sign that you aren’t making your own well-being a priority in your schedule. By learning to do so, you may find that you are healthier and happier.

Diabetes in general, increases cardiovascular risk in patients who have it.  Diabetics are at higher risk for acute myocardial infarction or heart attack as well as stroke and other vascular diseases.  This is an unfortunate case of the treatment being worse than the disease. 

The best treatment for out of control diabetes is weight loss.  Weight loss of as little as 10% of your initial or highest weight significantly decreases fasting blood sugar.  Fasting blood sugar as well as a test called hemoglobin A1c are the best ways to grade the severity of ongoing diabetes. 

Consulting with a bariatric (weight-loss) physician and enrolling in a comprehensive weight loss program is a great way to get your diabetes under control and with the right amount of weight loss can even put diabetes into remission.  An internal study in our clinic showed that diabetic patients under treatment for just 12 weeks, were able to stop 50% of their initial diabetes medications. 

There are several other medications still on the market that do not have any increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease.  We recommend weight loss as a primary therapy for effective diabetes treatment and metformin as a second line treatment.  Metformin is the only commonly prescribed diabetes medication that does not cause weight gain.  In addition there are several other medications that treat other conditions than diabetes but are commonly used in diabetics with other medical problems.  A few of note are corticosteroids, lithium, some beta-blockers and many commonly used mood stabilizing drugs.

Holding yoga poses helps you to become more aware of how your body works. You’ll begin to notice small ways that you can maintain your balance better by tightening or relaxing certain muscles. It also helps you to become more familiar with your center of gravity. Over time, you’ll notice that you’re aware of these things even when you’re not doing yoga, and you’ll learn to respond to tightness or imbalance by relaxing specific muscles.

Practicing yoga also strengthens the many muscles that help stabilize your body throughout the day. Although you may wobble (or even fall over!) when you first start, you’ll be able to hold your poses more easily as your stabilizing muscles get stronger. You’ll also be improving your reflexes, which can help you avoid trips and falls in your everyday life.

Yoga can be used to tone muscles and improve balance at any age. It may not seem as intense as other strength training exercises, but it will produce results with consistent practice.

To use resistance bands, simply attach the middle or an end of the band to a fixed point, such as a door, a table leg, or your foot. You can use the handles to pull the bands tight and then gently release. Depending on your position and the actions you take with the bands, you can work out every major muscle group—the pectorals, deltoids, latissimus dorsi, triceps, biceps, glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings. Whatever exercise you are doing, make sure to do enough repetitions to fully appreciate the muscle work. Typically 3 to 4 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions of each exercise would be sufficient, and for the full effect, always give your muscles a day of rest before your next exercise.

When using resistance bands, keep good form, use a full range of motion, and exhale as you exert force. It’s also important to make sure that the band is securely anchored before you begin working out, since the recoil of a band could strike you and cause serious damage to your face, groin, or other area.