Causes of hair loss

There are many reasons for hair loss. Genetic factors such as male pattern baldness to nutritional deficiencies can all play apart of hair loss.

When I was in my teens, there was a short period of time that I woke up each morning with huge clumps of hair, my hair, on my pillow. It started suddenly and just as suddenly stopped. It could have been caused by stress or hormones or even being sick. Thank goodness my mother did not panic and start buying all kinds of hair loss products. No doubt if she did and I used one and my body stopped shedding hair on its own, the product would get the credit instead of just my body going back to being right on its own again.

Before you start investing in hair loss products, find out if your body is out of whack in some way. Eliminate the natural causes of hair loss before you start using any kind of product.

There's caffeine in that diet pill

If you look at any over the counter diet pill, they contain caffeine. This leads to a racing heart as well as mild hyperactivity and bladder problems. In fact a review about OxyElite Pro mentions all of the cons about the product including the claims of metabolism enhancing. I guess that people still are unaware that metabolism is based on ratio of lean muscle mass compared to fat.

One diet pill that really works

A family member was having a very hard time losing weight. He weighed 325 pounds and for 2 years was trying desperately to get down to 240 pounds but couldn't get past 270 pounds. He was exercising 3 times a week at a gym and was on a 2000 calories a day diet. Finally he convinced his doctor he needed something else to help him so he put him on these diet pills that were not meant to be actually diet pills, but what us lay people call, "uppers." He was on them for one month and lost 30 pounds. The doctor took him off of the pills for a month then put him back on them for 2 more months. He got down to 220 pounds and stayed there for several months. I have been waiting for an update to find out if he is back on the pills or not, or if he is finally managing to maintain his weight without pills.

Diet pills to stay away from

When a diet pill claims to help you lose weight in under 5 days - watch out. I have seen many a questionable diet pill that have online ads that claim "Diet pills that work fast." Those pills often do work very fast but they either give you instant diarrhea or a caffeine high.There are only 2 ways that those types of pills work. They either remove excess water from your body and  help your body to move the food faster through your system or they will amp your body up so that you will be more active and burn off those extra calories. The problems with both of these methods is that your health will suffer as a result.

Have a healthy Christmas Day

I just received an expensive set of spyderco delica knives as a gift. I am not known for being the cook in the family, I think it might be a hint. While on the subject of food:

Those yummy treats and foods that are laid out before you this day should not ruin your body or make you feel guilty. Just use common sense and moderation during the holidays for eating and you will not have to do any drastic dieting come the new year.

Have great Christmas Day.

Bone density and suppliments

Did you know that calcium supplements do not work? I bet that is a news item to you. I studied in the "Better Bone and Balance" program that is part of the Oregon State University bone lab. They found that eating calcium has very little to do with building bones. Bone density is increased by impact exercises and not what you eat.

Look up the bone lab studies on the OSU website and you will find lots of up to date information on how you can stop osteoporosis in as little as 6 weeks. 

Should you treat yourself to a new outfit as an incentive to losing weight?

How many times have you told yourself you should buy that great looking dress, pants or top as an incentive to lose weight just to fit into it? I know I have, only to never fit into the article of clothing in time for it not to go out of style. I made the mistake of buying a dress that was 3 sizes too small for me and I only lost 2 sizes.

So if you do decide to go out on a clothes shopping spree this Black Friday and find something that you just have to have, just buy it in the next size down from what you are now. That is about 7 to 10 pounds less than you are now. Losing that much weight will be easier that trying for a 20 pound weight loss.

Talk to your doctor first

Don't believe all you read online or see on TV ads about weight loss supplements. Please find out the facts from your doctor. Certain drugs, herbs or mixtures of the two can do a number on you if you have underlying health problems like cholesterol, thyroid problems, asthma, circulation or heart problems.

Don't give in to your whims of quick weight loss. Please talk to your doctor. Your health is more important than a cheap bottle of pills.

A simple way to cut your appetite

Almost everyone I know has heard that you should eat your meals slowly so that you give your stomach time to feel full. Unfortunately we cannot always do that for lunch while at work or at school. I have found another way to help your stomach feel full without the aid of new diet pills or eating "filling foods." The secret is psyllium, the ingredient found in Metamucil®. What psyllium does is form a gel in your gut when it is wet and makes you feel full. In order for it to be effective you should take it in pill form. Take the pill about 1 hour before your big meal of the day. You will feel full or nearly full before you even start to eat. That will enable you to eat smaller portions and to walk away from the dinner table without any hunger pangs.

One food that can help your body and skin

There are lots of foods that profess to help you lose weight. I can think of one main one off hand and that is grapefruit. I remember my mother eating a grapefruit for breakfast and drinking grapefruit juice for lunch as a method of weight loss. I asked her once if she liked grapefruits enough to eat them twice a day, everyday and she told me NO! She only ate them because she heard that they would help her body burn off fat. She did lose weight with her fruit diet but not because it was grapefruit but because she was almost starving herself in the process. If you are wondering if she put those pounds right back on after eating grapefruits for almost 2 years, she did. She did not learn to eat a balanced diet that she could maintain.

One food that I have found that worked for me was yogurt. I ate that for lunch along with a piece of fruit when I was at work. It was not only a quick and easy lunch to make but it kept me from feeling starved all afternoon long. I have also heard that yogurt is one of the best acne treatments around. Of course for acne, you don't eat the yogurt but put plain yogurt on your face after you wash it. Something about balancing your ph levels on your skin.

Being uncomfortable during a heat wave

I can personally vouch for the fact that when it gets hot, you are more uncomfortable when you weigh more. I think it has to do with the fat in your body acting as an insulator and not allowing your body's natural cooling system to work properly. It is times during heat waves that most people end up drinking more water and eating less. It is one of the quick weight loss programs that will work for a short period of time. Most of the weight lost will be water weight, but considering that the human body is made of 90% water then that is a lot of weight.

Stay cool and drink lots of water.

Midnight snackers

I have a dear friend that always seems to be on a diet of some sort. I have known her long enough to see her go through the very obese times to the very slim days. She is currently back to her overweight time and until recently I was unaware that she was a closet midnight snacker. Her husband told me that he would be getting ready for work one day and found all kinds of food left out in the kitchen. He put it away and thought nothing more about it. Then a week later it happened again. He thought it was one of his teenage sons and confronted him. It was then he found out that his wife was the sneaky snacker.

My friend and her husband had a huge argument over the issue. She refused to admit that eating 2 sandwiches at 1am in the morning was contributing to her almost 280 pound problem. At one point he threatened to put a lock on the refrigerator or figure out a way to keep her out of it during certain hours. He even wondered if any company made such a thing like refrigerator filters that detected who was opening the door and what they were getting out or putting in.

What he finally did in the end was make an appointment for her at the doctor and not tell her about it. The appointment was around lunch time and he made arraignments that it looked like he would be taking her out to lunch and instead they ended up at the doctors office. After the appointment her midnight snacking stopped......at least for now it has. She dropped 30 pounds since not making those midnight runs.

A balanced diet is extremely important

While dieting, everyone should take a physical inventory or their current health. Before the diet how was their skin condition? What was the condition of their hair and nails? Nail and hair growth along with skin condition are great indicators of health problems. Lack of certain vitamins in the diet can cause red flaky skin rashes and excessive hair loss for women. While hair loss in men also occurs, it is often put down as male pattern baldness and the dietary factor is often overlooked. Nail growth patterns to look for include nails that are progressively getting thinner and or break easily than they did before the diet. The rate of hair and nail growth should also be noted. Has it slowed down or sped up?

Eating not enough fiber on a diet that is rich in natural vitamins can cause a host of problems ranging from dandruff to digestive problems.

Eating a balanced diet that is low in carbs and calories can still be achieved with ease if you eat more vegetables and fruit with very lean non-processed meats.

Sex sells

One of my biggest gripes against society and corporations in particular is the fact they push sex and being thin down our throats at every turn then push fast food on every corner of town. Let's face it the photo below is not to draw attention to the new Jaguar car, nope it is the scantly dressed woman.

You find that sex is used to sell everything from Ferrari parts to baby diapers. If you can not seen the newest commercial for Huggies diapers then you have not seen how bad it can get. I do have to admit the commercial is funny but it goes to prove that sex appeal is used to push products down our throats.

So why do I have a gripe with it? Simple, us women and men that do not measure up to those perfect images are now trying to perfect our own bodies through surgery, diets and body shaping foundation underwear. That does not even take into account the mental problems that often people get when constantly bombarded with what society perceives as what we should look like.

My personal feeling on dieting is to diet for you health and not for looks. Lose weight because it is good for your heart or reduce your chance of premature death, not to simply get into that sexy outfit.

One draw back of losing weight

If you are over 45 and you decide to lose a lot of weight over a short period of time you will experience one big drawback to rapid weight loss - loose skin. I am not taking just about that turkey neck or needing wrinkle eye cream, nope, I am talking about large flaps of skin that use to be your belly, boobs or thighs.

To stop that from happening you MUST exercise to tighten the muscles under the skin to help the skin shrink. You will also find out that you need to lose weight at a slower pace in order for your body to better adjust.....skin wise that is.

Not all the information for weight loss is good

I signed up for a email newsletter recently that was supposed to be full of diet recipes and losing weight tips. What it turned out to be was nothing more than an affiliate marketing scam. I was really disappointed. The recipes were nothing more than links to cook books to buy. Why do people do that?

Getting a doctor to help you

Often we have to get a doctors help when we have hit a roadblock in weight loss. The doctor will be the first to inform you that there is no way to quick weight loss other than surgery. The doctor will be able to determine if there is another reason why you are having a problem with losing weight or even tell you if you should not lose weight. There is a small group of people that obsess over their weight to the point of losing too much weight and end up putting their health in jeopardy.

Diets and smoking

I have never smoked but my slightly tubby hubby has. He has told me on several occasions that after eating a very full dinner he just felt like having a cigarette or one of his Davidoff cigars (gawd, I hated the smell of those things). When he quit smoking, he was afraid that he would substitute more food for his habit. Did didn't but he did substitute by drinking more sodas. It took him some time but not he is drinking more water and diet sodas. Smoking does change your eating habits. Once you quit smoking, your taste buds will change and food will become tastier.

Up date on my liquid diet

Well, it is now one week of my liquid Slim Fast, every other day diet. I have lost a total of 5 pounds and I am keeping it off. Tonight I had 2 homemade meatball sandwiches for dinner and I am stuffed. My plan of using the Slim Fast to shrink my stomach seems to be working. Well so much for learning dieting from textbooks, seems I just have to go with my gut feeling (please excuse the pun on that one) on dieting.

I found a way to push my weight loss just a bit more

I have been having a battle with my body. I have been exercising like crazy 2 hours every other day and only managed to tone my body. That sounds great doesn't it? But unfortunately that tone is under a layer of fat that I just can't seem to lose - until now. I decided to do something drastic. I drink nothing but slim fast drinks (4 of them) on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The other days I eat my normal balanced diet. After one week I have lost and kept off, 3 pounds! My new diet is working!!! Not only am I losing weight at an acceptable slow rate but I am keeping it off.

Maybe this year I can get into that bikini I bought last summer. Wait, I'll need some new outdoor cushions to lay on when I am showing off my new bod. Bring on summer, I'm ready for it this year.