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Facts about Weight loss and weight reduction
Foods that actually cause weight increase
(the enemies of weight loss and weight reduction)
It is simply animal products that cause weight increase. To varying
degrees, animal products contain saturated fats and cholesterol. It is
these saturated fats combined with cholesterol that are difficult for
the body to get rid of once they found their way into it, especially if
they have been exposed to high temperature such as deep frying or
baking.
Vegetal world is completely free of these products. Vegetables, whole
grains, fruit and nuts though might be rich in calories, i.e.
carbohydrates, they are completely and naturally free of saturated fats
and cholesterol. A person's waist line bulge is never made of
carbohydrates, it is made of fats, saturated fats and cholesterol. It is
virtually impossible to gain weight if you are a vegetarian.
Note: Some people call themselves vegetarian because they do not eat
meat and they allow themselves to eat dairy products. What we mean here
by vegetarian is: eating only animal-free foods.
I have yet to meet a vegetarian who suffers from being overweight. It is
not possible. Have you yourself ever met any overweight vegetarian? We
doubt it. Also, vegetarians do not count calories.
Carbohydrates do
not cause weight increase
Reducing your carbohydrate consumption is not the answer for a healthy
weight loss program. Of the many people who come to us for consultation
advice on the best and safest way to lose weight, most have a
misconception of what foods cause weight gain, what foods do not, and
what foods help in the fight for weight reduction and weight loss
(battle of the bulge).
The most common misconception is that carbohydrates are the cause of any
weight increase.
This is simply not true.
As explained above, carbohydrates are an excellent source of energy for
the body. Nature makes carbohydrates very simply by adding the following
three elements together:
1. Energy from sunshine
2. Water from the soil
3. CO2 from the air
A grain of wheat or rice simply and effortlessly transforms these three
elements into carbohydrates. And when we eat a bowl of rice or wheat a
reverse operation gets under way. We digest the grains and break it down
into its three components mentioned above. Namely, energy that sustains
us, water and CO2. The resulting waste from this miraculous process is
water and CO2. The excess water is released harmlessly through the
kidneys and the carbon dioxide is released harmlessly through the lungs
in the breathing process. It is for this reason that carbohydrates are
often referred to in macrobiotics as clean-burning fuel. A fuel that
produces no toxins when burnt. So how can these harmless carbohydrates
cause weight increase?
They do not cause weight increase.
All vegetarians that I know rely heavily on carbohydrates as their
staple energy foods and they never suffer from excess weight, obesity or
any weight increase, no matter what quantities of these foods we eat.
Oils do not cause weight
increase
Stopping oil consumption is not the answer for weight loss. Of the many
people who come to us for consultation advice on the best and safest way
to lose weight, most have a misconception of what foods cause weight
gain, what foods do not, and what foods help in the fight for weight
reduction and weight loss (battle of the bulge).
One of the most common misconception is that oils are the cause of any
weight increase.
This is simply not true.
Oils are important for the body in many of its functions. However, we do
not recommend consuming oils in large quantities because they are too
yin.
Vegetarians use oils on daily basis and they never suffer from excess
weight, obesity or any weight increase.
Why
vegetarian foods are best for weight loss and weight reduction?
A little word about the Atkins diet.
The Atkins diet which relies heavily on meats and other animal products
can cause the body some serious harm. Dr. Henry G. Bieler says in his
book food is your best medicine,
One of the main sources of over-acidity is excess protein....
The monumental work of the late Francis F. Pottenger, Jr. has proved
beyond question the unhealthy nature of cooked animal protein....
Cancer may result when the destructive qualities of animal products
acids are vicariously eliminated. Can this be the reason why cancer in
females is so frequent in the breast and uterus?....
Grains and vegetables are foods that leave no toxins behind in the body
after digestion. Quite the contrary, these foods help carry toxins out
of the body because whole grains (yang) are rich in fiber which help
eliminate toxins through the intestine and vegetables, especially leafy
greens (yin), help eliminate toxins through the kidneys. This is not the
case with animal products.
A mostly vegetarian diet is far superior to the Atkins diet in weight
loss. Did you know that Dr. Atkins was found to be suffering from the
following health disturbances: Overweight, hypertension and coronary
heart disease.
Are stomach
reduction operations really necessary?
Many dieters often complain of a great sense of deprivation when they go
on a weight reduction/weight loss diet. They feel that they are hungry,
but their calorie-counting consultants allow only so many calories per
day. This sense of hunger is because most of them have expanded GI tract
(stomach and intestine). Some people even submit to having a stomach
reduction operation or a "stomach balloon" insertion.
If we really understand the principles of yin and yang in macrobiotics
(yin being expansion and yang being contraction), we can achieve a
stomach reduction, and consequently appetite decrease and weight
reduction, with only the proper selection of our foods. There are
certain vegetables (of the yang type) that can cause the GI tract
(stomach and intestine) to contract and this will surely cause an
appetite decrease. This way a person can achieve weight reduction/weight
loss, avoid a painful and possibly dangerous operation and achieve
weight reduction and weight loss while feeling naturally full and eating
less without any sense of deprivation.
What about
stretch marks?
When people lose weight by following an extreme fast weight reduction
program like the Atkins diet, one of the common complaints we hear is: I
lost many kilos but my skin began to show stretch marks. This is true.
When following a radical diet like the Atkins diet which recommends
consuming animal products in large quantities the skin begins to suffer.
Fats are of the yin type so they accumulate mostly just under the skin.
If we really understand the principles of yin and yang in macrobiotics
(yin being expansion. stretch marks are extreme yin, and yang being
contraction), we can avoid having stretch marks after following a diet
for weight reduction and weight loss with only the proper selection of
our foods. There are certain vegetables (of the yang type) that can
cause the skin to contract and regain its elasticity. This way a person
can achieve weight loss and weight reduction, avoid a painful and
possibly dangerous operation and achieve weight reduction and weight
loss while feeling naturally full and eat less without any sense of
deprivation.
Fasting and weight
loss and weight reduction
Fasting can be sometimes, but not always, a helpful tool to achieve
weight reduction and weight loss quickly. However, it is not recommended
unless it is done under the supervision of a healthcare professional.
If the excesses a person is suffering from are toxic, large amounts of
that bloat would be suddenly released into the blood stream to be
discharged during the fast. This large amount of toxic bloat could do a
lot of harm to the liver and kidney's and could even cause the person's
undoing.
This is a process that can also be helpful in cases of some allergies
and not just for weight loss and weight reduction. However, if the
person's current state of health is compromised because of a serious
illness, fasting is not recommended as a way to achieve weight loss.
The dual process
of losing weight
It is not enough to abstain from animal products in order to achieve
weight loss. For somebody who already is suffering from excess weight
and weight increase there has to be a dual process to achieve a
significant weight reduction and weight loss.
The first part of this process is to reduce dramatically animal products
intake, especially dairy foods. This step will reduce the amount of
saturated fats and cholesterol that is going into the body.
The second part is to eat the kinds of foods that will help the body
burn the fats and cholesterol that are already stored and causing your
current overweight problem. There are actually a few vegetables that do
just that. They burn up the body's storage of fats, saturated fats and
cholesterol.
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