The thyroid gland is located in the neck and it helps to control the body’s metabolism and also controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and it controls many of the hormones, as the thyroid gland is one of the largest endocrine glands in the human body. There are two main types of thyroid disorders, an overactive thyroid, also known as hyperthyroidism and an underactive thyroid, known as hypothyroidism. In hyperthyroidism, the thyroid produces an excessive amounts of hormones where as with hypothyroidism, the thyroid produces an insufficient amount of hormones. Both are considered to be autoimmune conditions, in which there are various possibilities for its cause.

So what are the symptoms of each of them? Well, with hyperthyroidism, some of the common symptoms include weight loss, palpitations, increased appetite, trembling of the hands, lowered tolerance to heat, excessive sweating, anxiety and insomnia, swelling in the neck, frequent bowel movements, muscle weakness, and irregular menstruation. The symptoms of hypothyroidism include fatigue, poor memory, weight gain, constipation, deepened voice, swelling in the neck, lowered tolerance to cold, puffy eyes and dry thickened skin, generalised thinning of the hair, heavy or less frequent menstrual periods, weakness and aching of muscles, and joint pains.

In both disorders of the thyroid, the body’s own antibodies are attacking the thyroid gland. In other words, your own immune system is attacking itself. A deficiency in iodine can also cause hypothyroidism, but is quite uncommon to be the cause in developed countries. Hypo and hyper thyroidism are both considered to be autoimmune conditions, it is not known exactly what the cause is. But, both can be prevented and if they do occur, there are modifications you can make through your diet to help you feel better and regain control of your health.

Nutritional therapy and modifying your diet can greatly help those you are suffer from underactive or overactive thyroid. Supplementing and having foods that are high in iodine, selenium, zinc, iron, copper, omega 3s, B vitamins, and having a diet high in antioxidants is beneficial. Furthermore, coconut oil has also proven its benefits with thyroid disorders, especially with hypothyroidism.

It is important to include and balance all of the nutrients from above, but it is also important to know which foods you should also eliminate. First of all, its super important to not have any artificial sugars or sweeteners, especially the low-calorie ones including aspartame. There is research being conducted that shows that artificial sweeteners may play a role in causing inflammation and autoimmune reactions. All soy products should also be avoided because soy can interfere with the functioning of your thyroid gland. Eating too many vegetables from the Brassica family, such as, broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower can affect the functioning of the thyroid because these vegetables can impair the uptake of iodine. Lastly, by eliminating gluten from the diet, you can also bring your autoimmune symptoms more under control because gluten also interferes with the functioning of the thyroid because gluten is also known to cause inflammation in the body.

With that said, its possible to manage thyroid disorders successfully through nutrition. And of course, by having a balanced lifestyle ensuring that you exercise, do yoga, get enough sleep, and keeping your stress levels down, you can help your thyroid naturally.

If you have any further questions about balancing your thyroid or to learn more about how a balanced nutrition and lifestyle plan can help you regain more control over your health and thyroid, do give me a call on 07867 383748 or email me on: info@illuminatedhealth.com

Health and happiness,

Varsha

First of all, the most obvious case is that supplements won’t satisfy your appetite. In all honesty, supplements are not food and nor will they ever be food. Food has a way of synergistically providing the nutrients we need, where as supplements do not always provide that same level of synergy unless they are taken as a specific combination. Our bodies do not work on one chemical at a time, but rather, there are a countless number of chemical reactions occurring in the body at once.

Therefore, when taking supplements, more than often, you need at least two combinations together to make the supplement work for you. For example, certain types of iron supplements are best absorbed when also taken with vitamin C. Then, there is vitamin D, which can be taken alone, but calcium should not be taken without vitamin D because vitamin D helps to absorb the calcium. There are many “rules” like that out there, but the bottom line is that vitamins work when taken together and not separately and they work best with a balanced nutrition plan. Taking too many supplements can also hinder the effects because your body ends up becoming dependent on the supplements, which will impair your digestion and metabolism over time.

Taking supplements do have their benefits, but like I tell my clients, they should only be used short-term (unless there are severe medical needs), because ideally, you do not want to be dependent on a supplement for the rest of your life. You can get all the nutrients you need through food alone. I have worked with cases from prevention and staying healthy to autoimmune conditions with children and adults and my success comes from having my clients balance their nutrition through what they eat and I rarely ever have my clients take more than 2-3 supplements at a time. I’ve seen clients who are on at least a dozen supplements before they come to me and that just boggles my mind because its not a natural way to get your nutrition. More than often, sometimes those individual supplements can be combined into one single supplement as well.

All in all, my personal belief (which science backs up), is that you can get all your nutrition through food. Although, sometimes, it is necessary to use supplements, but even then 99% of the time, you shouldn’t have to use supplements for a long period of time. Using too many supplements and becoming dependent upon them can also place a burden on your pockets. No matter what your dietary needs are, you can get adequate nutrition through foods. If you reflect back a few years, there was controversy that vegetarians weren’t getting enough omega 3s because it was “only” found in fish. But guess what, many vegetarian sources of omega 3s has come to light through olive oil, flaxseeds, and other nuts and seeds. I always say that the Power of Health lies in Nutrition.

The best way to use supplements is when you are working on reaching your health goal and it should be used so that it works in conjunction with the other healthy changes that you are making so that it gives you support and a boost. Supplements were initially designed to actually “supplement” your healthy living and not to take over eating the right foods. As with any healthy living and changes, its all about finding the right balance that works for you.

If you need help with supplements or would like to learn more about supplements and how they may be helping or not helping you, please simply reply to this email or give me a call on 07867 383748.

In the meantime, Have a great weekend and remember, you can get all the nutrients you need from food as long as you make the right food choices

Varsha

The 5-A-Day is a programme that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has adapted to ensure that the public eat at least a total of 5 servings a day of a combination of fruits and vegetables. If you are interested in reading about the history of it, you can check it out here. WHO recommends that you eat at least 400 grams of fruit and vegetables a day, which would reduce your chances of getting heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Here is what the NHS states on their website:

Five reasons to get five portions

• Fruit and vegetables taste delicious and there’s so much variety to choose from.
• They’re a good source of vitamins and minerals, including folate, vitamin C and potassium.
• They’re an excellent source of dietary fibre, which helps maintain a healthy gut and prevent constipation and other digestion problems. A diet high in fibre can also reduce your risk of bowel cancer.
• They can help reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancers.
• Fruit and vegetables contribute to a healthy and balanced diet.

Now you know why you should ensure you get your 5-A-Day. But what counts as a part of your 5-A-Day? Well, I’ve created the chart below, which contains on the left side what the NHS says. And in the right column, is what Functional Nutrition  says and why.

To summarise, all of this comes down to eating your fruits and vegetables every day and to eat as fresh as possible. As long as you eat fresh and you make your own drinks, snacks, and meals, you don’t have to read labels or worry about what is inside your food. I’ll discuss portion control another time, but for now, its best to keep in mind that you should only eat until you are full and not stuffed.

The 5-A-Day concept is actually quite good as long as you eat fresh fruits and vegetables and have a balance of it with healthy protein and fat sources so that you have a balanced meal every day. When in doubt, always buy and eat as fresh foods as possible and make your own meals. If you can’t make your own meals, at least know what is inside your meal.

Enjoy your fruits and vegetables!

Health and Happiness,

Varsha

Eczema and Psoriasis cause a lot of discomfort and although there is no known official cause of either, functional medicine has evidence and there are studies that suggest that both are inflammatory conditions that are a result of food allergies and sensitivities. Both eczema and psoriasis can be brought under control through a proper and balanced nutrition plan that will reduce the inflammation.

When you have eczema and psoriasis, consider doing an elimination diet that will allow you to figure out which foods may cause a flare up. For many people, tomatoes, aubergines, citrus fruits, seafood, dairy, and gluten are some of the potential allergens that cause flare-ups. With that said, supplementing your diet or having a diet high in antioxidants, omega 3s, zinc, vitamin B12, and selenium are all good for reducing inflammation in the body. When you have chronic inflammation that affects your skin, its important to dot your I’s and cross your Ts when it comes to nutrition and what you eat. Eating organic vs non-organic foods can also have a huge influence.

Some other home remedies for inflammatory skin conditions include using a water softener, drinking filtered water, reducing food allergens, keeping your home free from dustmites, and using organic soaps and cleaning products. Thats right, for some people, the quality of the laundry detergent can also affect the quality of your skin. It is also best to know what your triggers are and when your skin flares up, so that you can avoid the allergens and prevent an eczema or psoriasis outbreak.

If you have eczema or psoriasis and aren’t sure how to bring it under control, send me an email (info@illuminatedhealth.com) or give me a call (07867 383748) and we can discuss how I may be able to help you.

Health and Happiness,

Varsha

Healthy fats are very important to consume because fats provide calories and thus providing energy, and fats help protect our cell membranes and other parts of our bodies. Everyone needs all the fats, even some saturated fats in their diets because fats help and support our cells, help with brain function, and even help our immunity and nervous system. Fats are also great for growth, for having healthy hair and skin, and is actually good for the metabolism. Having fats in your diet also means that you can extract more nutrients from your foods, especially since vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble vitamins. Which basically means that you will get more out of your fruits and vegetables when you have some healthy fats with it.

Fats often do get a bad reputation and that is mainly because consuming too many fats can lead to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. But remember that fats, in moderation, do more good than you may think. But of course, as a general rule of thumb, you want to keep saturated fat to a minimum (and small amounts is good for you) and avoid trans and hydrogenated fats.

Lets start with the hydrogenated and trans fats. Trans fats and hydrogenated oils are essentially the same. Hydrogenation means that a hydrogen molecule is added to the natural unsaturated fatty acid molecules of the vegetable oil to make it more saturated. All foods and oils that contain trans fats, hydrogenated, or partially hydrogenated oils are unnatural fatty acids and are more harmful to cell membranes and their functions than saturated fats are. For example, Margarine is often classified as being “healthier” than butter, but it is not. Margarine is fake and is filled with partially hydrogenated oils that ends up interfering with your body’s ability to actually make use of any healthy fats that you consume.

Then there are saturated fats, which are mainly found in dairy, meats, and eggs, along with some oils. Saturated fats are good to have in small amounts because they support the health of your intestinal cell lining. Naturally occurring saturated fats are healthy for your cells in small amounts because they help also to protect your cells. For example, the myelin sheath that insulates your nerves is almost 80% fat and to maintain your nerves, you need fat.

Next, there are unsaturated fats, which include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are good for lowering your LDL (bad) cholesterol and raising or maintaining your HDL (good) cholesterol. Unsaturated fats are mainly found in nuts and seeds, but also in avocadoes and olives.

Lastly, omega 3s are the most commonly heard of when it comes to fat because they are an essential fatty acid, which means that you body needs it and can only get it through the foods you eat. Omega 3s are knows to reduce your chances of developing heart disease and it also helps our immune systems and is excellent for hair, skin, and joint health. Omega 3s are found in highest quantity in cold-water fish, flaxseeds, and walnuts.

So, how do you know when you should eat low-fat versus full fat and how to balance your fat consumption? Well, that’s a topic for next time. For now, just realise that it is important to have fat as a part of your diet and to stay clear of hydrogenated fats and trans fats. And next time you go grocery shopping, if you are thinking of buying margarine, stop and think about what I said above and reach for the butter instead. And to take it a step further and if you want to be healthier, reach for the olive oil or have a nut butter on your morning toast.

Health and Happiness,

Varsha

1. Hydrogenated Fats – Basically, hydrogenated fats are artificially created and act like saturated fats within your body. Initial research studies declared that hydrogenated fats were “healthier” because hydrogenated fats are created from polyunsaturated fats (healthy fats) mixed with hydrogen. Somehow, this process also made items, such as oils, cheaper to produce and thus sell. However, studies now show that hydrogenated fats actually act like saturated fats in your body and are now linked to higher cases of heart disease and cancer. When it comes to food labeling, you will see “hydrogenated” written in the ingredients, so be sure to stay clear of it. However, one place you will not see that labeling is when it comes to margarine. Margarine contains hydrogenated fats. And since the actual chemical composition in margarine acts like a polyunsaturated fat, food manufacturers are not required to write “high in saturated fat.” Therefore, margarine can be labelled as a healthier product because of a technicality. Therefore, if you must choose, butter is a safer option than margarine, although even too much butter can cause harm.

2. Artificial food colours – anything package that says added colours or dyes, is something you should stay clear from. Many of the colouring agents and dyes have carcinogenic properties and can lead to hyperactivity and learning problems in children, along with difficulties concentrating for children and adults. Food colouring is often found in coloured drinks, candies, gummy and chewy candies, coloured cereals, cookies and cakes. However, some natural food colouring is available, such as beet root extract, but remember, I highly doubt that food manufacturers add beet root extract to all the cereals out there.

3. Nitrites and Nitrates – These are preservatives that are commonly found in prepared, packaged, and/or preserved meats. Most lunch meats, such as hot dogs, bologna, bacon, and salami contain nitrates. Furthermore, nitrites and nitrates are known to be carcinogenic. High amounts of vitamin C supplementation can counter the negative effects of nitrates and nitrites.

4. Sulfites – This includes sulfur dioxide, which is often used to preserve fruits, especially in freshly cut fruits that may go black, such as bananas and apples. Sulfites are also sprayed onto grapes and used to preserve wine. Sulfites in particular are known to cause allergic reactions and often trigger asthma attacks. It can also cause headaches, nausea, and diarrhea. Be sure to cut your own fruit and always wash all your vegetables and fruits before consuming.

5. Sugars, Natural Sweeteners, and Artificial Sweeteners – yes, even natural sugars and sweeteners are not always good for you. They are often added to many packaged foods to make them sweeter. Remember, if a sugar or sweetener is one of the top three ingredients in any item, then it is considered to be a dessert. You can read more about sugars and sweeteners here.

6. MSG – MSG is now banned in many cities around the world, and is often banned from using in restaurants, but is still not illegal to put into foods. MSG is a flavour enhancer that is commonly found in Chinese food. MSG is short for Monosodium Glutamate and some ingredients list the longer version of the name because most people will not recognise Monosodium Glutamate as MSG. MSG  can cause side effects such as headaches, agitation, increased heart rate, tightness in chest, and tingling muscles.

7. Preservatives – BHA, BHT, and EDTA are preservatives that are often used in cereals, grains, soup bases, and food products containing oil to prevent foods from going rancid and to preserve freshness. BHT is actually banned in England, which is great. But all preservatives are chemically created and thus they can potentially be toxic to the liver and kidneys.

8. Artificial Flavours – even “natural” flavours are processed and chemically created. Furthermore, they are found in almost all packaged foods. Artificial flavours can also have behavioral and allergic reactions due to the chemical composition of them.

9. Refined Flour – No grains are actually purely white. If you are eating anything that is purely white in colour, then its been processed. Refined flour isn’t a food additive or preservative, but it has been linked to obesity. Furthermore, the low fibre in refined flour can also cause digestive problems, especially constipation and bowel obstructions. The best grains to have are “whole-grains.” Of course, there is nothing wrong with the occasional refined flour consumption, but it should not be consumed on a regular basis.

10. Salt – Sodium chloride is salt. Remember, sodium content is required to be written on all food labels, but not the salt content. Salt is used in most packaged foods to enhance flavours. Too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, fluid retention, and potential problems with kidneys and bladder. For women, too much salt can affect their menstrual cycle and can aggravate menopausal symptoms.

11. Olestra – is a fairly new synthesized fat substitute. You will often see Olestra in foods that are low in calories or low in fat. You must be careful when consuming olestra because your body cannot metabolise it and can lead to digestive problems including abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and fecal incontinence.

With that said, be careful when buying packaged foods because of all the extra and hidden ingredients in foods. Sugars and sweeteners are the main additives to watch out for along with salt and preservatives. The general rule of thumb is that if you can’t recognise the ingredient, then you shouldn’t eat it.

Happy eating!

Health and Happiness,

Varsha

Basically, when it comes to label reading, if sugar, or any form of sugar or sweetener is listed as one of the first three ingredients of the list, then it is considered to be a dessert. There are so many different names for sugars and sweeteners that it is rather difficult to keep up with them. The general rule of thumb is that if you don’t know what an ingredient is on the list, then its not something you want to consume. And yes, even caramel is a type of sugar. Click here to view a thorough list of the different names of sugars and sweeteners. If the sugar doesn’t occur naturally, it isn’t good for you. For example, any form of refined sugar (which includes most of the names on the list and any artificial sweetener) can lead to an increased loss of calcium from the bone. When you consume refined sugar on a regular basis, you increase your loss of calcium in the blood through your urine. Therefore, the body must pull calcium from the bones to maintain blood calcium levels.

Truth be told, it is actually quite difficult, but not impossible, to buy packaged and processed foods that do not contain added sugars and sweeteners. All carbohydrates have natural occurring sugar. For example, if you are buying a package of frozen berries, the ingredients should only be the berries themselves. If you see anything else, or any sugars, then the berries have been processed, because no fruit needs to have any added sugar. Fruits already have fructose in them, making them naturally sweet. Therefore, stay clear of fruit juices that have added sugars. Anything that says “sugarfree” isn’t always true. Sugar Free products have sweeteners put into them, which technically, make it “sugar” free, but not sweetener free. For example, I have taken a pack of gum, “Wrigley’s Extra Cool Breeze Sugarfree Gum.” Logically, if a packet says “sugar free,” you expect it to have no sugar, but when I turned the pack around and looked at the ingredients, I found 6 different “sweeteners.”

Sugar is sugar and the only pure natural forms of sugar are glucose, fructose, galactose, sucrose, maltose, and lactose. But the beauty behind this is that they are all naturally occurring in various carbohydrates, including dairy. However, sugar can only be extracted in sufficient amounts from sugarcane and sugar beet. Remember, if milk is an ingredient in a food product, the ingredient list should say “milk.” But if they also list “lactose,” then this means that lactose was artificially created and added in.

So what are the hazards of refined and artificial sugars and sweeteners? Well, artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, acesulfame-K, and saccharin have been linked to behavioural problems, hyperactivity, allergies, and are possibly carcinogenic. And listen to this, the government itself recommends that children and pregnant women should not consume any artificial sweetener. Despite this, artificial sugars and sweeteners are used in just about every packaged and processed food.

I can go on and on about the different sugars, how they are made and the different hazards. Therefore, consider this blog post to be an introduction to the hazards of artificial sugars. Stay tuned for more articles about how some of these different sugars are made and their hazards. In conjunction with sugars, in future posts, I will also discuss the variety of artificial preservatives and more details about nutrition label reading.

Health and happiness,

Varsha

On that note, a few weeks ago, I asked my twitter followers if yoga would ever become an Olympic competition? And now, am I asking all of you. What do you think? Could yoga become an Olympic event? Well, I do know that many athletes do yoga to improve their athletic performance. In fact, Team GB cyclists have been doing yoga and will continue to do yoga, as the coaches believe that yoga helps the athletes with their cycling.

Yoga is actually quite challenging, even for those who are at the advanced level. Yoga is one of the few physical activities that actually does cardio, strength, and endurance in a single class. And this is why many athletes do yoga in conjunction with their athletic training. Since yoga helps to develop both flexibility and strength, the practice of yoga can help to improve all athletic performance and that is why it can also be used as an ergogenic aid. A few of my yoga students who also participate in sports, such as football, squash, golf, and dance have found that their yoga practice has improved the way they play, participate, and perform.

Bringing about mind-body-spirit balance is the key to yoga and is also the key to life. When all the aspects of the mind, body and spirit are in alignment, you automatically participate at your optimal level of athletic performance. With that said, even the athletes in the Paralympics would benefit from a regular yoga practice. Yoga Therapy and Hatha Yoga are great forms of yoga that aid in healing the mind and body. After an accident or any trauma, its often difficult to bounce back and continue with life. If we can learn anything from the Paralympics, its that our circumstances don’t define us….we define our circumstances. Its up to us to do the best we can with what we have and what we have is plenty to accomplish our dreams. Yoga can help cultivate your self-esteem and become a champion in your own world.

Enjoy the Paralympics and have fun cultivating your own yoga practice!

Health and happiness,

Varsha

Health and happiness,
Varsha

Well, before I give you the secret and simple tools to lose weight and keep it off, let’s cover the hazards of yo-yo dieting. Yo-yo dieting is when you lose weight and then gain it back. Then again you lose weight and then it all comes back. And so on the cycle continues. Diets do not work because they are very limiting in scope. There is more to health and vitality than dieting. When it comes to good health and managing weight, lifestyle, sleep, and stress factors are just some other things to consider. When dieting or being on any weight loss regimen, it is important to focus on losing body fat and not lean body mass. When losing more than two pounds a week at a time, it usually means that you are losing lean body mass and not the excess body fat. This is where the trouble begins and the yo-yo dieting pattern takes into effect.

A calorie-restricted diet does not allow you to lose body fat, despite its first appearances. On first impression, whenever you begin a new diet, it appears that you are losing as much as nine pounds a week. When restricting calories, you use your stored glycogen to regulate energy levels. As a result, within a couple weeks, the stored glycogen is depleted and it becomes difficult to regulate the blood-sugar levels. The body requires eating enough calories to maintain energy and caloric needs. Once your body is deprived of sufficient amounts of energy, the body has to take energy from somewhere, so it comes from the bones and muscles. By this point, there is no body fat loss, only the loss of lean body mass and hence; the bones and muscles are being damaged. Ultimately, your metabolism slows down and your ideal weight goal is reached. You now have lean body mass and a decreased metabolic capacity. The minute you come off of your diet and begin to consume an adequate amount of calories, your body weight returns to exactly where you started, if not higher. You gain more body fat when you return to your “normal” diet because your body is no longer in starvation mode and it will try to keep as much energy stored just in case you restrict your calories again. Thus, the cycle of yo-yo dieting continues. You gain the weight and you lose the weight and then you go back to gaining weight. Essentially, not only does dieting make you fat, but you also end up depriving yourself of energy and nutrients. The entire hormonal and digestive systems become imbalanced and the equilibrium of the body is lost. Every time you diet, you have less potential for rebuilding muscle, less potential for burning body fat and more potential for storing body fat.

The more you diet, the harder it is to lose weight. Every time you lose weight, you lose half muscle and half of the body fat. However, after the diet is done and you gain all the weight back, you actually gain all the fat back and none of the muscle gets replaced. Muscle is metabolically more active and burns seventy times as many calories as fat cells and losing muscle slows down metabolism. Losing fat takes a lot of work, but losing muscle is really easy and it is muscle that you want to retain. The effects of yo-yo dieting make it much harder to hold onto the muscle that is greatly needed to maintain health.

With that said, I hope that I didn’t scare you off and you made your way down to how I help my clients to lose weight. The importance of managing weight is in knowing and understanding your body. The most significant matters are being able to regulate your own appetite and metabolism and it is more important to work with your body rather than against it. Most diets work against the natural functioning of the body and have the tendency to be counter-intuitive. This is why diets are counter-productive and do more harm than good.

Here are the Five key ways to lose weight and keep it off:

1)    Recognising the different body types

I always refer back to the doshas because Ayurveda recognises the individuality of different body types and different dietary needs of each person. When attempting to manage weight, working against the doshas is also not healthy because you are working against your natural body type. Therefore, whenever I work with a client to lose weight, I customise the diet based upon their dosha type.

2)    Boost digestion and metabolism

In order to lose weight, your digestion and metabolism needs to be working at its best. Although this is number two on the list right now, digestion needs to be addressed before considering the dietary needs. A strong, balanced, and healthy digestion leads to a strong and healthy metabolism, which means that your weight loss efforts will be successful. There are many ways to boost your digestion and you can read about it on my blog article titled: Improving your Digestion

3)    Do not restrict calories

Restricting your calories means that you are restricting your energy levels, which in the long run, is not a healthy nor efficient way to lose weight. In order to lose weight, you have to eat balanced meals and keep your energy levels up. When you restrict your caloric intake, you reduce your ability to keep your metabolism up to par.

4)    Eat carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats

Don’t be thrown off by all the different diets out there that tell you to leave out carbohydrates or fats. You need a balance of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins to lose weight and stay healthy. When leaving out carbohydrates, you are limiting yourself to only protein as a source of energy, which is also very inefficient for your body. Your body needs carbohydrates and needs some form of real sugars. And remember, not all fats are bad. Nuts and non-hydrogenated oils are very healthy to consume. A good balance of carbs, protein, and fats will help you to lose weight and gain muscle mass.

5)    Exercise

Diet isn’t the only key factor to losing weight. Exercise is crucial for weight loss. You have to be physically active to lose weight. Exercise also helps to reduce stress levels, which in turn prevents weight gain. And further more, exercise, helps to boost metabolism.

Ultimately, when you are on a weight loss regimen, it is important to creating new healthy habits and creating lasting healthy habits. Most diets do not work because they do not educate about creating changes so that you can adapt a healthy lifestyle once you come off of the diet. Unless you are coached and educated, it is very likely that you will revert to your old habits. Another way to counter and prevent yo-yo dieting is to learn how to live well. Along with engaging in movement activity that benefits the cardiovascular system, it is important to relax, manage stress, and sleep well. Ultimately, managing weight is about developing healthy dietary habits and creating healthy lifestyle changes.

Health and happiness,

Varsha