The Atkins High Protein Diet And How It Works

August 12th, 2010 Posted in Weight Loss
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The Atkins Diet is a very popular “low carbohydrate” weight reduction system, but it is often greatly misunderstood! Popular, yet slightly exaggerated depictions of the plan portray dieters wolfing down nothing but vast amounts of meat and fat. Although the program is not quite that simple, many dieters have used it to successfully lose weight and improve their health.

On this plan, dieters follow a very specific regimen based on restricted carbohydrate intake. Emphasis is placed on the nutritional aspects of the diet over exercise and other factors, although getting physical activity is also important to weight loss. There are four stages in the Atkins diet:

Induction: During this two-week stage at the start of the diet program, dieters can only consume up to 20 grams of carbs per day. Dieters can ingest high protein foods such as meat and eggs, fats such as oils and butter, and other foods with little to no carbs. Many foods containing carbs are not permitted at all during this stage, including alcoholic beverages.

This early phase is supposed to help the body go from burning carbs for energy, as it normally does, into burning stored up fat (the state called ketosis). Most dieters start to lose weight during this stage.

Ongoing Weight Loss: During this stage, dieters gradually increase their carbohydrate intake by adding 5 grams of carbs into their diet every week. Dieters adjust their diet, losing weight to put themselves within 5-10 pounds of their target weight, before transitioning into the Pre-maintenance period.

Pre-maintenance: Dieters use the Pre-maintenance phase to find out the maximum amount of carbs they can consume without gaining weight. During this stage, dieters increase carbohydrate intake by 10 grams a week. Once dieters reach their target weight and can maintain it for one month, they move into the Lifetime Maintenance stage.

Lifetime Maintenance: For lasting results, the Atkins program is designed to be maintained throughout the dieter’s lifetime. Using the techniques that helped the dieter reach their target weight, the dieter develops an eating and exercise program to stay at their goal weight. Individuals can revert to previous stages if their weight begins to rise again.

Dieters who can stay on the Atkins diet are typically successful in losing weight; unfortunately, many people cannot keep up with the program and end up quitting early on in the induction stage. In general, most diet plans fail simply because dieters cannot stay on the plan.

Many people struggle with dieting because they experience strong food cravings, have problems with compulsive overeating, can’t regulate their appetites, or simply don’t feel the motivation to lose weight. Overcoming these mental obstacles is the most challenging aspect of losing weight.

One reason why many people cannot seem to manage their eating is because they are emotional eaters. Such individuals eat in response to their feelings, such as when they are bored or upset. However, this habit programs a “conditioned response” into the unconscious mind. This means that when individuals experience the same feelings that made them overeat initially, they will feel compelled to overeat once again.

Hypnotherapy works by helping our unconscious minds disassociate our emotions from our eating habits. To extinguish the conditioned response to overeat, a hypnotherapy weight loss program is used to break the link in the unconscious mind between overeating and specific “trigger” behaviors.

For instance, if you tend to binge eat when you get bored, hypnosis can disassociate boredom from eating in your unconscious mind. Hypnotherapy techniques can then be used to replace the compulsion to overeat with another activity, such as exercising. This way, the next time you become bored, instead of overeating, you will feel motivated to exercise.

Hypnosis is a powerful tool for stress relief as well, helping us deal with our stressful emotions and relieve tension without eating. As a relaxation tool, it calms the mind, helps you develop strategies to cope with stress, and boosts your self-confidence to motivate you to lose weight.

Self hypnosis can also be used to eliminate the emotional stressors that keep you from losing weight. Many overweight people hide behind their weight for emotional protection. For instance, after a painful end to a relationship, people often find themselves becoming overweight so they can avoid new relationships and avoid having to endure emotional pain again. Through hypnosis, we can think more positively and focus on having better health instead of becoming overwhelmed by our emotions.

Not only is hypnosis an ideal motivational tool, it relieves stress, eliminates the conditioned responses that trigger overeating, and can be used to overcome the mental obstacles that prevent weight loss. Hypnotherapy for weight loss is extremely effective at helping people stay on a diet plan, such as the Atkins program, and naturally lose weight.

Alan B. Densky, CH has spent over 30 years specializing in weight loss. He offers several ways to lose weight, including dieting CD and hypnosis for weight loss DVD. Visit his self improvement CD website for Free hypnosis videos, newsletters, and downloads.

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SAD – When Seasonal Blues Get Out of Control

July 29th, 2010 Posted in depression
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Are you becoming concerned that your case of seasonal sadness is lasting longer, or is more intense than usual? How can you tell whether this is just a short-lived issue, or whether you might be facing a serious condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder(SAD)? Ought you to look for counseling? Educate yourself about the symptoms of SAD, how it can affect you, and what therapies are most helpful.

SAD is not just feeling sad when the weather is bad. SAD starts to develop in autumn, when the season moves toward winter and daylight hours are shortened. Symptoms usually start sometime between September and November. Furthermore, since SAD and other types of depression are so severe, doctors require extensive evidence of the condition before they are willing to make a definite diagnosis. Despite the fact that symptoms may be very serious, doctors rarely diagnose a person with SAD before he or she shows strong evidence of the disorder for a minimum of three winters in a row.

Those who experience this condition start to experience feelings of sadness, reduced motivation, and often sleep for long periods. Furthermore, they develop a dependence on carbohydrates or candy. In addition, most people diagnosed with SAD also have poor immune system functioning. Often, they develop illnesses much more quickly than persons who do not suffer from SAD.

SAD can seriously decrease an individual’s capability of functioning at work or educationally. This lack of motivation can make it difficult for a person even to get out of bed and tend to normal activities. People with SAD find it difficult to participate in social situations, or even at home. These persons frequently experience times of extreme anxiety and negativity. Sometimes, the problem becomes serious and distressing enough that some sufferers even consider suicide and have to be hospitalized for treatment.

Not surprisingly, women seem to experience SAD more frequently than men do. Furthermore, this disorder seems to get better each year when spring arrives. Indeed, by March or April, symptoms typically subside or disappear completely – until autumn returns again. This remains true even in regions that are frequently cloudy or rainy throughout the entire year. In fact, almost twenty percent of the people diagnosed with SAD will at some point develop symptoms of bipolar disorder.

These sufferers primarily tend to be depressed in the winter months, but report normal moods throughout the rest of the year. At times, however, individuals describe instances of uncontrollable mood elevation, which is also called mania. As with other types of depression, SAD can become quite severe and even disabling if left untreated. Additionally, some people suffer from very low-grade levels of depression; they may struggle with sleepiness, lack of motivation, and loss of appetite. These individuals, however, rarely suffer instances of depressed moods or anxiety.

This type of depression is relatively uncommon in sunny regions such as Florida, Arizona, and even Colorado. Others, who reside in places with many cloudy days, like Indiana, Illinois, or Washington are much more likely to develop this disorder. Residents of countries such as Denmark, Sweden, and England also face an increased risk of SAD.

Medical researchers have tried many different approaches to aid affected individuals overcome this debilitating problem. They have tried exposing people to artificial light in an attempt to assist them to produce more serotonin and decrease depression symptoms. Scientists have also tried medicines such as antidepressants, as well as supplements, like melatonin, trying to relieve these signs of depression. Many individuals who experience Seasonal Affective Disorder also seek out counselors when they are suffering most greatly.

Each of these treatments have been used with varying degrees of success. Despite this, all are definitely more costly and require more time than two recently introduced, innovative methods. Hypnotherapy practitioners have perfected the art of providing assistance with learning both NLP and self-hypnosis techniques for depression. Through the latter method, clients learn to talk themselves out of a depressive period and resolve their symptoms. These innovative therapies, hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, have proven to have a phenomenal amount of success in helping clients to heal from, and avoid future episodes of SAD.

Summary: Seasonal Affective Disorder is a kind of winter blues that reappears every year at almost the same time. Only people who struggle with this illness can determine whether to continue battling these symptoms alone, year after year, or to try to get help in resolving this condition once and for all. Hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming to treat SAD are two beneficial, innovative treatments that provide a rapid escape from these feelings without requiring excessive resources in terms of money or energy.

Alan B. Densky, CH specializes in depression and stress related symptoms as an NGH certified hypnotist. He has helped thousands of clients since 1978. He supplies CDs for hypnosis therapy for depression. Visit his Neuro-VISION hypnosis for self improvement site for the hypnosis article repository, or watch his free videos on hypnosis.

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