4 Ways Water Can Help Regulate What and How Much You Eat

Weight loss can be a hard task for anyone. There're so many different elements that go into losing weight it can be like learning a whole new set of information. There is one simple thing that you can do to help regulate how much and what you eat. Drinking water is not a magical cure-all, but it may seem like it after you learn what it can do to help you regulate your eating.

Water Aids Digestion Through Saliva

Digestion starts with saliva. Saliva is made mostly of water. According to Everyday Health, the enzymes in saliva are the beginning of the digestive tract. These enzymes help break down food so that they can be properly digested in the stomach. Without these and times food would never be able to be processed in the stomach.

Water also helps break down the fiber. Water-soluble fiber is one of the biggest factors of filling full after you eat. If you have not had enough water, or are dehydrated digesting water soluble fiber becomes almost impossible. Make sure that you can digest this food element properly by drinking lots of water.

Water Soluble Vitamins

One of the reasons that we eat food is to get access to vitamins. Vitamins and minerals are vital to various body functions. Deficits in these minerals and vitamins can cause cravings in the body. San Francisco Gate tells how the body cannot digest certain water-soluble vitamins without enough water in the body.

Water-soluble vitamins are vitamins that can only be absorbed with the aid of water. These vitamins break down with the water in the digestive tract and men are absorbed into the body. Absorption of these essential vitamins stops when dehydration occurs, or when there is not enough water in the body. When even slight deficiencies are present, you may begin craving additional foods even though you’re not hungry. These cravings are due to vitamin deficiencies and not hunger so make sure that you have enough water so that you can digest all your water-soluble vitamins.

Eat Fewer Calories

Water can help you eat fewer calories than you would if you didn’t drink water before meals. Livestrong notes a study where participants consumed 75-90 fewer calories with 2 8-oz glasses before dinner per meal. Now consuming 90 fewer calories per meal may not seem like a whole lot. However, if you did this every meal you could lose up to 28 pounds a year.

How?

If you save 90 calories a meal three times a day, that’s 270 calories every day that you’re not eating. If you do this every day for a week you’ve not consumed 1890 calories. Continue saving that 90 calories a meal every week for a year, and you’ve saved 98,280 calories. 3500 calories make up a pound. In weight loss, the theory is that a deficit of 3500 calories means 1 pound of weight loss. By saving 98,280 calories you’ve created a pretty big gap.

Meaning 28 pounds!

On the flip-side, if you were to continue eating as normal that 90 calories could be in excess. So, instead of saving, you’ve actually GAINED 28 pounds in a year. All this weight loss or weight gain is changed by only drinking two 8-ounce glasses of water before each meal.

Hunger and Thirst Cues are the Same

You may be reaching for a snack when what you should be reaching for is a tall glass of water. Spark People shared an article describing how the body sends out the exact same signal for hunger that it does for thirst. Many people don’t know how to tell the difference between hunger and thirst, and because we so rarely think about dehydration we assume that we are hungry. Next time you’re getting hungry signals from your brain try reaching for a glass of water instead. You may find out that you were just thirsty.

Now you know four surprising ways that water can help you control how much and what you eat. Helping you stop cravings and eat less water is a fantastic one stop shop for your diet solutions. What are some ways that you have noticed water help you with your diet?

10 Reasons to Stop Eating Junk Food

We’ve all been told that junk food is bad for us, but because it tastes so darn good, most of us continue eating it;.After all, fruits and vegetables can’t beat the taste of fries, right?

Wrong!

Not only are fruits and vegetables among the most tastiest natural and healthiest foods on the planet, but junk food is also the lowest common denominator. It might tempt you with its "rock ’n’ roll swagger," but junk food offers absolutely no vital nutrients and zero health benefits.

Is it really worth risking your health and possibly enduring chronic disease as a result?

Here are 10 reasons why you should stop eating junk food:

Junk Food Is Linked To Diabetes

Diabetes is caused when the pancreas becomes so under siege that it can no longer produce adequate amounts of insulin. Insulin is the hormone that turns sugar into fuel, and as experts point out, junk food is loaded with unnatural sugars that can lead to type-2 diabetes that unfortunately can result in serious complications and premature death.

Junk Food Causes Digestive Issues

Virtually everyone on the planet will encounter digestive issues at some time or another. Among these issues are irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, bloating and excess gas. However, some complain that they suffer from digestive issues all the time, and the reason for this could be that they eat too much junk.

Junk food is full of oil, sugar, trans fats and chemicals that wreak havoc on your stomach. In addition, once your stomach is irritated, your digestive system goes out of whack.

Junk Food Causes Brain Fog

Many people just assume that only our bellies, thighs, and double chins are affected by a poor diet. However, fats don’t just make their way to your bulging abdomen - they also attack your brain.

When bad fats - such as those found in junk food - reach your brain, they cause brain fog, which is that feeling you get when you can’t focus on anything.

Junk Food Causes Fatigue

Junk food contains very few nutrients, vitamins and protein, all of which are essential for an invigorated you who seizes the day. If you exist on junk food alone, you’re going to struggle to do anything at optimum power. You’ll largely feel lethargic and run down.

Junk Food Is Linked With Depression Among Teenagers

1 in 3 U.S. teens eat junk food each day, and on top of the hindrance to their physical health, it is also important to consider what effect junk is having on their mental well-being.

Research has shown that the more junk food we eat, the more we are prone to depression. This is especially the case for teenagers because they are more susceptible to hormonal changes, which can be massively influenced by their diet.

Junk Food Can Cause Elevated Blood Sugar Levels

Junk food is rich in sugar, which puts stress on the metabolism. Moreover, because it’s low in carbs and protein, your blood sugar levels are more at risk of plummeting when you stop eating. This can make you feel moody and make you want to eat even more junk food.

Junk Food Can Increase Your Risk Of Heart Disease

Heart disease is indeed really scary, but there are preventative measures we can take to ensure we don’t struggle with it later on in life. Avoiding junk food is one such method because such food is rich in bad fats that increase your bad cholesterol levels and in turn encourage plaque to form and heart disease to develop.

Junk Food Can Damage Your Liver

Once your liver becomes overloaded with all the junk you’re throwing at it, it will certainly let you know. You’ll feel lethargic, stressed, irritable, and you may develop headaches, skin conditions and a whole lot more.

Junk food has been linked to liver disease on more than one occasion, and it turns out that it can be just as bad for your most overworked organ as alcohol.

Junk Food Increases Your Risk Of Cancer

The main reason for the link between certain foods and cancer is a lack of fiber. Moreover, junk food is low in mostly everything that’s good for you - including fiber.

Junk Food Is Linked To Kidney Damage

Fries are soaked in finely processed salt. When combined with a fatty, greasy hamburger, you’re essentially double downing on kidney disease, which comes about when too much salt increases blood pressure on a consistent basis.

CRAP vs FOOD

So what should you be enjoying instead?

Eat less CRAP

• Carbonated beverages
• Refined sugars
• Artificial sweeteners and colors
• Processed foods

Eat more FOOD

• Fruits and vegetables
• Organic (whenever possible) lean proteins
• Omega-3 fatty acids
• Drink water

Listening to Your Body

I was trying to have this post ready last week but Canva was refusing to download the pictures, skewing my posting schedule.  Then came Friday's massive outage.  So frustrated by it all I gave up on completing this post last week.  Technology...can't live with it, can't live without it.

For many of us, better health does not come naturally. It is something we all must work on in order to lead healthy lives and have overall excellent health. This means listening to your body and understanding what it's telling you about what's going on inside the body. Here are four ways you can listen to your body so you can have a life that is sustained by good health.

You can listen to your body every time you put on your clothes or when stepping on the scale.  Do your clothes fit right?  Are they becoming too loose on you or are they fitting snugly?  Is the scale tipping one way or another in the wrong direction?  If you find that you are losing too much weight or packing on the pounds, it may be that you are being affected by stress and are not eating in ways that promote good health. Good health comes from eating a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats. This is in lieu of eating processed foods such as cookies, cakes, processed meals, and candies—all of which have excess calories and preservatives that are generally unhealthy for you. 

Eating too little can affect your health as well. (I tell Benny this all the time since the only meal he really eats is the dinner I prepare.) When you eat less than the amount of food you are supposed to eat, you can suffer from lack of proper nutrients. Lacking in proper nutrients, your body does not function properly and you can cause yourself to be sick from lack of the nutrients to support immune health.

Your digestive system is not only the way you get proper nutrients but also it is a main way your body uses to protect itself from pathogens. The digestive system is one big part of the immune system so you need to treat it with the care it deserves. This means paying attention to episodes of diarrhea that can strip the colon of protective bacteria, constipation, and indigestion from being under excess stress or eating the wrong foods. 

#HealthyTipsByaccuflora Day 1: What is a #probiotic and why should you take them? Merriam Webster defines a probiotic as a microorganism that when consumed maintains or restores beneficial bacteria to the digestive system. Rich meals & #fastfood can leave us feeling sluggish, bloated, and irregular. #Dairy products may be difficult to digest. #Stress & #aging may affect our digestive system. #healthyliving #digestivehealth #probiotics #guthealth #LAWRTW #longandwindingroad #longandwindingroadtowellness #BrandNewMe

A photo posted by Cassandra Schmigotzki (@longandwindingroadtowellness) on Oct 23, 2016 at 1:33pm PDT

You can care for your digestive system by eating healthy foods and by taking probiotics, which can 

replenish the gut with good bacteria. Probiotics can be taken in by eating plain yogurt with live cultures or by eating fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kefir. 

If you can’t get it in the foods you eat, you can purchase many probiotic supplements at the drug store or online. Some of the best probiotics are those that come in spore form. The spores can survive the acidic environment of your stomach and then release the live bacteria in the intestines, where they take root and drive out the bad bacteria and fungi.

This means following your blood pressure and pulse very carefully. If you are inactive or have a family history of high blood pressure, you may be suffering from high blood pressure and not know it. This means you have to check your blood pressure every time you run across a blood pressure machine at the drug store or grocery store. When you see the doctor, your blood pressure will be taken as well. If it is consistently elevated, you may need to be on an anti-hypertensive medication or modify your diet and exercise program so you can avoid some of the many complications of high blood pressure.

You should check your pulse as well on a periodic basis. A high pulse can mean that you are too inactive or are under a great deal of stress. Exercise can cause your heart to function better and will slow your pulse to normal levels. 

Feel tired, but keep pushing yourself past your limits? Are you fighting fatigue on a regular basis, instead of taking the time to rest and rejuvenate? Fatigue and low energy are both your body talking to you and letting you know that you need to rest and relax, if you don’t listed you will crash and burn.

Are you ignoring anxiety, instead of looking to erase its sources and lower stress levels? Stress kills, and you are the only one that can take care to reduce its load on your body, mind, and spirit. Great ways to fight stress and its impact are Tai Chi, meditation, yoga and taking vacations on a regular basis.

Where do you need to listen to your body more?