Weight Management , Why We Put It On And How To Loose It

By Author: EnJie Song
Total Articles: 3
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Much attention is given to loosing weight, with many techniques and approaches advocated.

Why such an issue?

The human body will gain weight when we consume more energy than we can expend. It's a simple flow equation.

For most of human history the odds were heavily stacked against this flow ever being positive or sustainable. For our unfortunate ancestors, food, especially high energy food was generally scarce or took lots of energy and risk to hunt down, had to be shared widely across the tribe, or would be putrid or stolen in a couple of days. It made sense to totally gorge when food was on. Bodies that could accommodate the additional energy had better survival rates during the inevitable shortages that followed. Those whose appetites and stomachs adjusted to accommodate larger meals when available, shortened survival odds.

In more recent times human society, aided by labour saving devices of all sorts has tipped the battle for survival in our favour. The flow equation is now easily positive all the time for large numbers of people - especially in the west.

The human body however remains ...
... as adapted as ever for those periods of food shortage, except they mostly now don't happen!

With all the food now so easily available, appetites expand with waistlines true to design. When we reduce the flow we immediately feel hungry. The body's response from history is to attempt to maintain body size via increased appetite. Our brains complain - "just one more major food experience is normal - indulge and live!". I understand that people who deliberately supersize experience greater difficulties in getting weight off than anticipated.

So what to do in the modern age when diets aren't enforceable by kind mother nature?

Any strategy has to address the fundamental principal that energy expenditure should match consumption over an average term or we put on weight.

All weight loss techniques should involve a balanced diet to build strength and fitness in conjunction with a lifestyle that consumes energy productively. No high energy food for its own sake - we don't need to stock up anymore.

There is no magic silver weight loss bullet to melt the weight away whilst you sit on the couch feeling optimistic!

Loosing weight will take time. By way of example, the reality TV show "The Biggest Loser", employed some of the most aggressive diet and exercise regimes to achieve extreme speed of weight reduction. I understand the best they achieved was a maximum weight loss of around 3kg/week. This would be considered unsustainable for all but the most obese.

A balanced diet and exercise regime can however be further assisted through other means. One of these is tea.

Many studies have been conducted in laboratories and on animals with consistent results that tea drinking can assist in reducing body weight and blood cholesterol level. The sort of results these studies report amount to less than 5% the weight reduction of an aggressive weight loss regime cited above. (1kg weight reduction in 6 weeks).

The major components responsible for the antiobesity and hypolipidemic (lowering blood fat level) effects in teas include catechins, caffeine, and theanine. They reduce body weight through following mechanisms:
1) Down-regulation of fatty acid synthase gene (The gene responsible for fat forming enzyme production).
2) Stimulation of cell energy expenditure.
3) Reduce food intake and food efficiency.
4) Increase fat oxidation.

In Chinese herbal medicine, traditional teas are also combined with other herbs that have active weight reducing functions to maximize the result, for example Lotus leaf and Jiaogulan. This enables the weight loss goal to be targeted from various levels and angles, such as appetite, energy expenditure and fat absorption in the body.

Natural Shape Lotus Leaf Herbal Tea was created based on such a theory assisting to gradually reduce fat through a positive metabolism cycle. It is recommended as an aid when combined with a balanced diet and exercise as a means to loose weight.
EnJie is the owner of Valley Green Tea : a site promoting premium grade Chinese tea. She sells a Lotus Leaf Slimming Tea , along with tea and health related information.