The Four Pillars of Sound Weight Management

Complete List of Weight Management Products

Pillar #1: Nutrition

Do you find yourself wondering where fiction ends and fact begins when it comes to shedding unwanted pounds? The truth is, there are no miracles or shortcuts to losing weight. However, one thing is certain: DIETING for permanent weight loss doesn't work for most people.

Step one in your approach to weight management should be to eliminate the word "diet" from your vocabulary. Instead, focus on adopting the eating habits and lifestyle habits described in this Four Pillars of Sound Weight Management program.

The following information is designed to help you develop a sound approach to nutrition for weight loss.

The Whole Foods Diet

When Dr. Dean Ornish, author of "Eat More, Weigh Less" developed a dietary program for his heart patients that focused on legumes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, many experienced a happy, unexpected side-effect: extra pounds melted off.

What was it about the Ornish diet that facilitated weight loss? The answer flies in the face of conventional wisdom. The experience of Ornish's patients, and many others, has proved that more important than the amount of calories we eat are the types of foods we eat.

The fact is, people who struggle with excess weight often consume fewer calories than thinner people. Because in the long run calorie counting may lower the body's metabolism, focusing on calorie restriction can actually work against weight loss.

We used to believe that the body didn't distinguish one type of calorie from another - that it used all types of calories in the same way. This belief has been proven false. What we know now is the body has a hard time storing carbohydrates as fat, whereas dietary fats are much harder for the body to use as energy. Complex carbohydrates (whole grains, fruits, vegetables) actually promote thermogenesis, whereas dietary fats slow metabolism. In a nutshell, fats and highly processed foods are more likely to make us fat.

To illustrate this point, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago put 18 sedentary women whose diet was approximately 37 percent fat on a diet that was 20 percent fat. Even though the women consumed more calories on the new diet, they lost four to five pounds each over 20 weeks.

A sensible diet, enhanced by Nature's Sunshine Super Supplemental Vitamins and Minerals, will provide a sound nutritional foundation to your weight loss program.

General dietary suggestions, patterned after those used by Dr. Ornish and other similar programs, follow:

 Eat in moderation:
Nonfat yogurt, cheese, mayonnaise or sour Cream
Low-fat frozen dinners
Egg whites
Avoid meat; if you feel you must have meat eat poultry or fish
Avoid oils, butter & margarine
Drink at least 64 ounces of pure water daily

Eat all you want, until full:
Legumes (beans, lentils, etc.)
Fruits
Whole grains (wheat, barley, corn, brown rice, oats, millet)
Vegetables

Why it Works

Unprocessed foods contain the nutrients and fiber necessary to fill us up. They're lower in calories than processed foods so you can actually eat a lot more without the weight gain associated with junk foods. For instance: You can eat a pound and a half of vegetables for the caloric equivalent in every ounce of fat. That's a lot of vegetables!

You can have about 5 ounces of fruit for every ounce of sugar.

What About Food Cravings?

A link to successful nutritional dietary balance

IMPROPER DIGESTION - This is the biggest cause of food cravings. If you don't digest and assimilate your foods, your body won't get the nutrition provided, so it will continue to send hunger signals to the brain. Food Enzymes Digestive Aid helps to digest and assimilate foods and supplements that you consume so your nutrition goes to the cellular level.

CARBOHYDRATES - If you crave sweets often you are not correctly breaking down the carbohydrates you are consuming. For example, if you only break down 20% of the carbohydrates that you consume you may find yourself eating 5 times the normal amount of carbohydrates to feel satisfied. Also, it is a proven fact that when we are under stress we burn carbohydrates. Consequently, we want to eat a lot of carbohydrates to replace the ones we are burning up. This explains why stress will often cause us to crave junk foods which are mostly carbohydrates. You may also be symbolically looking for "sweet" in your life. Chromium is an excellent mineral to help with sugar cravings. Although chromium picolinate has had some bad publicity with research showing it can cause chromosome damage, the mineral itself is not the problem. It is the "picolinate" which is bonded to the mineral. GTF Chromium is a trace mineral that plays a role in regulating blood sugar levels. Each "glucose tolerance factor (GTF)" molecule, a hormonelike compound, requires chromium as its central atom. GTF works with insulin to transport glucose from the blood into the cells. When this function is not working properly, the cells resist insulin and do not properly absorb the glucose needed for energy. The liver also needs chromium to manufacture fatty acids, lecithin, cholesterol and lipoproteins. Without chromium, blood fats tend to rise because the liver cannot filter them out. Processing destroys much of the chromium content in foods.

FATS - If you are craving fats you probably aren't breaking them down enough to satisfy your body's need for them at a cellular level. This is related to the liver's ability to secrete bile to break down the fats properly. LIV-J is a good combination of herbs that enhances the liver's ability to break down the fats properly.

DAIRY - A craving for dairy usually indicates a lack of minerals. Taking a Calcium-Magnesium supplement often lessens the craving for dairy products. It is a proven fact that we need hydrochloric acid to break down the minerals to utilize them. If you do not get benefit from the minerals, consider your digestion.

SALTY - Salt cravings can be related to not having enough energy or not tasting foods properly. Consider adding natural energy with a formula like Energ-V . A zinc deficiency can cause lack of taste and smell and body/foot odor. Supplementation can eliminate those problems so you won't use salt just to taste your food.

Recommendations

Walk every day for at least 20 minutes for the first week or two, then try to add five minutes per week until you're walking an hour a day. If an hour is impossible, commit to 30 minutes four times weekly.

If you simply forgo 30 minutes of television four times a week and walk instead, you'll lose about nine pounds in a year. That's with no dietary changes!

Allow yourself time for relaxation, but don't fall into the trap of watching hours of television every day. Get up and vacuum the house, clean out that closet, play a game with the kids, take a walk, go to a park and do anything but SIT!

Pillar #3: Supplementation

When you cut back on food intake in the effort to lose weight, it's often hard to get all the nutrients your body needs for optimal health and well-being. That's why dietary supplements can be invaluable in a weight loss program. In addition to providing important nutrients, some supplements can even help the body use energy more effectively.

Nature's Sunshine has a wide variety of weight-management support products to assist you in reaching your goal. We invite you to consider the following supplements as part of your balanced weight-management regimen.

A key to losing weight is to use more energy through activity than you consume through food. When you increase the rate at which your body uses food energy, weight loss can be accomplished more easily.

Thermogenesis is the process of raising body temperature to speed up metabolism, which increases the burning of calories. Thermogenesis occurs naturally during periods of activity, such as exercise, and is encouraged with foods high in fiber and complex carbohydrates.

You can herbally enhance thermogenesis in the body with formulas designed to create a thermogenic effect upon the system.

Best-Selling Weight Loss Products

SF ® is a formula that is packed with herbs to address the many physiological facets of weight loss. SF is known as Skinny Formula. It has been used on its own for weight loss or combined with another program.

Garcinia Combination is a complete combination of herbs that includes Garcinia Cambogia, chickweed, l-Carnitine and chromium.Making this a safe non - ephedra combination to use.

7-Keto™ * (30 capsules) - Research has shown that this revolutionary new weight-loss product boosts the immune system by enhancing the function of white blood cells. It helps the body increase antibody production, which helps in the fight against specific viruses like the flu. Antibodies can attach to invaders and prevent them from entering cells, or they can mark an invader for destruction by other white blood cells. 7-Keto has been shown to improve normal antibody formation by over 500 percent! And it increases the production of cellular defense proteins called cytokines. This is all in addition to the powerful weight-loss benefits it offers, including boosting metabolism by stimulating T-3 thyroid hormone levels and lowering the body's weight set point.

Carbo-Grabbers (60 capsules) - are 100% safe, made entirely of natural ingredients that block the digestion of starches and carry them into the intestinal tract where the body can eliminate them as Nature intended.

Fat Grabbers (120 capsules) - Wouldn't it be nice to eat a meal and know that some of the fat that comes from your favorite foods would not be absorbed by your body? Fat Grabbers is designed to help do just that. Psyllium and guar gum combine to bulk stool so that more fats and toxins are eliminated. While lecithin and chickweed work to dissolve fat into water soluble substances that will not deposit themselves in your body.

Cellu-Smooth with Coleus (90 capsules) - As people age, tissues in certain parts of the body break down. Microcirculation in these areas affects fatty tissue, when blood and lymphatic vessel walls become permeable. This prevents nutrients like oxygen from being carried to the tissue, hindering the drainage of toxins. Nature's Sunshine's Cellu-Smooth may provide help for millions of people who seek it.

Collatrim Plus - Liquid and Capsules - Nature's Sunshine's team of research scientists has developed an exciting new blend called Collatrim Plus. Complete with Conjugated Linoleic Acid, L-carnitine, Collagen, Garcinia cambogia and Aloe Vera. This liquid combination of nutritional and herbal ingredients supports weight loss and enhances the body's ability to burn fat. It is also excellent for body builders and individuals who wish to tone muscles.

MetaboMax® EF™  (90 tablets) is a nourishing, caffeine-free weight-loss formula. It promotes the burning of stored fat by increasing metabolism - the rate at which the body uses calories for energy. This safe, effective formula supports weight loss, increased energy and appetite suppression.

CLA (75 capsules) is an essential fatty acid that is important to the body. It can help modify body composition by sustaining lean muscle tissue and enhancing lipolysis (the burning of fat), resulting in a number of health and weight benefits.

Complete List of Weight Management Products

Pillar #4: Emotional

Weight problems are often emotional in origin. For instance, feeling we don't deserve to be attractive because of things that happened in childhood, such as physical or verbal abuse, is a rather common roadblock to weight loss.

Many people eat when they're lonely, angry, depressed or stressed. It's not hard to see why we equate food with comfort - food is a prime way to control children's behavior. As children, if we ate our veggies we got to eat dessert. If we behaved, we got an ice cream bar. When parents use food as a reward, the stage may be set for unhealthy attitudes toward food in adulthood.

Think about attitudes toward food in the family you grew up in that may be influencing your behavior today. Recognizing the source of a problem is the first step toward correcting it.

Set Realistic Expectations

It's important to be realistic about the type of body we are striving for. In the real world, bodies come in all shapes and sizes, while in the world of glamour and glitz, tall and thin is in. Most people simply won't look like fashion models, no matter how hard they try. Unrealistic expectations can set the stage for depression and self-hate.

The desire to be thin can also trigger serious eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. While maintaining a weight we can be comfortable with is important, it's also important to be realistic and learn to love the body we've inherited, with its strengths and weaknesses.

In summary, there is not one "magic bullet" for losing weight. A balanced and steady approach will yield the greatest results. Find somebody to team up with. Set your goals and log your success.

MEASURE! When using the thermogenic products above that cause the body to burn fat, you will lose inches before pounds....because fat weighs much less than muscle. So as you lose fat and build muscle, you will lose inches before noticing it on the scales. Measure in the areas you want to lose the most. This will be an encouragement to you to stick with the program when the scale doesn't show it.

Weight fluctuates according to water and times of the month for women, so don't put too much emotional stock in the scales.