For thousands of years, the Chinese are consuming tea to uphold good health and longevity. They even used this as a medicine way back in the Han Dynasty. And this tea drinking is still present in the Chinese and also in the other parts of the world. There are several types of tea. White Tea which is picked early in the spring before the leaf buds have opened and while still covered with silky white hair and has high level of antioxidants, the Green Tea which is the common tea nowadays. It is brewed in water that is well below boiling to prevent cooking the leaves and destroying the subtle notes of the tea, The Black Tea or Red Tea which are known for their robust, full-bodied flavors of cocoa, earth, molasses, and honey, The Pu-Erh Tea which was said to lower cholesterol, aid digestion, and cure hangovers and lastly, the Oolong Tea.

Manufactured from tea leaves, Oolong tea is one those types. It is oxidized and rolled after picking; it allows the essential oils to react with the air. This process turns the leaf darker and produces distinctive fragrances before heat is added to set the taste. The resulting tea can be anywhere between a green and a black tea, depending on the processing method. Oolongs can be recognized by their large leaves and a complexity of flavor that ranges from highly floral and intensely fruity to mildly roast with honey nuances. Other name for Oolong tea is Wu-Long Tea. This tea is sold commercially in the United States, served commonly in different Chinese restaurants and is less fermented than black tea. According to research, Oolong tea has antioxidant properties that effect on cardiovascular disease, cancer and obesity. There are also some data suggesting that Oolong Tea can promote weight loss by increasing energy expenditure or EE. Caffeine is recognized to increase the energy expenditure or EE for a number of hours following ingestion depending on the level of intake. And this caffeine is present to Oolong Tea. Now, scientists have proven that Oolong Tea and Weight Loss is possible. Here are several Oolong Tea and Weight Loss facts:

• A Fat Blocker – In the University of Tokushima, a study has been conducted wherein 12 young Japanese adults participated in a 17-day process consisting of 10 days of washout and 7 days of treatment. As a result, it doubles the amount of fat being excreted. Scientists also established that fat secretion was twice as high for those who consumed Oolong tea compared to Placebo.

• Keep Slim – drinking Oolong tea is a proven natural way to burn fats over the long term. It maintains a good and healthy slim body by consuming 6 cups of it daily.

• Reduces Belly Fat & Cholesterols – it was founded in a 2001 Japanese study that drinking 1 liter of Oolong tea a day can take 2 years off the internal organ age. By conducting an experiment with 11 participants, 9 experienced lower cholesterol levels.

Here are 14 Benefits of Drinking Green Tea everyday:

1) Longevity

Green tea may protect against death from all causes, especially cardiovascular disease. A study that took place comprising of 40,000 participants, who began the study free of stroke, heart disease and cancer. These participants were followed for up to 11 years.

This study showed that compared with participants who consumed less than 1 cup of green tea per day, those drinking 5 or more cups a day had a significantly lower risk of death from all causes, especially lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and stroke. However, this study found no cancer prevention benefit of green tea.

2) Improved memory and learning ability

Senior citizens that drink green tea have demonstrated increased mental abilities. Also, green tea may protect the brain from forming plaque deposits found in Alzheimer’s disease and reduce memory loss.

3) Helps in Weight Loss

Green tea helps in stimulating fat oxidation. Green tea instantly boosts your metabolism. Drinking green tea replaces the extra calories and sugar substances obtain from other drinks. There’s no sugar or calories in green tea. Weight loss for green tea goes well with exercise, and proper diets.

4) It is found that people who drink Green Tea are more protected from UV rays and their Skin tends to glow. It also helps prevent Skin Cancer

5) Green tea helps lower Cholesterol levels.

6) Diabetic Protection and regulation of blood glucose levels

Green tea consumption “may improve glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in individuals with diabetes.”  In studies, it has been shown to help our bodies make better use of glucose.

7) Heart protective effects: Asian paradox

Green tea may protect against heart disease and stroke by lowering the level of cholestrol. Researchers say green tea might explain the “Asian paradox” – when people living in Asian countries smoke cigarettes heavily, but have relatively low incidence of heart disease. Japanese studies confirm that regular green tea consumption provides protection against coronary artery disease. Even after the heart attack it prevents cell deaths and speeds up the recovery of heart cells.

8 ) Helps Prevent Stroke

According to the study done by Shinichi Kuriyama, 62% of women lowered the risk of dying from a stroke when drinking at least 5 cups of green tea daily. Men lowered the risk by 42%. Green tea provides healthy cell production, and protects the brain from inflammation and damage to cells. Green tea increases oxygen circulation to the brain as well. A study done in China consists of lowering the risks of strokes by 75%.

9) Green Tea is Neuroprotective and it helps reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases

10) It is used to treat multiple sclerosis.

11) Anticlotting effect: Green tea also appears to prevent the formation of blood clots (thrombosis).

12) It is found that people who drink Green Tea on a regular basis have found increase in their stamina.

13) It helps prevent Tooth decay

Green tea destroys bacteria and viruses that cause many dental diseases.
It also slows the growth of bacteria which leads to bad breath

14) Arthritis

Green tea may help people with arthritis by reducing inflammation and slowing cartilage breakdown

Excellent video showing different ab exercises which you can implement right away.

I’m a long way from my teen years, but I can still remember the things I used to think when I looked in the mirror: “I’m too fat,” “I’m too tall,” and “why is my butt so big?” I spent hours cataloging my flaws and, if I missed any, my older sister was kind enough to help me out.

With over 12.5 million of our nation’s children overweight, we need to find creative ways to encourage young people to adopt healthy habits. But it’s hard enough to get adults to take responsibility for their weight and health. How do you inspire kids who are also dealing with the tumultuous nature of being a teen to succeed at weight loss?

Here are a few things to keep in mind if you plan to shed the extra pounds:

Set reasonable goals. If you want to lose 10 pounds to look great in your prom dress, that’s great. However, if your prom is two weeks away then you have created an unreasonable goal. A weight loss of one pound per week is reasonable. A goal of five pounds per week is not reasonable and you will be doomed to failure.
Walk as much as you can (the average person burns about six calories per minute walking). Try to walk at least one mile a day to start. Each day walk a little further. Walk at a brisk pace, and if you find you are getting out of breath then slow down. In the beginning it is more important that you at least walk, rather than walk fast. Take the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Dance by yourself to the music on the television or your MP3 player. Any movements will make you lose weight, so have fun and dance your way to a thinner you!

When you snack, choose healthy fruits and vegetables rather than candy or chips. Or, if you really hate veggies, get some fat free dressing to go with it, or instead opt for the new low-fat chips that have recently appeared these days. Light yogurt helps boost up your metabolism and tastes great. Popcorn, minus added salt or butter, are excellent munchies. It is full of fiber, will fill you up, and tastes good.

Exercise for Teen Weight Loss

Model behaviors are not limited to the kitchen.

“Active parents usually breed active kids, so if you want your kids to become more physical, lead the way,” says Boutelle.

She also suggests turning off the television and limiting computer time. Parents may want to reconsider allowing teens to have TVs in their bedrooms.

“Studies show that kids who spend hours in front of screens are more sedentary, and to make it worse, there is a strong tendency to be snacking mindlessly while sitting,” says Boutelle.

Outdoor Sports will help with the whole exercise routing as well this could be anything like:

• Riding a bike
• Skateboarding or inline skating
• Swimming
• Walking or running
• Sports
• Shooting hoops

Another fun way to lose weight is to: Pick high energy music and dance to what you know or learn new steps through videos or online trainings courses. You may even just dance to your heart content with no particular moves if you prefer.

Make it a regular habit. Try setting aside time each day for exercise so it becomes a natural part of your routine.

Weigh yourself every week on a certain day in the morning before you eat and after you go to the bathroom. This will show you’ve lost weight rather than weighing every day. Which will in turn help you keep remain motivated.

How Parents Can Help Teens With Weight Loss

Teens cannot succeed at weight loss alone. They need supportive parents who create healthy home environments — and who serve as good role models. When parents succeed at losing weight, their children are more likely to succeed as well. But when a teen has overweight parents, it’s often very difficult for that teen to lose weight.

Be Positive

Being overweight doesn’t inevitably lead to a lifetime of low self-esteem, but your acceptance is critical. Listen to your teen’s concerns. Comment on his or her efforts, skills and accomplishments. Make it clear that your love is unconditional — not dependent on weight loss. Help your teen learn healthy ways to express his or her feelings, such as writing in a journal.

If your teen is struggling with low self-esteem or isn’t able to cope with his or her weight in a healthy manner, consider a support group, formal weight-control program or professional counseling. Additional support may give your teen the tools to counter social pressure, cultivate more positive self-esteem and take control of his or her weight. The benefits will last a lifetime.

Having a flat belly or so-called “six-pack abs” is a dream of most adults. If you’re middle-aged, have ever been pregnant, or sometimes indulge in too much food or one too many beers, you probably have a spare tire you’d like to get rid of. So what’s the best strategy for banishing belly fat? Is it as simple as adding certain foods to your diet, or doing particular exercises?

Body fat is not that all bad that is considered. Fat to some extent is good and required by the body but you need to understand difference between good and bad fat. If you have accumulated that big belly and want to lose belly fat, take a run – through some of the myths that are prevailing in minds of many of us and know the facts for yourself.

Causes of Belly Fat:

Consistently consuming more calories than you can burn will result in the accumulation of fat in the whole body. The belly is one of the areas, especially for women, that tends to attract more fat and as a result the bulging belly is formed.  Sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise and over-consumption of foods high in fats and sugars exaggerate the problem further. Women are more prone to belly fat because of the hormonal changes their body has to undergo during menopause, period and pregnancy and thus learning how to lose belly fat for women is more difficult and needs a lot more effort and patience.

Other factors responsible for an increase in belly fat

• Stress hormones contribute to an increase
• Genetics determine whether some people are more likely to develop visceral fat then others
• Smoking creates the same hormones as stress

A rich, healthy meal to lose belly fat

If you want to lose belly fat successfully, it is important to stop eating too frequently. The intake of food should be such that it keeps your stomach filled for a long period of time. Evasion of high-calorie food and eating low-calorie but healthy food brings considerable decline in weight. Eat fiber rich food like lentils, apple, peas, cereals, and nuts etc. These foods will keep your digestive system strong and will also repress your hunger.

Water is essential and vital for our body as it helps liver proper function and that accelerates fat burning process as liver has the ability to burn fat stored in reserves and convert it to energy. So drink lots and lots of water avoiding full dairy drinks like milk shakes or chocolate drinks and soft drinks. Better alternative is Fresh fruit juice but eating fruits is even better.

Tips for Exercise

Exercise to remove belly fat is hardly surprising, considering that being sedentary is a major culprit for belly fat to begin with. We already know that we cannot spot reduce the abdominal area, the only way to exercise the fat away is a combination of aerobic and strength training.

• Get Moving – Any exercise is better than none. Once you start to build up your fitness, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you feel the benefits of a healthier body. You’ll have a lot more spring into your step, and the compliments you’ll get will have you wanting to step out even more.
• When your fitness improves, get into ‘stop start’ training – these kind of high intensity training will stimulate more of fat burning metabolism and get you into shape faster. But start out slowly

• Aerobic training
  • 30 minutes to an hour each day of good cardio workout is sufficient. If you amalgamate this exercise into your everyday even better. Walking to and from work 20-30 minutes each way or cycling is an excellent way to get trim and healthy fast
  • Jogs are another great option and a good way to distress. Whatever you do, once you find the aerobic training you enjoy, you will never want to stop

• Strength training
  • Increasing muscle will increase your metabolism and fat burning will be far more efficient
  • Remember, strength training for woman does not mean you will build muscle like a man. Woman are different and strength training is vital to strong bones and a shapely firm figure
  • Abdominal training will help tone and flatten the stomach, but is not visually effective until the visceral fat is reduced

• Resistance training:  A 2006 study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism suggests that combining cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise with resistance training is more effective than cardiovascular training alone in getting rid of abdominal fat^[3] You can do resistance training with free weights, exercise machines, or resistance bands.

Does controlling your Meal help lose Bell Fat?

The best way to get rid of belly fat is to Control your meal – stick to the 1 plate rule if you want to get rid of stomach fat. No second serves. However, there are quite a few of us that have been taught to eat everything on our plate. Unfortunately, this habit is hard to break.

But you can improve on that by using smaller plates or bowls. This will literally trick your eye into thinking you have more food. Another way to get the right portions is to use your plate as a guide. Fill half of your plate with vegetables, one-quarter for whole grains, and one-quarter for protein. This makes eating healthier a snap – and much easier to getting rid of belly fat.

It may be difficult at first, but overtime your body will adapt to the smaller portions, and you feel better for it. And this is where having six healthy mini meals a day helps – eating MORE OFTEN but in controlled portions to curb the cravings!

Other Things to keep in mind:

• Get more sleep – 8 hours is the minimum for everyone. Research shows that people who get less than 8 hours of sleep have slower metabolism than people who get a good night’s sleep. People who do not get enough rest also tend to eat more throughout the day to try and keep their energy levels up.

• Protein is good – Protein can help to stabilize how much insulin in the blood stream. Insulin levels that are too high or low can seriously affect your metabolism.

Motivate yourself by understanding the risks associated with belly fat:

Losing belly fat doesn’t have to be solely a cosmetic goal; understanding the health issues linked with belly fat can help motivate you. Belly fat is linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Specifically it’s the deepest layer of belly fat–the fat you can’t see or grab–that poses health risks. That’s because these “visceral” fat cells actually produce hormones and other substances that can affect your health (e.g. increased insulin resistance and/or breast cancer risk).The fact that they’re located right next to and in between organs in your abdominal cavity doesn’t help. For example, fat next to the liver drains into it, causing a fatty liver, which is a risk factor for insulin resistance, setting the stage for Type 2 diabetes.

Everyone wants to be at the top of their game when it comes to losing weight – and often they feel that the faster they can lose the extra pounds, the better off they will be. However, losing weight too fast can be very dangerous, so it is important to understand how your body works so that you can know how fast is too fast, and whether or not you will continue to be healthy.

It can also affect your overall motivation to lose weight. Trying to lose ten pounds before bathing suit season sets in can be an achievable goal; trying to lose ten pounds by next week is not. One of the reasons why many dieters fail to successfully lose weight (which means keeping it off) is because they set unrealistic goals by aiming for fast weight loss.

Here are some reason why it is NOT ADVISABLE to lose weight too fast:

• Too Much Change. Losing weight at a healthy rate (two pounds per week) requires a lot of change. You have to cut calories, increase you physical activity and get rid of some of the foods you love to eat. If you’re starting a healthy weight loss plan, you spread this change out over a few weeks so you can build a solid foundation. When you try and lose weight at a pace quicker than two pounds per week and you don’t want to build that foundation of slow change, you’ll be trying to pack some very hard new habits into your life with no time to adjust. This will place heavy strain on your body and eventually forcing you to abandon your diet all together

• It is important to understand while losing weight too quickly can be damaging to your health. First of all, your body gains weight slowly. As your body gains weight, it has time to get used to the extra weight, pound by pound. You don’t gain 20 pounds in a week, so your body doesn’t have to get used to a lot of weight gain at once. Therefore, gaining weight is a very gradual process, and although it is not a good process, it is one that your body can easily handle. You need to make sure that when you are losing weight, you are doing so in the same way. Your body is used to you being a certain size, so you need to allow it to get used to less weight in a more gradual way. Losing weight too quickly is dangerous because your body won’t know what is going on, and body systems can go into shock.

• Nutritional Deficiency: Low calorie diets tend to be very restrictive, and you will find that you will be unable to eat healthy foods. In fact, long-term crash dieting can result in serious nutritional deficiencies, as a result of eating a poor variety of foods.

• The pounds that you shed are mainly water weight and not from fat, which can cause you to easily dehydrate and then rapidly regain the weight.

• Psychological Complications: Very-low-calorie diets may result in a rapid initial weight loss but many dieters find that the severe hunger associated with eating so little food makes it hard to stick with this type of eating program for long periods of time. Hunger levels may become so severe that the dieter falls into a diet/binge cycle of eating. Crash dieting may lead to eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. A very-low-calorie diet can also be socially exclusive, especially if friends and family are eating normally.

• Yo-Yo Dieting. Once you go back to your old habits, you’ll gain all of the weight back plus a few pounds. This is called yo-yo dieting because your weight goes up and down with every abandoned attempt. Each time you fail another one of these diets, you’ll gain more weight than you started with and find it more difficult to lose the same amount. Instead of constantly going up and down, get a long term solution to your weight problems so you won’t have to quickly lose weight every time you need to look good.

• Fasting or using detox diets can cause diarrhea; the resulting dehydration can cause constipation.

• Osteoporosis Long-term crash dieters frequently suffer from osteoporosis, a disease that causes the bones in your body to become extremely brittle. This is because fast crash diets severely limit your intake of calcium. As a result, calcium begins to leach out of the bones in your body, leaving them particularly fragile. Many crash dieters suffer broken bones, particularly hips and wrists, as a result of their osteoporosis.

• Rapid weight loss leads straight to fatigue, draining your energy levels and stamina.

• Losing weight quickly takes it toll on your appearance, causing your skin to dry out, your hair to lack luster and your complexion to appear gaunt.

So What is the best way to lose weight?

A healthy diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and fat-free or low-fat dairy products, along with regular physical activity, can help most people manage and maintain weight loss for both cardiovascular health and appearance. The American Heart Association urges people to take a safe and proven route to losing and maintaining weight — by following our guidelines for healthy, nutritionally balanced weight loss for a lifetime of good health.

Basque in Spain has come out with a first of its kind naked gym. This is a place where you can go in nude and workout completely nude.

Easy Gym in Arrigorriaga is letting nudists work out in their birthday suits.

The gym, the first of its kind, came up with the idea while trying to figure out how to reinvigorate their business amidst a recession.

“With the crisis we noticed there were fewer people using the gym,” owner Merche Laseca, told the BBC. “I’m not a nudist myself, though I have no problem with it. But this initiative is about the money.

Most of us who need to lose weight are usually spending most part of the day at work. So what better place to lose weight then at work itself? Here are some 9 Tips to get you started:

1) Stand Up: When your job requires you to be glued to your desk, finding opportunities to stand and stretch can be challenging, so try standing:

• Every time you answer the phone.
• When you’re reading a report (or other document).
• When you need to talk to a co-worker (walk over to their office, versus calling, emailing, or sending an IM).
• While you organize your desk or files.
• When you’re commuting to work (if you take a bus or a train)

Apart from losing weight it will also help you remain fit in general. Keep other health related problems at bay.

2) Pack a lunch: Bringing in a sensible lunch that includes healthy choices will cut down on caloric intake. This will help you avoid grabbing a burger or pizza for lunch.

3) Take a walk: Try to walk around at every opportunity that you get. For Eg: You could read a report while walking. You could talk on the phone while walking and when u get time like on lunch breaks or other breaks you could take short brisk walks in an area near your office.

4) Don’t take the Lift: This is one more suggestion, take the stairs whenever possible unless your office is on like the 100th floor atleast going down the stairs is a good idea. Climbing them could be a little difficult but you could start with a couple of floors and then increase as your stamina increases.

5) Drink Green Tea: Fill your mug with green tea. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who drank oolong tea fortified with green tea extract every day for three months lost 2.4 more pounds than people who drank plain oolong tea.

6) Drink Lots Of Water: One of the simplest ways to shed extra pounds while working in the office is to drink ice cold water. This will boost the metabolism rate of your body, consequently helping you to burn additional 100 calories while you are just sitting in your office chair. You can add a zest of lemon or crushed strawberry for flavor.

7) Ditch the Soda: If you are working hard towards it and properly putting in the efforts to lose weight but you are sipping coke in between then you have just undone all your hard work. Ditch the aerated drinks and drink ample of water instead.

8 ) Dining out: If your job requires frequently eating out with clients, you can still stick to your weight loss goal by taking control of the situation. You can plan ahead research the restaurant, check out the menu and stuff before arriving. If you dont have time to research you could ask the restaurant to give you heart healthy or low fat dishes. You could also have a smaller portion instead of a heavy lunch/dinner.

9) Accountability Partner: Find a diet buddy. If you find a co-worker to diet and exercise with, it will be much easier to lose weight. Moreover you both can keep each other motivated and it will also help focus.

I present to you 6 Killer iPhone apps that will definitely help you lose weight:

Calorie Counter

This is my go-to tool, the one I consider the single most comprehensive diet app available today. I can’t list every feature here, but I will point out the coolest: bar code scanning. Just point your iPhone 3GS or 4 at, say, the Cheerios box, and presto: it’s added to your daily log. And that helps overcome one of my only complaints with the app: its mammoth database can be hard to search. Calorie Counter Pro costs $2.99.

Couch to 5k

Dieting won’t help people lose weight all by itself. You need to do some exercise and burn a few calories along the way. If you haven’t exercised in  awhile, then Couch to 5k may be the app for you. Couch to 5k will create a complete program to help you get off of the couch and able to run 5k race in a state 9 week timeline.

Lose It

Set goals, create a daily calorie budget, record food and exercise, and view graphs of progress with this full-featured weight management app. After you enter your stats, you can create a custom plan, with an end date in mind, based on how much weight you want to lose per week.  Best of all it’s a free app. It also has a share feature so you can share your goals with your family.

2Fat

Are you too fat? Find out with this simple iPhone app, which features two scroll wheels. One is used to select your weight and the other is used to select your waist size. At that point, your body fat percentage is determined. There is also a BMI setting, which determines your body mass index. Once you have entered your height and weight, your BMI will be calculated, and you will find out whether it’s time to get serious about shedding extra pounds.

iWatchr

If you like the way Weight Watchers works, try out iWatchr.  This 99¢ iPhone weight loss app  is an unofficial Weight Watcher’s tracker that keeps track of daily “points” .  It includes a food journal and a points slider.

Intelli-Diet

Apps like Calorie Counter Pro and Lose It merely keep track of what you eat, but Intelli-Diet tells you what to eat, and when. In other words, it actually lays out a diet plan for you, one that’s based on the foods you like and/or have. It even generates a shopping list for the meal plans it generates. This app will no doubt help many dieters, especially those who have trouble organizing their menu and shopping plans (and lets face it that is most people). The $3.99 price tag makes it a smart one for any dieter with a smartphone to try.

This video shows you how to calculate your BMI without using any fancy calculator. Just simple math.