You do not need to be a rocket scientist in order to learn how to lose weight safely and naturally. You do not always need dangerous weight loss pills to lose pounds either. Over the years of my experience being a nutritionist and fitness expert, I have learned that weight loss is a game of common sense. You need to choose things sensibly and carefully. Your daily activities, dietary and sleeping habits have a strong impact and a direct connection with what you look like. If you want a brand new look for you, you need to think twice before doing everything that you do in your daily routine. In this article I want to tell you about some thermogenic foods that help you lose weight naturally. Later in this article you will also read about a natural appetite supressant.

Have you ever heard about the thermogenic foods? The foods that fall in this category help to increase caloric expenditure during digestion and metabolic process. Below are some of the best thermogenic foods that are very cheap to afford and easily available almost everywhere in the world.

· Comsuming 3 grams of Red Pepper everyday helps increase your metabolic rate almost 20 percent. It can be used in salads and seasoning espcially at lunch time

· Using Green Tea on daily basis stimulates the body to use fats that are stored in your body as a source of energy

· One teaspoon of cinnamon everyday is very helpful to speed up weight loss process

· Using Ginger everyday increase calorie expenditure by up to 10 percent. You can eat it in raw form and can also add it into sauces, soupes and tea etc.

· Sea food is a very rich source of omega-3 that is an essential fatty acid. Especially Salmon and Tuna contains higher amounts of omega-3, that is helpful to improve retention and facilitates communication between cells

Glucomannan – A Gold Standard Natural Appetite Supressant

If you have read about weight loss before, I hope you already know that controlling hunger is a time tasted and very safe technique to lose weight. There are so many appetite supressant drugs available in every drug store. But I am going to share with you a natural appetite suppressant that works far better than prescription drugs with causing any damage to your overall health.

The extract of the root of Konjac plant is very effective to control appetite. This extract is also known as Glucomannan. Taking Glucomannan three times a day before meals significantly reduces your desire to eat. If you are not satisfied with the quality of Glucomannan available in pure form at your nearest local health food store, you can also purchase it online.

This article gives pertinent information about Dukan Diet and its side-effects

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Pierre Dukan, a French doctor and nutritionist, challenged with the case of obesity started to look for alternative ways in curing the illness. After 20 years of thorough research he published in the year 2000, a book called, “Je ne sais pas maigrir” or translated as, “I don’t know how to get slimmer.” It gained the best-seller in France after a year it has been published.
It was made a hit in UK when Kate Middleton, now the duchess of Cambridge, tried the Dukan Diet before her marriage to the beloved Prince William, she reportedly claimed a loss of two dress sizes. It also allegedly claimed to help five million French. The book is also gaining fame in the US in the year 2011 when actress/singer, Jennifer Lopez, lost pounds after her pregnancy by following this diet.
Dukan Diet: What is it? How does this work?
Dukan Diet is similar to the famous Atkins diet. Atkins and Dukan are much alike in terms of non-intake of carbs initially and do not require portion control or counting calorie consumptions. In Atkins, it requires net carbohydrate intakes and unlike Dukan, it suggests a daily intake of oats, increase water consumption and 20 minutes of everyday brisk walking. Dukan Diet adopts four phases namely: Attack, Cruise, Consolidation and Stabilization.
Four Phases of the Dukan Diet
Attack: In this starter phase, the dieter is only allowed take protein rich foods that are exquisitely low in fat. Dr. Dukan provided 72-item list of foods to be eaten, it excludes pork, lamb, poultry products and cheeses. Food should always be cooked but without adding any fat to it, it best to cook in grilling or roasting. It also requires you to eat 1 ½ tbsp. oat bran & 1.5 liters of water per day. This phase should be followed around 2-7 days or more. Results from this initial phase within 5 days may result in 4-7 lbs. loss. This phase promotes quick loss of weight since it is strictly based on a protein-only diet.
Cruise: Cruise, the second to the fourth phase of the Dukan diet scheme. During this phase dieters who were only allowed to eat protein-only foods can now alternate a 28-items of non-starchy vegetables. They may take attack phase diet for today and take non-starchy veggie diet for tomorrow, and so this phase must go on by alternating these two types of diet each day. This phase may last long enough as much as you want by reaching your desired weight and assuring 2 pounds per week loss.
Consolidation: As one achieves the desired weight, one has to go the next phase called Consolidation, this is the maintenance phase of this diet scheme where you have to prevent putting back excess pounds. The plan in this phase is less strict compared to the first two phases. During this phase you are permitted to eat protein-only and veggie diet along with a piece of low-sugar fruit, 2 slices of whole grain bread and a portion of hard cheese. In this phase you are allowed to have 1-2 serving of starchy foods and one celebration meal per week. The phase of consolidation does not expect to loss off pounds but rather it is steadily the maintenance process.
Stabilization: Stabilization is the final phase and a life-long phase of the diet scheme. In here maintenance of the life-changing diet may be a challenging and tempting. During this portion of the scheme, one is already permitted to allow any food intake that a person wants and by also sticking to the diet rule in the consolidation phase. As Pierre Dukan suggest, that staying on the phase 1 rule once a week and eat whatever you like for the rest of the week lowers the chances of regaining weight.
Pros and Cons of Dukan Diet
Pros: The fast results of this diet scheme is beneficially rewarding and motivating. It allows you to have protein and veggie meal plan diets and does not require you to count off your calorie intakes.
Cons: It is highly restrictive and can exclude healthy foods. Dieters can experience side-effects such as symptoms of headaches, nausea, lethargy, irritable and loss of concentration. Dieters may acquire halitosis (bad breath), metallic tasting mouth and strong smell in their urines. For those people who have problems with their kidneys and liver are not advised to follow this diet plan. It is not also recommended for pregnant and nursing mothers.

Views and Opinions by Health Experts on the Dukan Diet
There are lots of critics in this diet plan. Due to the restrictive type scheme of this diet, some fruits, grains and nuts which are healthy and have high amounts of vitamins and minerals that are vital to the nutrition of the body are eliminated. Keri Gans of American Dietetic Association, said that the lost amount of multivitamins that should be acquired from those restricted foods are not compensated in the Dukan diet. Experts have also criticized that experiencing such side-effects may not be healthy at all.

Us in the diet and exercise industry have our opinions on what diets work and which ones are just sales gimmicks. I believe this can be very discouraging to you the consumer. Unfortunately, a lot of people want to get on the band wagon of wellness and tap into millions of Americans desperate need to feel better, lose weight and get in better shape.

Over my twenty year tender in the weight loss business I have seen every single program and have heard thousands of success and failure stories. The facts are that any dietary plan on the market has some portion of it that works, but the basic principle of any good eating program, no matter how sugarcoated, centers around calories IN— calories OUT.

The eating “only one type of food diets” will not be effective, and such a restricted diet defeats you mentally. Most diets are just too unrealistic for a person’s lifestyle. Plus they don’t supply enough basic nutritional needs for people to stay with them. Balance is the key! Attitude is the key to keeping balance!!

For what ever its worth, I would like to purpose this mental approach to you using four of the best plans out there. I want to point out the message, so do not shoot the messenger.

Principle #1: Change your unwanted behaviors: For what ever you think about Dr. Phil he still has the best approach to weight loss when it comes with dealing with the beliefs behind the behaviors.

Goal #1: Figure out your illusions behind your behaviors. Change them and you will change your life.

Principle 2: Have an accountability system. When Weight Watchers decided to put responsibility back into the consumers hands by connecting points and weigh-ins into your eating habits there business tripled. You need accountability.

Goal #2: Incorporate a support and accountability system into your wellness plan.

Principle #3: Sugar is killing you inside out. Instant gratification is killing you. Sugar busters taught us to watch our sugar filled foods.

Goal #4: Lose the sugar, lose the weight. That simple!

Principle #4: America has a protein defiency. The South Beach Diet has been successful because it does two things. Increases the amount of protein in your diet and cuts done on the meats filled with so many preservatives.

Goal #4: Start eating more protein in your diet and less complex carbohydrates.

What ever your beliefs and success in these four programs your experience, however in mine after working with thousands of people – those who had this four principles in there diet plans were more successful. I call this the Changing from the INSIDE OUT mindset.