Before the industrial revolution, specialized diets were something employed mostly for spiritual reasons. However, with a better understanding of biology and nutrition, they have, over the past century and a half, moved from just spiritual journeys, to ways of life to optimize fitness, and build a healthier body.
That’s the idea, anyhow, but diets come and go all the time, many people cite the ineffective nature of such “fad” diets, and frankly, whether they work or not, some of them are just a miserable experience. Who can forget the absurdity of the Atkins diet, which forbade the consumption of fruit and fruit juice, as well as an absolute abandonment of carbs? Your body needs the vitamins and natural sugars of fruit in moderation, and the same moderate consumption of carbs is needed for fuel. I saw people on that diet catch a cold, and then give it back to themselves for months due to immunodeficiencies.
So yeah, a lot of these specialized diets are ridiculous, ineffective and possibly even dangerous. A lot of people not in the know would say these things of vegetarianism, too. And you know, I get that. People associate protein with meat, dairy and eggs, and forget that there are plenty of protein-rich vegetarian foods, although a higher volume is often needed, than with meat.
Meat isn’t bad for you, but a low-meat diet has its benefits. Vegan and vegetarian athletes and body builders can be legitimate powerhouses, so there’s proof that it works. But at the same time, again, it takes a lot more plant-based intake for the required amount of protein, and anyone who’s tried and failed to adhere to a vegan or vegetarian diet can attest that most people find it kind of miserable and lacking in enjoyment.
When eating becomes a chore, that can be just as mentally unhealthy as an obsession with food.
This is why vegetarianism isn’t so cut and dry, and you hear terms like “ovo-lacto vegetarian” or “pescatarian”. Ovo-lacto is pretty obvious, being vegetarianism but adding dairy and eggs. What the heck is a pescatarian diet?
Coming from the Italian root word “pesce”, meaning fish, a pescatarian diet is a base vegetarian diet that includes fish and other seafood. Most, though not all pescatarians also eat eggs and dairy to some small or large extent.
Pescatarians, therefore, do not eat beef, pork, poultry or any other animal that doesn’t live in the sea. This allows for a lot more variety in your meals, and means you can enjoy things like dairy in moderation, the lean protein of egg whites (okay, sneak a yolk now and then, I won’t tell on you), and the diversity of seafood cuisine.
On top of being a more varied and rich diet, it has a lot of health benefits. If you don’t like seafood (and there are just as many people who hate seafood as love it), this diet will obviously have problems for you, and perhaps ovo-lacto (maybe with a little poultry) is more fit for you.
Benefits of Pescatarianism
- Elimination of meats – especially red meats – reduces cholesterol, heart disease and high blood pressure.
- It brings in nutrients and vitamins that aren’t present in a pure vegetarian nor vegan diet. Vegans and pure vegetarians have to use way more supplements, or eat a whole lot of various plant-based foods to make up for this, which becomes a chore as I said.
- It’s so much easier to stick to this diet, if you like seafood. The body craves meat. Even if you adore vegetables, fruits and legumes (who doesn’t?), it’s not satisfying to not have something heavier and more protein-rich.
- It’s very sustainable, as aquaculture is far more efficient and less demanding than raising livestock. Aquaculture will play a huge role in space colonization, and in humanitarian aids to end hunger in the near future as well.
- You’ll lose a lot of weight – seafood is lean by nature. Even the fattier fish aren’t the type of fatty that much matters to our bodies.
- Omega-3 fatty acids are fantastic for fighting inflammation, helping to control diabetes, reducing the risk of strokes, losing weight more quickly and naturally, growing better muscles, and for a healthier nervous and neurological system. People who don’t like seafood take fish oil pills for this, even.
Healthy Fish – Pescatarian Food List
Let’s look at a quick list of the healthier items on the pescatarian menu.
- Trout
- Catfish
- Salmon
- Squid
- Tilapia
- Sardines
- Clams
- Oysters
- Anchovies (if you’re the one person on the planet that likes these)
- Snapper
- Scallops
- Shrimp.
These are pretty common fare, and liked by most people who like seafood at all. Well, aside from perhaps anchovies and sardines, people who like them seem to be a minority due to their pungency and saltiness.
The ones below are kind of high in mercury, which isn’t good for you, so enjoy these only occasionally as a treat.
- Tuna
- Marlin
- Grouper
- Swordfish
- Mackerel
- Orange Roughy
- Shark (if you can avoid eating sharks, please do, they’re important to the ocean’s ecosystem and are scarcely farm-raised. Swordfish is very similar, but more sustainable).
Does a pescatarian diet intrigue you? If you like seafood and lots of veggies, give this a whirl. You might just love it. To learn more about diets like this, and to get tips on cooking delicious confections that suit dietary restrictions, subscribe to my YouTube channel today!
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What Is The Best Detox Diet To Lose Weight?
In today’s environment and majority of lifestyles, it’s hard to avoid coming across substances and chemicals that are foreign to our system. In defense, our body reacts in remarkable ways to protect itself from intruders. Normally, it’s the excretory organs like the liver, kidneys, skin, including the lungs that need to work extra hard to segregate, neutralize and dispose the toxins. But it’s easier said than done. Toxins that accumulate in every cell of our body will cause the latter to release some form of chemicals (take the effects of nicotine in our brain) or gradually mutate into cancers and other degenerative diseases.
How Long Should I Detox For Weight Loss?
And, we can never take back what we took in. However, changing lifestyles and going on detox programs can do wonders for the proper functioning of vital body processes. Detoxification promotes cell renewal, flushes out free radicals, and strengthens the immune system. Even as short as a 3-day detox diet can help in purging out damaging toxins and make you feel so much better.
Although not all detox types are suitable for everyone, a 3-day detox may be a milder way of detoxifying. Other detox programs may require you to get a go-signal from your doctor especially if you are underweight, malnourished or have chronic diseases like cancer, iron-deficiency, anemia, ulcerative colitis, kidney and liver disease, among others.
3 Day Detox Diet
To begin with, this detox program is especially designed for a 3-day detox diet. Try to include the following foods for each day within three days. Upon waking up in the morning, drink a cup of warm water and ½ lemon squeezed in it to stimulate your gastric juices. For your meals, eat one cup of whole grains like brown rice, buckwheat, amaranth, and at least three servings each of fruits and vegetables one of which should be eaten raw. You could also make salads out of fruits and vegetables but choose vinegar or any natural virgin oils (olive and coconut virgin oils or fish oil) for your dressing.
In addition, have two doses of kidney and liver tonics over the 3-day detox diet: two cups of dandelion, chamomile or fennel tea, pure vegetable juice like carrot or beetroot, a clove of fresh garlic, medium bunch of black grapes, two cups of parsley or yellow tea. And make it a habit to drink 8 glasses or more water as well as other fluids made of fresh fruit juices such as apple and orange.
In your 3-day detox diet, drink herbal tea before going to bed and have a 30-minute walk within the program period. After the third day, you’ll surely feel rejuvenated and may want to do the 3-day detox diet again. But before you do that, change your lifestyle as much as possible. Your body will reward you big time.
7 Day Detox Diet
The air, the processed foods we eat, smoking, alcoholic drinks – all of these and more highly contribute to the amount of toxins we consume everyday. It’s hard to imagine that almost anything present in modern societies are and will take a toll on our health eventually. These substances are either metabolized in the liver or enter the bloodstream and stress our system.
In that case, this 7-day detox diet can help you rid of the unwanted substances and make you feel better. Detoxification or detox provides a relief to your system from these harmful substances we regularly consume and it likewise puts your eating habits on the right track. You’ll find that you’ll feel less fatigued, invigorated, revitalized, and the bloated feeling will go away once you skip your intake of such ingredients like refined flour, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, canned food, etc., that more or less confuse your organs.
The key to a successful 7-day detox diet program is to motivate yourself. In short, detox requires psychological, emotional, and physiological preparedness. However, this 7-day detox program is contraindicated to people with chronic disease, and pregnant and lactating women.
The food you should eat in a 7-day detox diet
Remind yourself to follow this meal plan every day of your 7-day detox diet program and make sure you chew your food thoroughly, so as to give you time and feel less deprived.
Start your day by drinking two glasses (8 ounces) of distilled water upon waking up. Squeeze ½ lemon into one glass of water. The reason is to stimulate your digestive juices as well as make a goal of drinking six more glasses for the whole day.
For breakfast, eat any fresh fruit 15 to 30 minutes before your whole grains like buckwheat, brown rice, millet, amaranth, or quinoa. To add some flavor to your grains, add in 2 tablespoons or 100% pure fruit juice, virgin oil (olive or coconut) or butter. Supplement your 7-day detox diet meal with the recommended 200 to 400 IU of natural vitamin E and 100 to 200 mcg of selenium. These contain anti-oxidants that help fight the free radicals in your system.
For midmorning snack, sip 1 to 2 cups of vegetable broth left over from steaming your vegetables. Season it with a little salt. And then take 500 to 1,000 mg of vitamin C, ideally with calcium and magnesium. When choosing a brand, make sure it doesn’t contain artificial sweeteners or sugar.
Eat steamed vegetables for lunchtime. Again, save the water left by steaming and refrigerate it. You can also do the same for dinner. At least four vegetables would suffice to give you varied flavors and textures.
The Best 21 Day Detox Diet
Are you in for a 21-day detox diet program? Well, make sure you’re ready for such a stringent diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lots of fluid. Otherwise, you may end up exasperated of not being able to complete the whole program and treat yourself instead to more junk food. That’s right. Getting into a 21-day detox diet is never easy. Any person who wishes to undergo this program should be emotionally, physically, and mentally prepared. Changing your eating habits may also mean changing your lifestyle.
There are several 21-day detox diet programs. So how do you know which ones to choose? First, like any other detox programs, have yourself assessed by a health professional. People with problems in kidneys, liver, heart, pancreas, parathyroid, and other preexisting disorders may not be allowed to undergo a detox diet program.
Some 21-day detox diet programs include workshops on food preparation, group support, nutritional medicine, enzyme theory, therapeutic fasting, colon care, energy medicine, acid/alkaline testing, and healthy shopping. The program may be separated into 3 parts and on a weekly basis. For instance, some 21-day detox diet programs may focus on fruits and vegetables to acclimatize the body on eating only these foods for the first week. This plant-based diet encourages participants to steer away from animal products to lessen the amount of toxin exposures by as much as 50%. A menu is required in order for participants to strictly follow the program.
In the second week, you may proceed with a live-food diet, eating only uncooked foods and two smoothie meals (blended), minimizing the stress placed on your digestive system. You will be provided with an organic live-food menu. The purpose is to keep you away from processed foods and increase your nutrient intake by eating uncooked vegetables.
Week 3 of a 21-day detox diet program is the liquid diet. This is supposed to relieve your digestive of any stresses and ensure healing at intra-cellular level. Your diet will be diverted from a whole plant-based diet to blended food. Of course, the benefits of a liquid diet will definitely be discussed to psychologically support you. It is also helpful to support this program with application of reflexology, meditation, yoga, and light therapy, as well as the chakra system as a tool in healing. The final stage of a 21-day detox diet program includes hints and shopping guides for you to maintain in this frame of mind… and diet.
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Everything You Need to Know About SARMs
Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, also known as SARMs, might sound like something fresh out of a science fiction novel, but that’s not the case. SARMs are real, effective, and an alternative to steroids. For bodybuilders, SARMs could be the key to unlocking true muscle building potential without any of the serious side effects connected to steroid usage.
Here is everything you need to know about Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, including what they are and why they work.
What Are SARMs?
SARMs is an acronym for Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators. A SARM is a drug that is a chemical twin to anabolic steroids. Though SARMs are thought to be new in the bodybuilding world, these drugs have been around since the 1940s. Currently, there are a few SARMs available legally on the market, such as:
- Ostarine (MK-2866 or GTx-024)
- Ligandol or Anabolicum (LGD-4033)
- LGD-3303
- Andarine (GSX-007 or S-4)
- Cardarine (GW-501516)
- Nutrobal (MK-677)
- Testolone (RAD-140)
What are those weird code names, you ask? The truth is that, while SARMs can be bought, they haven’t been approved for medical application, so no generic names have been affixed to them yet. This doesn’t mean SARMs are dangerous. More on that in the next section.
Also, some of the SARMs in the list are not literal SARMs. Cardarine is a PPAR receptor agonist; and Nutrobal is a growth hormone secretagogue, which helps with the release of growth hormones.How Do SARMs Work?
To understand how SARMs work, we need to briefly look at how hormones, namely androgens, function. Androgens are the hormones responsible for masculine qualities, like facial hair, muscles, and lower body fat levels). The best known androgen is testosterone.
The body regulates the production of androgens, because imbalances are a double-edged sword. On the positive side, the more androgens you have, the faster muscles grow. On the downside, you can suffer from acne, oily hair, cysts, elevated blood pressure, testicular atrophy, and so on. This is why steroid usage is so dangerous.
SARMs, on the other hand, only focus on muscular growth by:- Focusing on muscle and bone, not the prostate, brain, and liver like steroids
- Avoiding the breakdown of molecules, like DHT and estrogen
- Avoiding conversion into 5-A reductase, which also converts into DHT, the cause of unwanted side effects
This means at SARMs work like growth hormones without impacting the body like an over-saturation of androgen hormones would.
What Are The Benefits of SARMs?
Whether you are a bodybuilder trying to get over a plateau, a recreational gym-goer, a fitness enthusiast, or an elite athlete, SARMs have a number of benefits that greatly outweigh more controversial methods, like steroids.
SARMs can:- Increase lean body mass
- Prevent muscle loss (catabolism) during cutting
- Accelerate rehabilitation after injuries
- Decrease recovery time
- Increase fat loss
- Increase muscular endurance
- Decrease overall fatigue
- Regulate your libido
- Be used safely by females
SARMs are better than steroids for the following reasons:
- Orally taken, not injected
- No liver toxicity from methylated compounds
- Doesn’t change to dihydrotestosterone (DHT)
- Doesn’t change to estrogen
- Doesn’t inhibit HPTA or cause a reduction in LH or FSH (hormones)
- Completely legal
- Virtually undetectable
Another benefit to SARMs is that the side effects are minimal. You rarely have to worry about negative effects. However, you should always do your research on the brand of SARM you want to use to make sure no negative side effects, like suppressed testosterone, have been reported. Don’t use SARM S-23 for this very reason.
How To Use SARMs
SARMs can be used several ways, depending on your goals. Bulking, cutting, and weight loss cycles can all benefit. Most SARM formulas come in triple stacks, since many of the compounds are multi-faceted and have a synergistic relationship with one another.
For example, if you want to bulk with SARMs, you might use andarine, ostabolic (ostarine) and testolone for 12 weeks. The typical dose is 10-25 mgs a day of each SARM. You should never go above 25 milligrams per dose.
For cutting, use andarine (S-4), which has fat burning effects.
To gain strength, andarine (S-4), anabolicum (LGD), and cardarine (GW) are a triple stack that works well for recomposition. Again, the usual dosage is 12 weeks. Then, you taper off.
In short, SARMs are growing in popularity with the bodybuilding community, because this supplement has shown an ability to accelerate anabolism in muscles, prevent catabolism, accelerate recovery, and are much safer than steroids. If you’re looking for a change or want to unleash the potential of your muscles, SARMs are worth a try.
Have thoughts on SARMs? Share your thoughts!
Did you enjoy this article about SARMs? Then head over to my YouTube channel, where you can informative videos that cover bodybuilding-related topics like this one. -
Can Red Rice Lower Cholesterol?
Red rice gained its reputation by becoming one of the ingredients to contribute a healthy weight loss. Aside from that, its cholesterol-lowering effect is so valuable that it has become the top prescriptions of nutritionists and doctors to aid in therapeutic diet. You’ll be surprised at the some of the facts about red rice as we give you the 5 things you need to know about how red rice can lower cholesterol.
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This rice is actually a product of yeast.
Red rice is a product of yeast called Monascus Purpureus. These organisms are grown on rice which are responsible for its dark-red color. In fact, this kind of yeasts are cultivated and extracted to make a product known to lessen cholesterol in the body.
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This is a natural alternative to cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Due to the action of Monascus Purpureus, red rice is also known to be a perfect alternative to treat health conditions related to cholesterol. It is now prescribed by doctors to be a good remedy for mild symptoms of high-cholesterol problems, as a natural alternative to medicines. If you are one of the people who would like to opt for this natural medicine, visit your physician for more details. There are certain safety precautions in its alternative usage because it may interact with other drugs and substances.
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The proven effects to avoid muscle pains.
In recent studies, it has been found out that the red rice actually reduce risks of muscle pains, medically known as myalgia. This symptom usually is experienced by patients who take medications to lower the low-density lipoprotein (LDL). According to the study, patients who are taking this type of medication experience lower incidence of myalgia when replaced with red rice.
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Amazing benefits to gastric problems.
The use of red rice has been around in ancient times where China discovered its potent benefits to health. Red rice has mild healing benefits to many gastric problems including diarrhea and indigestion. Other benefits include improved spleen function, increase blood circulation, good digestion and absorption.
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Red rice cholesterol has its own method for weight management.
Since it aids in lowering levels of cholesterol, it goes to say that red rice is also a good aid to lose weight. With its natural nutrients and fiber, more toxins are washed out while it continues to help the body attain a regular bowel movement.
These are the top 5 things you should know about how red rice can lower cholesterol. Among these benefits, there is always one that fits the body’s needs. With its holistic way in taking care of the body, it is no wonder why this ingredient has been creating buzz in the wellness industry. Although these are said to be natural and effective, there are also safety issues that go along with it. In fact, health professionals warn people to take extra precaution in using these products as they contain potent substances that may be detrimental to one’s overall health. To be safe than sorry, be sure to get an approval of your doctor before incorporating red rice to your lifestyle.
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