3rd June, 2015
By Sharon Jane Akinyemi
There’s nothing more frustrating than giving a goal all of your time and energy, just to come up with no results.
Especially when it comes to losing weight.
I get it. You’re eating all the “right stuff” and there’s still not much to show for it.
I can tell you with absolute certainty one thing I know for sure…if this one thing is NOT happening, the excess weight on your body is most likely NOT going to budge.
What is it?
It’s your bowels (poop for those who have children under the age of 10) and if your bowels are not moving 2 times (yes, 2 times) every day, then your weight loss will be dramatically stalled.
For a very long time, I was only going 1 time every day, in the morning. Sure, that’s not so bad, as I know there are people who go DAYS without going to the rest room at all (oh, my stomach hurts just thinking about it).
The solution to my bowel movements (or lack thereof) was a very simple and easy-to-use cleanse (your favourite fruits and vegetables plus enough water for the day. That I use each time I discover am not moving as I ought to. If you didn’t hear me rave about it then, here are my results in detail (hope you’re ok with bowels details).
Body Confidence Cleansing Secret – Fix your bowels the easy way
I used Natural Digestive Cleanse for the full recommended 30 days (since it is my golden rule to always try anything before recommending it to others). It’s very simple, it consists of rich fruits and vegetables you can drink every morning and evening a probiotic, a natural parasite cleanser, and a cleansing tea you drink at night. You may wonder what all these noise about fruits and vegetables. Its even possible you just had some not quite long or you take them everyday. Try making them into JUICE (don’t sieve) and see if it will make a difference or not.
Here are my results in listed form for ease of reading:
I consistently went to the bathroom three times a day, every day, without any stomach pains or diarrhoea. I have tried some other products in the past and after the first day just knew they weren’t for me because I could NOT leave the house (if you know what I mean!). This combination of your favourite fruits and vegetable is much gentler on your system and will help your body establish its natural rhythm. I cannot guarantee that will be the case for everyone, especially if your bowels have been clogged for a long time, but I felt comfortable using them every day and continuing all of my daily living activities unaffected.
Stuff came out of my body that was a bit scary to say the least. For someone like me who goes pretty regularly, this was a big shock. I couldn’t believe that even after having 1-2 consistent bowel movements a day for several years, there was still some scary stuff in there that needed to make its way out. I’m guessing that the natural “sweeping” effect of the increased fiber helped to get any lodged fecal matter out of my large intestine and put it where it belongs…the toilet…hahaha.
My lower abs are super flat right now. I am pretty in shape all year long (well, at least when I’m not pregnant) and I would attribute most of this freshness to my eating habits, but whatever little bulge was there is pretty much gone now. Many people (women especially) complain about “the lower abdominals”and no matter what they try, it just doesn’t go away. Many times, for men and women, this is a direct effect of not releasing what’s in their bowels every single day. Ridding your body of all of the trapped fecal matter in your large intestine can have a dramatic effect on how your abs look, and have the added benefit of getting rid of gas, bloating, and digestive discomforts.
The only thing that is missing from this formular is a specific eating plan to go along with it. Of course, what I suggest is a natural and simple eating program like Body Confidence Diet Plan to support your body’s effort to cleanse the nasty stuff that is stuck in your intestines and get it OUT.
But since I know you may need just a bit more guidance than that, I decided to give you, completely free, my “1 Day Detox” eating plan.
The “1 Day Detox” will guide you step by step through simple-to-make, delicious detox meals throughout the day. I believe a detox meal plan like this one, along with Body Confidence Digestive Cleanse, will truly get your bowels moving and releasing all of the trapped fecal matter in your intestines that just might be preventing you from losing weight (and damaging your health)
If you’re not emptying your bowels 2 times every single day, please take my advice above very seriously. This is not just for your fat loss efforts, but for the sake of your health. Get your bowels moving consistently each day and this will make a tremendous difference in your fat loss efforts and your health.
Interestingly, within, your gut reside more than 100 TRILLION living bacteria that control many aspects of your health, and unfortunately, due to things like the ingestion of artificial sweeteners (found in diet beverages and food products) that kill off the healthy bacteria in your gut, most folks have created a massive and very dangerous bacterial imbalance in their body.
But it doesn’t just stop with diet beverages and artificial sweeteners. In fact, there are MANY foods that can do SERIOUS damage to your gut and your immune system, all while destroying your overall health and dramatically slowing your fat loss to boot.
Here are three of the absolute WORST:
1. Sugar. We all know sugar is bad news for fat loss and insulin levels; in fact, excessive sugar intake can and often will result in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes…no laughing matter there. But what most people don’t realize is that sugar acts as a fertilizer for the “bad”, health-destroying bacteria in your gut.
Yes, that’s right…every time you eat sugar (added by the truckload into snacks, cereals, desserts, juice, sodas, teas, and a host of other food and beverage items), the infectious, pathogenic baceteria in your gut feed on it, multiply, and spread further throughout your intestinal walls, wreaking havoc on your entire body, and your health. If you ever want to achieve optimal health and your ideal body, limit your sugar intake, plain and simple.
2. Processed, packaged foods (i.e. anything that comes in a bag or a box). Processed, packaged foods that come in a bag or a box, with a laundry list of ingredients, contain MANY bad-bacteria promoting chemicals and food additives that destroy your gut and create a toxic environment in your belly that is unfriendly.
Instead, strive to eat whole, natural foods…without all the additives…and you’ll be well on your way to a healthier bacterial balance in your belly. Where are these whole, natural foods found? In the produce aisle, and in the lean meat section of your local Market
One other tip, reach for the organic varieties of these foods when possible as agriculture chemicals sprayed on produce, and antibiotics and hormones injected into meats, can also have a significant negative effect on gut bacteria.
3. Yogurt. “Huh? I thought yogurt was a great source of healthy bacteria?!” Well, while that can be true, most of the time it’s not because the vast majority of yogurts are either full of sugar or artificial sweeteners that feed the bad bacteria and kill the good bacteria in your gut.
Yogurt is a great choice; just make sure there are no added sweeteners…whether it’s sugar, sucralose, saccharine, or aspartame. These sweeteners will cancel out any and ALL positive effects of yogurt by wreaking more havoc on your gut bacteria before the “good stuff” in yogurt even has a chance to go to work.
Now, those are three of the WORST foods for your gut, but how would you like to know some of the absolute BEST?
Just go the natural way. In addition, it is also natural to be active.
The most effective way to “boost” your metabolism is through exercise, especially if you are dieting. Cardio training and weight lifting exercise provides a protective effect against a drop in metabolism. This is because people tend to lose a considerable portion of muscle in calorie-reduction programs that don’t include strength training, whereas one of the main benefits from exercise in weight loss programs is the preservation of muscle.
When you increase your muscle, you boost your resting metabolic rate. Weightlifting consumes calories, raises your metabolism, and builds muscle that will consume extra calories later on. This means that all other things being equal, your body will burn more calories even when you are doing nothing. Hunter (2000) did a study in which participants did resistance training. After 6 months, they had increased their resting metabolic rate and were burning an extra 100 calories per day.
Cardio also boosts metabolism. In a study, participants who did moderate intensity cardio exercise 3-5 days per week for 20-45 minutes for 16 months and had an average increase in resting metabolic rate of 129 calories per day. (Potteiger 2008).
Including interval cardio training is another powerful method of maximizing your metabolism because it raises your metabolism for several hours after your interval workout. To do an interval workout, do a 5 minute warm up, alternate 2 minutes of moderate intensity cardio with 30 seconds of all-out effort for 10-20 minutes then cool down. When your rate of metabolism increases, it simply means that your food digests easily and you are able to move your bowels more frequently as expected.