The Best Fat Burning Pills That Do Not Exist!

Back in the day when I was still struggling to lose weight and getting totally desperate to see any kind of results, I fell into the same “quick fix” trap that I still see people falling into now. I tried every last extreme diet out there and I even resorted to dangerous fat burning pills…all in an effort to drop even just a little bit of weight…something, anything…I just didn’t want to be fat anymore.

In my own defense (if I don’t defend myself who will?), I didn’t quite know back then how dangerous these pills were…at least not as much as I know now. I just figured so many other people were taking them and they were sold at the local store, they must be safe, right? Definitely NOT!

Here was the problem (for me and maybe for you too). We all want to see results and we want to see them NOW! Not only do most of us (myself included) lack patience in many areas of our lives (yes, get it to me yesterday) but sometimes when we don’t see results in an instant, we lose steam, we give up, we just figure it’s impossible.

Now, I’m not going to turn this into a Tony Robbins, self development, “You can do it” speech. But what I am going to tell you is that if you’re looking for a quick fix to weight loss, fat burners are NOT the answer.

I could go on and on and tell you all the dangers associated with many of these pills…potential heart attack and damage to the heart, hormone disruption, stroke, permanent damage to your metabolism…but I think at this point many people are well aware of how dangerous these pills can be. We’ve all seen the unfortunate news reports of people dying from these pills…it’s just awful.

What I do want to share with you are some “safe”, quick ways to get your fat burning engine cranking. Yes, healthy eating and exercise are always the answer, but sometimes we need just a bit more to get the ball rolling.

Here are some of my own strategies that anybody can implement safely for accelerated fat loss results:

1. Eliminate Wheat and Dairy for 2 weeks or more. I know, I know…this should be the Isabel theme song. I know I remind you of this all the time, but the truth is, it works! Most wheat and dairy products will cause an inflammatory response in your body (without you even realizing they are the cause) and make it really difficult, sometimes impossible to see fat even budge off your body. Wheat products include most breads, cereals, crackers, and pastas. Dairy includes milk products and cheeses. Eggs are ok and in many cases and butter is ok as well and will not stop the fat burning process.

2. Eliminate all grains for 2 weeks or more. Holy smokes..now Isabel is getting a bit carried away here. Look I’m just telling you what works. And if you have to get into a bikini in a few weeks, your high school reunion is right around the corner (and your ex-boyfriend will be there!), or you just want the pounds to come off faster, I highly suggest going “grain free” until you reach your desired weight. NO, I’m not saying grains are unhealthy. I’m just saying sometimes fat loss will be more accelerated without them. Grains include rice, oatmeal, millet, quinoa and spelt. All healthy, yes, but a few weeks without them will help your body shed fat faster.

3. Add lemon to your water. Lemon is a wonderful detoxifier to the liver. And since the liver is your “fat burning” organ, we want it always working at optimum. Keep your liver squeeky clean, by not only eliminating processed foods and toxic substances from your eating plan but also by giving it a good cleaning with some fresh lemon. You can also add some cayenne pepper to your drink as well and that will help to get your bowels moving (if the food is not finding its way out, weight loss will be much slower).

4. Eat your fruit servings before 4pm. Again, another wonderful food group that I am in no way saying is “bad” but you may see increased fat loss results by eating your fruit with breakfast, mid morning snack and lunch and then sticking to veggies for your mid afternoon snack and dinner. Raw carrots and peppers are great with almond butter in the afternoon and a piece of steak or salmon over sautéed greens and a side salad is a great dinner. You will then still get in your fruit servings for the day but will have had them much earlier in the day.

There are many tactics and strategies that you can try before resorting to something dangerous like taking fat burning supplements that will work when you stick to them. Take action on the above 4 steps and walk onto the beach or into that high school reunion feeling and looking great. And if you’re lucky, your EX doesn’t subscribe to my newsletter and he’ll be wondering why he ever let you get away.

How Artificial Sweeteners Are Making You Fat

In my practice as a nutritionist and personal trainer, new clients are always coming to me telling me they are doing everything they are “supposed” to be doing, but still, do not lose weight. Of course, this is frustrating. Losing weight is hard enough, and to change your eating habits and still see no results, that’s even more frustrating.

Why do these people not lose weight? If I had to pick the most common reason why most people’s efforts have proved no results, I would say it is the deception of artificial sweeteners and processed diet foods. Yes, you heard right. It is the diet coke, diet snacks, processed foods and artificial sweetener in your coffee that is keeping you fat.

How is this so?

Artificial sweeteners overwhelm your liver

Your liver is your largest internal organ, and it’s responsible for an astonishing variety of life-sustaining and health-promoting tasks, including those that make healthy weight loss and weight management possible. Integral to countless metabolic processes, the liver supports the digestive system, controls blood sugar and regulates fat storage. One of your liver’s most important functions, and the most crucial to your weight loss, is chemically breaking down everything that enters your body, from healthy vegetables, to not so healthy fast food, from healthy water to not so healthy soda.

It’s your liver’s job to distinguish between the nutrients you need to absorb and the dangerous or unnecessary substances that must be filtered out of your bloodstream. But when the liver is clogged and overwhelmed with toxins, like artificial sweeteners, it can’t do a very effective job of processing nutrients and fats. If it can not process the nutrients and fats that your body needs, this will cause you to gain weight or will prevent you from losing weight.

Your liver also produces bile, a crucial substance for detoxifying our bodies. It is the job of bile to help our bodies break down the fats we need and to assimilate fat-soluble vitamins. But when our bile becomes overly congested with the toxins it’s trying to filter out, it simply can’t function properly. It becomes thick, viscous and highly inefficient in breaking down fats. The result: You are more likely to gain weight and to have a greater difficulty losing it. So the more toxic your body becomes, the more difficulty you’ll have losing weight and keeping it off because your liver just can not work properly to break down fat.

Are artificial sweeteners considered a toxin?

What qualifies something as a “toxin”? A toxin is anything that your body does not recognize as a natural food source. The reason why artificial sweeteners have “zero” calories is because your body does not recognize them as a food source. For example, the chemical process to make Splenda (sucralose) alters the chemical composition of the sugar so much that it is somehow converted to a completely different molecule than sugar. This type of “fake” sugar molecule does not occur in nature and therefore your body does not possess the ability to properly metabolize it. This is how the makers of Splenda claim that it has zero calories, because in theory it should not be digested or metabolized by the body (Although it has been shown that some people’s body do absorb up to 15% of the artificial sweeteners they ingest). So the more artificial sweeteners that you consume in one day, the more you are overwhelming your liver with toxins and the less able it is to do its job of processing fat. And what happens if the liver can’t do its job? You can’t lose weight or worse yet, you gain weight.

What if you don’t use artificial sweeteners? Don’t be fooled. Almost every diet product on the market has some kind of artificial sweetener added to it. Even some children’s snacks are now being made with sucralose (Splenda) and most flavored waters contain sucralose or aspartame.

Now add up how many things you eat in one day that contain some form of artificial sweetener. The list may be very long. How overwhelmed do you think your liver is? Does it have the ability to work properly? Even if you keep your calories at bay and only drink Diet Coke with your meals, will you truly get down to the weight that you want, and stay there? It has been in my experience that the answer is “no” and until you are ready to commit yourself to a healthy way of eating, weight loss will always be a constant struggle.

What else do sweeteners do?

Sweeteners increase appetite

Artificial sweeteners tell your taste buds that, “sweet stuff has arrived,” which to the brain means, “nutrition has arrived.” When artificial sweetened drink or food reaches the small intestine, the receptors find no nutrition. A message is then sent back to the brain saying, “We’ve been tricked-there’s no nutrition here.” The appestat (the part of your brain that triggers satiety) sends the message to “keep eating because we need nutrition to help process all this fake food and run your body.” So even after you eat a good portioned healthy meal (along with your diet coke) you still feel like your starving all day, or you become very hungry soon after. Your healthy eating efforts may be sabotaged if you continue to feel hungry all day. No one likes to feel hungry so you continue to eat more food until you feel satisfied, which in your effort to lose weight, may just be too much.

Sweeteners Increase our Sweet Tooth

Saccharin (Sweet n Low) is 300 times sweeter than sugar, aspartame (Equal) is 200 times sweeter than sugar and sucralose (splenda) is 600 times sweeter than sugar. Such sweeteners can only increase our sweet tooth and increase our taste of sweet things. If you can never get rid of your sugar cravings, any healthy eating plan will be difficult because you will constantly be craving “sweet”. Artificial sweeteners have also shown to promote the same blood sugar fluctuations as regular sugar, which, again will bring on “sugar lows” which will increase appetite and cravings. This is not to say, that something sweet now and again is not ok, but it is those people who can not control their sugar cravings that are being sabotaged by these artificial sweeteners.

What are some alternatives to sweeteners?

Giving up sugar and artificial sweeteners may be difficult, especially if you are accustomed to everything having such a sweet taste. A wonderful alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners is an herb called Stevia. Stevia is an extraordinarily sweet herb, 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia is almost calorie-free, so it is perfect for people who are watching their weight. Unlike sugar, it does not trigger a rise in blood sugar so you will not get a sudden burst of energy followed by fatigue and a need for another “fix”. It increases energy and aids digestion by stimulating the pancreas. Stevia also presents great advantages over saccharine and other artificial sweeteners in that it is not toxic. Stevia is a plant that is found in nature and is not man-made in a laboratory. Stevia can be found at almost all health food stores such as Whole Foods, and is listed under the “supplement” section. Stevia can be used exactly like sugar and artificial sweeteners to sweeten drinks and it can even be used in baking.

If weight loss or staying away from sweets has always been a problem for you, take notice of how much artificial sweetener you have been ingesting. That just may be the culprit. Make a resolution this year to give up the “fake” stuff and stick to natural alternatives like Stevia. You will not only be helping your weight loss efforts but you will also be benefiting your health.

If you or someone you know is addicted to sweet drinks such as sodas or beverages sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners, try this “Tea Juice” and you will see that weaning yourself off sugar or sweeteners will be much easier.

Tea Juice

* 5-6 bags of any caffeine free herbal tea of your choice (green tea, peach tea, berry tea, orange zinger, lemon, etc.)
* 3 quarts water
* Stevia powder or liquid to taste

Boil tea bags in a large pot. Add 1-2 full teaspoons of stevia while still hot. (You may add more or less, based on your desired sweetness) Let tea cool and then transfer to the refrigerator in Ice Tea pitchers or individual size water bottles.

This drink is a great replacement to Diet Coke or Diet Snapple.

Learn the real truth behind how to Lose Fat and Keep it Off.

Eating Healthy While Traveling

It’s difficult enough these days to maintain a healthy eating plan, let alone keep a healthy diet while traveling.

I am no stranger to maintaining a healthy eating plan while being on the road. I do a good amount of traveling myself, and my clients and readers are asking me all the time:

“Isabel, I am always on the go. How can I stick to my healthy eating plan and still live my life?”

If your days really have you running around from work, to parties, to picking up kids all over the neighborhood, here are a few strategies that really do work:

1. Make your trunk your refrigerator.

Ok, not literally, but I have known many people (including myself) to keep a small cooler in their trunk at all times. They fill it with healthy goodies at the beginning of the day (raw nuts, fresh fruits and veggies, even hard boiled eggs) along with some ice packs and extra tupperware (just in case) and they’re off for the day. At the end of the day, they empty whatever is left and the ice packs go back in the freezer for the next day. This is also a great way to keep your water bottles nice and cold and not warm from the car heat.

2. Make your supermarket your Fast Food stop.

Instead of a quick trip through the drive thru, run into the local supermarket and pick up an assortment of dried or fresh fruits, healthy trail mixes, fresh veggies and natural peanut or almond butter. Most supermarkets now have wonderful salad bars and prepared foods like grilled chicken and salmon (better than any fast food joint) and healthy sandwich options (be careful with certain condiments like mayo that may be added). Eliminate the fast food joints from your choices of “quick stops” and look for the hot spots in town that offer healthier options.

3. Be the bearer of good food.

When going to a barbecue or social event, always offer to bring something (now I sound like the etiquette police). I always bring something and that something is always healthy. I know, if nothing else, at least I’ve got that to eat (although all of my friends and family know why I do this. Even if you contribute the healthy and lean beef burgers or turkey burgers, this may deter you from the not-so healthy hot dogs and sausages. Or how about a colorful salad or fruit salad?

4. Find the healthy places all over the world.

Before I go on any trip, I go online and find the closest Whole Foods or Health Food Store. If there are none close by, I find a major supermarket. This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy myself on vacation (like the Key Lime Pie I enjoyed down South) or when visiting family and friends, but I make sure that all healthy principles do NOT go out the window. I keep it healthy and have a great time! (not one or the other)

There are always great ways to maintain your healthy weight loss plans even if your life has you traveling and on the road quite a bit.

To get started on your own Weight loss and Health goals, download these Easy Healthy Meal Plans and Delicious Recipes right now.