![]() Carbonated water seems like a great alternative for people who don't like the. If you're looking for quick and easy ways to lose weight, look no further than your very own kitchen. Your water faucet can help shed the water weight and help you. All things being equal, carbonated water is arguably most helpful for those who are trying to lose weight, in part, by. Texas woman becomes weight loss sensation after ditching diets, losing 160 pounds with healthy food choices 8/20/2015 6:34:55 PM - Forget fad diets. Part One - Weight Loss“When a person has nothing to eat, fasting is the smartest thing he could do.” – Herman Hesse, Siddhartha. I like that quote. It’s making (non- caloric) lemonade out of lemons, and for all the transcendental insights contained in Hesse’s book, this line strikes me as a really cool, no- nonsense way to make the best out of a bad situation. No doubt about that. Make your own Mineral Water. Hundreds of active and healthy centenarians live in the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. This is one of the world's biggest "blue zones. But how useful is it, really, to today’s readers? Very few of us ever have “nothing to eat.” On the contrary, food is ever at our beck and call, with very little effort required to obtain it. Actually, that’s not completely true. Processed junk and fast food is readily available, while the good stuff – fresh meat and veggies, actual, you know, food – requires prep work, cooking, time, and the doing of dishes. But the main point stands: we rarely go without. That doesn’t mean the quote is useless. In fact, with a few slight modifications, it becomes extremely effective weight loss advice. Check out my version: “When a person has had too much to eat, fasting is the smartest thing he could do.” – Mark Sisson, Mark’s Daily Apple. If that sounds harsh or even unrealistic, consider the story of the Scotsman. Back in 1. 96. 5, an obese Scotsman of 2. Department of Medicine in Dundee, Scotland, with a problem. ![]() He needed to lose weight. A (1/8 of a) ton of it. The doctors suggested maybe not eating for a few days could help. It was just an offhand recommendation, but our Scotsman (known only as “AB”) really took to it. He stayed at the hospital for several days, taking only water and vitamin pills while undergoing observation to ensure nothing went wrong. When his time was up, he continued the fast back at home, returning to the hospital only for regular monitoring. After a week, he was down five pounds and feeling good. His vitals checked out, blood pressure was normal, and though he had lower blood sugar than most men, he didn’t seem particularly impaired by it. The experiment continued. All told, he lost 2. Over the five following years of observation, AB regained just sixteen pounds, putting him in excellent, but underpopulated territory (at least 8. Other doctors paid attention. Maybe it was the fact that it was the 6. Vietnam, Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters blazing across the U. S. Study after study shows that whatever you want to call the protocol – intermittent fasting, fasting, alternate day fasting, or alternate day caloric restriction – it works very well for weight loss. A few recent ones: So, yes: it works. But does fasting work solely through caloric restriction, or is it doing something special? That’s the real question. There’s no question that fasting causes weight loss through caloric restriction. Obviously, when you don’t eat anything, your body turns to its own stored energy reserves, reserves that take up physical space and have mass. Depletion of those energy stores reduces mass and thus weight. ![]() Total and absolute caloric restriction. That’s elementary stuff and the studies from the 1. To dig a bit deeper, let’s look at how weight loss occurs during a fast. ![]() ![]() Is there any danger to drinking carbonated water instead of still water? Some Web articles state that carbonated water. In fact, it's so reminiscent of soda. Lemon and ginger are such a great, revitalizing combination, that when they are added to some fizzy, sparkling water, the most perfect of healthy drinks is created. I’ll stick to research involving humans only (sorry, rodent personal trainers). Secretion of growth hormone, one of the premier fat burning hormones, increases during a fast. In a five- day fasting protocol, men experienced increased GH secretion on day one and day five (the only two days where GH was measured). A later study showed that during two- day fasting sessions, growth hormone secretions increased in both frequency and intensity in men. They experienced more frequent GH bursts and each burst secreted a higher mass of GH. A more recent study found that 2. GH by 1. 30. 0% in women and almost 2. Fasting decreases fasting insulin levels. The presence of insulin inhibits lipolysis, the release of stored triglycerides (body fat). Without lipolysis actually releasing stored body fat, it’s rather difficult to, well, burn that body fat for energy. During a fast, fasting insulin decreases and lipolysis increases. This insulin- blunting aspect of fasting quite literally allows the fast to be successful, because without the ability to access stored body fat for energy, making it through a period of zero caloric intake will be nigh impossible. Fasting improves insulin sensitivity. Fasting increases the catecholamines, both adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine). Both catecholamines increase resting energy expenditure during a fast, and guess where your fasting body finds the energy to expend? From body fat. Catecholamines activate hormone sensitive lipase present in adipose tissue, spurring the release of said fat. This makes intuitive sense, doesn’t it? If you’re hungry in the wild, you need to hunt (or gather, or fish, or somehow procure food) and you need energy to do it. The catecholamines help provide some of that energy while burning fat in the process. Hmm, notice anything? All those mechanisms dealt with fat burning specifically. While there may be some weirdo out there who’s interested in reducing bone mineral density and muscle mass while maintaining fat tissue, I would wager that what most people mean by “weight loss” is “fat mass loss.” From the stuff I just linked, it looks like fasting burns fat, rather than just weight. But what about Conventional Wisdom which claims that fasting increases muscle wasting – maybe because your body will totally recognize the lethal nature of all that arterycloggingsaturated animal fat and choose to break down muscle instead? Is it true? Let’s go to the research: In one study, normal weight subjects ate just once a day without reducing overall caloric intake. Weight didn’t change, which isn’t really surprising, but body composition did change – and for the better. Body fat decreased and lean weight increased (in addition to a bunch of other beneficial changes) without an overall reduction in calories. A recent review of the relevant literature found that while fasting and caloric restriction are “equally as effective in decreasing body weight and fat mass,” fasting is “more effective for the retention of lean mass.”Conventional Wisdom strikes out again. In closing. It decreases caloric intake. In order to lose weight, you need a caloric deficit. That really isn’t in contention here, folks. It increases fat oxidation while sparing lean mass. Since what we’re trying to do is lose fat (rather than just “weight”), the fact that fasting increases hormones that preferentially burn fat and decreases hormones that inhibit fat burning is extremely desirable. It improves adherence. In most of the studies surveyed, participants found fasting to be an extremely tolerable way to diet, especially when compared to outright caloric restriction. Even AB, the fasting Scotsman, reported very little difficulty throughout his 3. If fasting is easier for you than trying to laboriously count calories, fasting is going to be the more effective weight – er, fat – loss method. All in all, fasting is an effective way to lose body fat. It’s not the only way, and it isn’t “required” for Primal weight loss, but many in the community have found it to be very helpful and the literature backs them up. If you’re looking to jumpstart your fat loss, fasting may be just the ticket. To get some ideas, be sure to check out my post on various fasting methods. In subsequent installments, I’ll highlight some of the other benefits of fasting. There are a ton, and new research is being released all the time, so I expect I’ll have a lot to discuss. Until then, I’d like to hear about your experiences with fasting for fat loss. Has it worked? Has it failed you? Let us know in the comment section! Thanks for reading, everyone! Here’s the entire series for easy reference: Why Fast? Part One – Weight Loss. Why Fast? Part Two – Cancer. Why Fast? Part Three – Longevity. Why Fast? Part Four – Brain Health. Why Fast? Part Five – Exercise. Why Fast? Part Six – Choosing a Method. Why Fast? Part Seven – Q& ADear Mark: Women and Intermittent Fasting. Subscribe to the Newsletter. If you'd like to add. Carbonated Water: Yes or No? I’ve become a fan of flavored seltzer water. With flavors like lime, pomegranate, green apple, and, yes, even eggnog (at holiday time), one can never get bored. Also, thanks to seltzer, I’ve been able to wean myself off Diet Coke to some degree. But is carbonated water really all that good? And what’s the difference, anyway, between club soda, seltzer, and tonic water? Know Your Fizzy Waters“Drink more water.” “Drink water instead of soda or juice.” You hear these phrases a lot, especially if you have diabetes. Regular soda and other soft drinks, along with fruit juice, contain a lot of carbohydrate and calories, which equals higher blood glucose levels and can add pounds to the scale. But sometimes, plain old water is well, a little too plain. Fizzy waters like seltzer and club soda at least provide a bit more interest. What’s the difference, though? Seltzer water. Seltzer water is regular water to which carbon dioxide gas has been added. It usually does not contain any minerals. Seltzer water comes “plain” as well as “flavored,” usually with natural extracts that don’t add any carbs or calories. Seltzer water is sometimes called sparkling water, too. Club soda. Often used interchangeably with seltzer, club soda is also water to which carbon dioxide gas is added. However, club soda usually contains added minerals, such as potassium bicarbonate or potassium sulfate, which add a subtle flavor, as well as some sodium. Mineral water. If your tastes run to Perrier or San Pellegrino, you’re drinking water that contains naturally- dissolved minerals and that comes from a natural underground source. Mineral waters cost more than seltzer or club soda. Tonic water. Tonic water is carbonated water that contains quinine, and, often, a little bit of sugar (or, more likely, high fructose corn syrup), along with citric acid and sodium benzoate. Quinine adds a bitter taste, making tonic water a great pairing with gin for, you guessed it, a gin and tonic. Tonic water, by the way, was originally used to help ward off malaria and reduce fever and inflammation. Diet tonic water contains a nonnutritive sweetener, such as aspartame or saccharin. Healthy or Not? Whatever your choice of carbonated waters is, they provide refreshment and flavor. But many people believe that these fizzy waters aren’t healthy, and unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation on the Internet about them. So let’s try to clear up any confusion. Carbonated waters don’t hurt your teeth. One of the myths out there is that drinking fizzy water will erode tooth enamel. This probably stems from the fact that when carbon dioxide gas is pumped into water, small amounts of carbonic acid are formed. But studies have shown that this small amount of acid doesn’t hurt your teeth. In fact, fizzy waters contain calcium and other minerals (albeit, in small amounts) that can actually buffer the carbonic acid and protect tooth enamel. On the other hand both regular and diet soda contain phosphoric acid and/or citric acid, which can be harmful to dental enamel. Carbonated water is good for digestion. Got an upset stomach? Feeling queasy? Ate too much fatty or spicy food? Rather than reach for the antacids, try drinking a glass of seltzer. Researchers have found that people with both indigestion and constipation who drank at least 1 1/2 liters of carbonated water every day for 1. Carbonated water may lower heart disease risk. This may sound odd, but in a study where postmenopausal women were given a carbonated mineral water to drink, after two months, these women had lower LDL (“bad”) and higher HDL (“good”) cholesterol level, as well as lower fasting glucose levels, compared to women who drank regular water. The mineral water used in this study contained bicarbonate, sodium, and chloride. It’s thought that the alkaline p. H of the water affected absorption and excretion of cholesterol. A Few Last Words About Carbonated Water. Carbonated waters do not leech calcium from bones, nor do they contribute to kidney stone formation. However, there may be people who need to limit their intake of fizzy water. If you have irritable bowel syndrome, you might want to go easy on all fizzy drinks as they can make you even more bloated than you already may be. People with acid reflux should be careful about carbonated beverages, as drinking them may sometimes aggravate symptoms. Also, if you need to watch your sodium intake, go for seltzer instead of club soda. Club soda contains about 6. All in all, though, carbonated waters are a great way to help you meet your fluid needs without adding carbs and calories.
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