FOODS THAT BOOST THE METABOLISM
1) Water.
(Not only do they decrease fat deposits in your arteries and control your cholesterol levels, they also contain capsaicin, which activates the metabolism of fat in your liver and prevents the fat from mounting up in your body.)
2) Spicy food, chili peppers in particular
(Not only do they decrease fat deposits in your arteries and control your cholesterol levels, they also contain capsaicin, which activates the metabolism of fat in your liver and prevents the fat from mounting up in your body.)
3) Fish, particularly fish such as salmon and trout which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
(Fish can lower the levels of a hormone called leptin, and this will definitely contribute to faster metabolism.)
4) Protein-rich foods, such as turkey, chicken, or lean beef.
(A high-protein diet takes more energy for your body to digest, and this process can increase the amount of calories you burn.)
5) Fiber-rich vegetables.
(Fiber i

My nephew is going to be 6 years old in March and is 80 pounds. He is pretty tall and heavy. The doctor told his parents he had high levels of cholesterol and and sent him to a nutritionist. The nutritionist gave them a special diet. However, this diet lasted a couple of days and he eats alot. He is very anxious and wants to eat all the time. His mom gives him anything he wants plus big portions. He eats the same quantity as an adult. I go to school and work; however I try to take him to the park everday so he can exercise and lower the anxiety.
Well, how should I proceed? What’s the best alternative? Afterschool sports?
His parents don’t collaborate with me; so I have to do it myself.
I will apreciate your help!!!!!!

My mom is 57-years-old and has been having some ongoing problems that I’m worried might be connected to each other in some way. She is very difficult to talk into seeing a doctor and so I would just like some possible conditions this could be related to so that I can research the specific conditions for her. Her symptoms include a HUGE amount of swelling in her legs, from her knees down to and throughout her feet. There is so much swelling that her legs are pretty red and this swelling has been going on for several months now. She DID go in to see her doctor about the swelling and had examinations done on her heart, kidneys, etc. and the doctor just didn’t have any answers for her. She has type-2 diabetes and doesn’t take care of herself that well, including the fact that she’s quite obese, weighing in at over 300 pounds. She’s already had knee replacement surgery and as such doesn’t get much exercise because she doesn’t feel sturdy on her legs. She has an office job where she sits throughout almost her entire full-time shift. So, her doctor prescribed her some water pills to relieve the edema, and it hasn’t been helping. Now, months after the initial onset of the edema, she is developing water blisters all over her legs, extending from her knees down to her ankles. Other symptoms and problems she has had that may or may not be related are as follows:
*A few dark spots in her peripheral vision
*Pains in her chest, despite physician exam disproving relation to a heart condition
*Recent high-level of weight gain (Due to edema??)
*Loss of feeling in feet and legs, including no pain sensation
*Inflammation of the fat on the left side of her abdomen (which was treated with antibiotics I believe)
*Pain in her lower legs (most likely related to edema)
*An extreme loss of bladder control, to where she doesn’t even usually sense the need for urination, and she has been examined by her doctor for this, who sent her to a neurologist and a urinary specialist. She was told that she needs a urinary sling or something similar, but she only has been given a 20% chance of continuing success unless she loses weight, which she obviously has no ability to work on until her legs are better. This loss of control is so big that “Depends” and the like don’t protect from the leakage.
There seems to be no other problems going on other than this. Her blood sugar usually stays within healthy limits despite an unhealthy diet. Her blood pressure is within healthy limits and her cholesterol levels, etc. weren’t really bad at her last testing. My poor mother just feels so helpless and worthless. She is NOT handling this situation well and feels like there’s nothing that can be done to help her. I would really appreciate some type of information so that I can help her investigate what is going on, that way maybe when I finally do talk her into seeing her doctor again, she can point out ideas of what may be going on… maybe that way she doesn’t walk out of a few more doctor’s appointments as clueless as she walked into them. Please help.

I read this article and it helped me learn what are the ways that fasting can improve someones health.Also on tv the sheik advises anyone with any health problem like high blood pressure ,diabetes,cholestrol to fast even during the fitr days .
1. Attitude About Juice Fasting: One key to juice fasting over water fasting is the ability to prevent ketosis (disrupted carbohydrate metabolism in response to chronic starvation) by continuously providing simple carbohydrates that are used by your body for energy and nutrition to the cells. Some individuals, however, believe that carb overload is the reason why Americans are fat.
2. Attitude about Skipping Meals: One study suggests that skipping a meal occasionally is not all that bad, especially if weight loss is a goal. However, be aware of changes in metabolic rate (see below).
3. Autonomic Nervous System: According to this article, fasting appears to have a normalizing effect on the overall tone of the autonomic nervous system. This normalization decreases possibilities for a number of issues ranging from digestive disturbances to anxiety disorders.
4. Awareness: Fasting can heighten awareness, depending upon the health of the individual, the goal for fasting and the ability to eliminate toxins from the system.
5. Back Pain: Back pains caused by muscular tightness and stress rather than from bone disease or osteoporosis may be alleviated with a lighter diet or juice fasting.
6. Bad Health Habits: In some people, fasting has helped break cravings for alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and some drug addictions.
7. Blood Pressure: Water fasting may correct your high blood pressure to a safe range within two weeks without drugs. This level of pressure can be maintained if the diet is changed rather than going back to old eating habits. This study was conducted in a controlled setting.
8. Cell Proliferation: This study, done on mice, showed that intermittent fasting slowed cell production, which also showed cancer development. Slowing down the rate of cell proliferation essentially buys time for the cells to repair genetic damage that may cause cancer.
9. Cholesterol: One study about a 30-day Muslim fast showed significant decrease in LDL (”bad” cholesterol), total serum cholesterol and serum triglycerides at the end of the fasting period. There also was a significant increase in “good” cholesterol (HDL) that showed at the end of the fast and continued to show for one month after the fast.
10. Chronic cardiovascular disease and congestive heart failure: Fasting can reduce triglycerides, atheromas, total cholesterol and may increase HDL levels.
11. Energy Flow: Through this logic, fasting enables the body to slow down to the point where the individual can listen to the body through the mind. This ‘vital force’ is clouded when the body is filled with toxins. However, one study with flies showed that the value of diminished appetite to an animal’s survival may vary with the infecting microbe.
12. Fat Mobilization [PDF]: Fasting may move the body to mobilize fat stores from adipose tissue (the fat under your skin) to consume that fat as energy. Short fasts also may protect proteins in your body with the release of a growth hormone.
13. Heart Health: The day-long, once-a-month fast many Mormons undertake as a part of their faith may help explain the lower rates of coronary artery disease in this population, according to a study presented at the American Heart Assn.’s scientific sessions in Orlando, Florida, in 2007.
14. Homeostasis: Basically, your metabolic equilibrium, or ability to heal, could undergo a change during fasting. When fasting is employed as a therapeutic measure, it changes the playing field for disease and infection. This article quotes Louis Pasteur, “The pathogen is nothing, the terrain is everything” for an argument on why fasting can be used as a cure for injury or disease.
15. Insulin and Blood Sugars: A study from the National Institute on Aging found that skipping meals frequently can help mice maintain healthier glucose and insulin levels. The study provides insight into the possible effect of fasting on glucose metabolism.
16. Life Span: The point behind this list of articles and studies is that caloric reduction, overall, is one way to increase a life span. Lower metabolic rates, slower cell proliferation and less body fat that holds toxic matter all lead to a healthier life. This translates, for many people, into a longer life.
17. Lifestyle: If you want to change your life to feel healthier and more productive, this author believes that fasting provides the pivot for that change.
18. Mental Alertness: When toxins are removed from the lymphatic and blood systems, this change improves mental clarity. Eating less also results in energy conservation, which can be used by the brain for thinking tasks.
19. Metabolism: While many people believe that a fast metabolism is key to weight loss,

Internal fat around organs can increase diabetes and heart risks
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:03 p.m. PT May 11, 2007
LONDON – If it really is what’s on the inside that counts, then a lot of thin people might be in trouble.
Some doctors now think that the internal fat surrounding vital organs like the heart, liver or pancreas — invisible to the naked eye — could be as dangerous as the more obvious external fat that bulges underneath the skin.
“Being thin doesn’t automatically mean you’re not fat,” said Dr. Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College, London. Since 1994, Bell and his team have scanned nearly 800 people with MRI machines to create “fat maps” showing where people store fat.
According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. “The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined,” said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain’s Medical Research Council.
Without a clear warning signal — like a rounder middle — doctors worry that thin people may be lulled into falsely assuming that because they’re not overweight, they’re healthy.
“Just because someone is lean doesn’t make them immune to diabetes or other risk factors for heart disease,” said Dr. Louis Teichholz, chief of cardiology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, who was not involved in Bell’s research.
Even people with normal Body Mass Index scores — a standard obesity measure that divides your weight by the square of your height — can have surprising levels of fat deposits inside.
Of the women scanned by Bell and his colleagues, as many as 45 percent of those with normal BMI scores (20 to 25) actually had excessive levels of internal fat. Among men, the percentage was nearly 60 percent.
Relating the news to what Bell calls “TOFIs” — people who are “thin outside, fat inside” — is rarely uneventful. “The thinner people are, the bigger the surprise,” he said, adding the researchers even found TOFIs among people who are professional models.
According to Bell, people who are fat on the inside are essentially on the threshold of being obese. They eat too many fatty, sugary foods — and exercise too little to work it off — but they are not eating enough to actually be fat. Scientists believe we naturally accumulate fat around the belly first, but at some point, the body may start storing it elsewhere.
Still, most experts believe that being of normal weight is an indicator of good health, and that BMI is a reliable measurement.
“BMI won’t give you the exact indication of where fat is, but it’s a useful clinical tool,” said Dr. Toni Steer, a nutritionist at Britain’s Medical Research Council.
Unhealthy skinny people
Doctors are unsure about the exact dangers of internal fat, but some suspect it contributes to the risk of heart disease and diabetes. They theorize that internal fat disrupts the body’s communication systems. The fat enveloping internal organs might be sending the body mistaken chemical signals to store fat inside organs like the liver or pancreas. This could ultimately lead to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, or heart disease.
Experts have long known that fat, active people can be healthier than their skinny, inactive counterparts. “Normal-weight persons who are sedentary and unfit are at much higher risk for mortality than obese persons who are active and fit,” said Dr. Steven Blair, an obesity expert at the University of South Carolina.
For example, despite their ripples of fat, super-sized Sumo wrestlers probably have a better metabolic profile than some of their slim, sedentary spectators, Bell said. That’s because the wrestlers’ fat is primarily stored under the skin, not streaking throughout their vital organs and muscles.
The good news is that internal fat can be easily burned off through exercise or even by improving your diet. “Even if you don’t see it on your bathroom scale, caloric restriction and physical exercise have an aggressive effect on visceral fat,” said Dr. Bob Ross, an obesity expert at Queen’s University in Canada.
Because many factors contribute to heart disease, Teichholz says it’s difficult to determine the precise danger of internal fat — though it certainly doesn’t help.
“Obesity is a risk factor, but it’s lower down on the totem pole of risk factors,” he said, explaining that whether or not people smoke, their family histories and blood pressure and cholesterol rates are more important determinants than both external and internal fat.
When it comes to being fit, experts say there is no short-cut. “If you just want to look thin, then maybe dieting is enough,” Bell said. “But if you want to actually be healthy, then exercise has to be an important component of your lifestyle.”