Bee Pollen Weight Loss: Shed Pounds, the Natural Way!

What Is Bee Pollen?

Bee pollen refers to the tiny particles, the male seeds, found at the end of the flower stamen that are collected by bees. Bee pollen should not be confused with bee venom, honeycomb, or royal jelly.

Bee pollen is considered a superfood as it packed with protein, vitamins, minerals, lipids, and carbohydrates, containing almost all nutrients that the human body requires to function properly. It should be noted that roughly half of the bee pollen's proteins can be used as such by the human body.

Bee Pollen Weight Loss: How Does It Work?

Bee pollen is said to have a vast array of health benefits, ranging from treating rashes and eczema, stomach aches, asthma, mouth sores, premenstrual syndrome to enhancing athletic performance and preventing premature aging.

What about bee pollen for weight loss? It is believed that bee pollen is a metabolism enhancer promoting faster calorie burn. Moreover, it has a low amount of calories - around 90 calories per ounce.

It should also be noted that bee pollen has 15% lecithin, a substance that helps removing the fat deposits from your body. This phenomenon also translates to a lower level of LDL cholesterol. And let's not forget about phenylalanine, an amino acid that helps you fight cravings by decreasing your appetite.

How to Take Bee Pollen for Weight Loss

Bee pollen should be taken at mealtime, especially in the morning. It can be taken as such, or with a piece of fruit, for instance.

Bee Pollen Side Effects

Is bee pollen safe for weight loss? This question is highly important and it should definitely be taken into account before starting a bee pollen weight loss diet.

In spite of being a natural product, bee pollen may cause allergic reactions that range from mild to severe. As a result, people with pollen allergies should avoid taking bee pollen.

Although rare, there have been reported cases of kidney and liver damage following bee pollen administration. Still, it is not known for sure if bee pollen triggered those particular negative reactions. Bee pollen is likely unsafe for pregnant women, as it is possible to stimulate the uterus and cause a miscarriage.

Generally speaking, bee pollen is safe when taken daily for up to 30 days. Whether it's taken in its natural form or as dietary supplements, bee pollen for weight loss or for enhancing one's immunity does not usually have side effects.

See also:
Chia Seeds Benefits for Skin and Health
Nutrients You Need to Stay Healthy

Photos: Thinkstock

View the original article here

8 sneaky ways to avoid holiday pounds

Nov. 25, 2012 at 12:44 PM ET

David De Lossy / Getty Images stockBy Gina Roberts-Grey, Prevention

Trying to lose those pesky 10 pounds you gained on summer vacation or wondering how to prevent packing them on over the holidays? Oodles of new research has uncovered ways to trim 100 calories or more from your diet without skimping on flavor. While it doesn't sound like much, shaving off 100 calories a day could help you trim 10 or more pounds a year--even if you never set foot in the gym.

Get started today with these science-backed calorie-cutting shortcuts that'll help you maintain healthy curves all year long.

1. Dim the lights

Regardless of what you thought as a kid, it turns out the dark isn't so scary after all. A new study from Cornell University says the secret to eating less--and feeling more satisfied about what you do eat--could be as simple as turning down the lights. Researchers found people who ate a meal under soft, warm lighting consumed 175 fewer calories than those who noshed in brightly lit places. The study participants who dined under mood lighting ate 18 percent less of the food on their plates--and also rated their food "more enjoyable" than those under bright lights. Scientists think that's because the harsh fluorescent lights commonly found in fast food restaurants may create a psychological need to rush through meals and eat more--so light a candle or two at dinnertime, and you may be less stimulated to gobble up your food.

How to Prevent Weight Gain from Snacking

2. Be a straight shooter

They might look stylish, but swanky, curved drinking glasses on your table could lead to saddlebags on your thighs and a spare tire around your middle. A British study found that people consumed 60 percent more alcohol, sugary sodas, and juices if the glass they drank from was curvy, rather than a straight tumbler. The researchers speculate that people drink faster from the curvy glasses because it's harder to tell when you're at the halfway point, so you reach for another drink sooner and end up consuming more.

To space out your sips and feel satisfied sooner, pour yourself a drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) in a straight-shaped glass. If you end up drinking 60 percent less than you normally would, that's about 67 calories saved at breakfast if an 8 oz glass of orange juice is a morning staple; 48 calories saved at lunch if you're sipping a sweetened iced tea; or about 40 fewer Chardonnay calories consumed at dinner or happy hour.

Learn 16 Simple Ways to Eat Less.

3. Grab a few winks

Got a bad case of the head bobs? Several studies say you could wind up hungrier than if you were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. One study from the Mayo Clinic shows getting less than 6 ? hours of sleep a night can lead to consuming as many as 500 excess calories in a day.

Being sleep deprived can increase how hungry you feel and lead to downing more calories than you'd eat if you weren't exhausted, says Manfred Hallschmid, PhD, department of medical psychology and behavioural neurobiology, University of Tubingen and lead researcher of a separate study on sleep and calorie consumption. "Sleep deprivation can raise levels of appetite hormones like ghrelin," he says. Surging levels of ghrerlin, the hormone that revs up your appetite, can lead to eating hundreds of extra calories than when you're well-rested, according to Dr. Hallschmid.

Wake Up To Better-Looking Skin

4. Don't say, "I can't"

Whether you're trying to sidestep a fast food drive thru, leftover Halloween candy, or heaping plates of food at Thanksgiving, don't tell yourself what you can't eat. New research says you'll get better results if you frame it a little differently and focus on what you don't eat. "Can't" sounds more like punishment than being healthy, researchers say, and it creates a sense of self-deprivation that can tank your motivation. On the other hand, reminding yourself you "don't" eat certain foods helps steel your willpower towards a healthier lifestyle.

Case in point: When researchers divided a group of people into "can't eats" and "don't eats", 64 percent of those in the "don't" group passed up a candy bar in favor of a healthier granola bar--but only 30 percent of the "can't" group chose the healthier snack. So cut the "can'ts", and will yourself towards smaller portions of healthier food.

Harness your hormones to lose unhealthy belly fat for good.

5. Think thin

Think you're overweight? Think again. New research says the way you think about food and your waistline can determine your success at sticking to a healthy diet. Turns out telling yourself you're "chubby" or "very fat" decreases the odds of hitting your target goal weight, even if you're physically active.

10 Tricks to Turn Around a "Fat" Day

Over a 10-year span, 59 percent of women who started out with an average body mass index of 20 but thought they were overweight, wound up packing on weight and watching their BMI swell to more than 25. That weight gain likely happened because of a self-fulfilling prophecy, says Susan Albers, psychologist at The Cleveland Clinic and the author of Eating Mindfully and 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food. "Your mindset is incredibly important in giving up or getting on track with your weight," she says. "So if you think you are not overweight, regardless of your actual weight, you will act in ways that lead you to what you already believe." And that translates to eating fewer fats and calories.

6. Stop staring at sugar

Don't you hate when you're minding your own business, sticking to a healthy diet, and all of a sudden a craving for junk food comes along and ruins your good intentions? To help you keep those cravings in check, a new study says you should look the other way when you see pictures of high-fat, high-calorie, or sugary foods. That's because brain scans have shown that ogling pictures of high-calorie treats stimulates parts of the brain that control hunger and the reward center, says Kathleen Page, MD, assistant professor of medicine at USC and the study's lead author.

What should you do when TV commercials flash images of high-calorie foods? Head to the kitchen and take a peek at some healthy foods to shut down the reward center of your brain.

The Secret To Enjoying Your Favorite Things

7. Wet your whistle

You're more likely to crave veggies than greasy French fries, chips or other foods high in fat and calories if you pair a meal with water instead of caloric beverages. Researchers at the University of Oregon say that food-drink pairings can influence the type of food choices we make and the amount of calories we eat. In the study, adults who paired a meal with water were more likely to eat their vegetables and make other healthy food choices than if they sipped on soda. Additionally, more participants named water as the best drink to pair with healthy, low-calorie foods, while soda scored high as the best drink to accompany pizza or fries. Pour yourself a tall glass of water, not soda, before your meals, and your appetite may follow suit.

5 Weird Tricks To Feel Fuller

8. Look forward to eating

Are you jonesing for lunch? Got Thanksgiving dinner or other meals on your mind? Go ahead, keep fantasizing! Dr. Hallschmid says anticipating a meal can actually lower your body's levels of ghrelin, the appetite hormone. In a study he conducted, he found that looking forward to and thinking about a meal before you sidle up to the table helps reign in ghrelin levels, so people consumed less calories during the meal. "Looking forward to eating could have a positive effect on food intake control because it leads to feeling full sooner, and sustaining that feeling of full so you don't seek out high-calorie snacks," says Dr. Hallschmid.

The Sneaky Way To Eat Less

More from Prevention:?

3 New Ways to Master Weight Loss

How to Stop Falling Off the Diet Wagon

Short on Self-Control?

Are You an Emotional Eater?

View the original article here

Extra pounds may put you in the hospital

By Reuters staff

Regardless of lifestyle and other health-related factors, heavier people were more likely than lean ones to be hospitalized for a variety of conditions, according to an Australian study.

What's more, this was the case not just for obese people but also for those who were merely overweight as well, the researchers wrote in the International Journal of Obesity.

Among middle-aged adults, researchers found that every extra body mass index (BMI) point - equal to about 2.7 to 3.2 kilograms (six or seven lbs) - was tied to a four percent higher chance of being admitted to the hospital over a two-year period.
"There is considerable evidence that severe obesity is bad for your health, resulting in higher rates of disease and consequently higher use of health services and higher death rates," said lead author Rosemary Korda, from the Australian National University in Canberra.

"What this study shows is that there is a gradual increase in risk of hospitalization as BMI increases, starting with people in the overweight range. In other words, even being overweight (but not obese) increases your risk."

Korda and her colleagues recruited close to 250,000 people aged 45 and above from New South Wales. After surveying them about their height, weight and other health and lifestyle issues, the researchers tracked participants through hospital data.

Over the next two years, they had more than 61,000 total hospitalizations lasting at least one night.

Korda's team found that among people considered in the normal range for BMI, there were 120 hospitalizations for every 1,000 men and 102 per 1,000 women each year. For those considered severely obese, on the other hand, there were 203 hospitalizations for every 1,000 men and 183 per 1,000 women, on average.

Overweight and moderately obese people had hospitalization rates somewhere in between.

A BMI of 25 to 30 is classified as overweight, while obese is from 30 on up.

That pattern held up even after taking into account whether participants smoked, how physically active they were and their general health at the start of the study.

Extra weight seemed especially to play a role in people's chances of being hospitalized for diabetes, heart disease, chest pain, arthritis and asthma, the researchers reported.

"Extending the research to overweight individuals... is a unique contribution," said Robert Klesges, a preventive medicine researcher from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

"Basically it tells tens of millions of Americans that, 'you are now at risk'," added Klesges, who wasn't involved in the study.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just under 36 percent of American adults are obese. Another 33 percent are overweight.

"While increasing weight leads to increasing risk, this also means that a gradual decrease in weight is likely to gradually decrease your risk - ie, if you are overweight or obese, even small decreases in weight may make a positive difference to your health," said Korda.

Related stories:?

View the original article here

She lost nearly 80 pounds on a 'Starbucks diet'

Sep. 13, 2012 at 4:05 PM ET

Christine Hall didn’t join an expensive weight-loss program or sign up for a meal-delivery service to help her lose nearly 80 pounds. In fact, she never even goes to the grocery store.

Instead, as she lost the weight over the last few years, almost everything she consumed has come from Starbucks.

A law librarian with two jobs, she gets her meals from the Starbucks right near work, where employees have cheered on the 5-foot, 4-inch Hall as she’s gone from weighing 190 to a trim 114 pounds.?

As she tracked her calorie intake online, she started eating almost exclusive at Starbucks two years ago because it’s convenient and the products include calorie information.

“I have a busy schedule, so it just works for me,” says Hall, 66, of Alexandria, Va.?“I know exactly what I’m getting. I can plan my day in advance because I’ve memorized the calories in everything.”

And, Hall says she’s eating a healthy variety of foods, with her doctor’s approval. “It’s not like I’m having a bagel every day,” she said. “I’m mixing it up and making sure I get protein, fruits and vegetables.”

Hall said her weight never came up at checkups, though she reached a high of 212 pounds in November, 2009. But it did become an issue when, at 200 pounds, she was rejected as a kidney donor.

“The kidney doctor was the first who had the nerve to say, ‘Let’s talk about your weight,’” Hall said.

She started keeping a written food diary and lost 10 pounds. By May 10, 2010, at 190 pounds, she discovered the MyPlate calorie tracker at livestrong.com and started buying all of her food from Starbucks.

She eventually lost 40 pounds, enough to become an altruistic kidney donor in a 32-person kidney swap in November, 2010.

She kept going, losing about two pounds a week at the beginning, and sometimes eating as little as 876 calories in a day.

A daily menu could consist of oatmeal for breakfast and a 5-calorie cup of coffee, a “bistro box” with fruit and cheese for lunch, and, she said, “I love a panini for dinner because it fills me up.”

Registered dietitian Amy Jamieson-Petonic says there’s no doubt that Hall found weight-loss success. But anyone looking to lose weight should make sure they’re meeting their nutritional requirements, she said.

"It's one thing to choose foods that are low in calories, but it's another thing to choose low-calorie foods that are nutritionally balanced," said Jamieson-Petonic, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.?

Not to mention that constantly dining out -- even if it is just at the local Starbucks -- can be costly. "Eating healthy on a budget is a top priority for most people," Jamieson-Petonic said in an email to TODAY.com. "Making food at home is a better option when you are watching your food dollars closely."

Jamieson-Petonic suggests choosing budget- and waistline-friendly foods like legumes, brown rice, whole grains and frozen fruits and vegetables to "stretch your food dollars." If you're mindful about it, she adds, "Preparing meals at home can cost half the price of dining out."?

Hall is still eating at Starbucks, enough calories to maintain her weight, which gives her a body mass index in the normal range of just under 20.?

"I want to keep it at 20 or below for the rest of my life, and that's a very healthy place to be," Hall said. It's a stark contrast to when she struggled with obesity. "I has sleep apnea and I was tired all the time," Hall said. "My joints hurt. It hurt to stand up. I was in trouble." Now, she says, she has no medical problems, takes no medication and feels "like I'm 15."

"I'm so blessed with good health," she said. "I sleep like a baby and I have tons of energy. It's great."

Related:

View the original article here

Dr. Oz's tips for losing those last 10 pounds

March 11, 2013 at 3:20 PM ET

We’ve all been there. There’s extra weight around the belly and it seems like the additional 10 pounds of padding won’t budge despite diet and workout. Dr. Mehmet Oz, M.D. told TODAY that events such as stress, the slowing of metabolism of middle age, and hormone changes after having a baby are three reasons why many people see the numbers on the scale going up. And, he shared a few tips to help shed those pounds.

“These are the three main conditions. If you find yourself with these problems you can’t go through individual weight gain,” he explained on TODAY.

Cora Porter is a perfect example. As she dealt with the stress from the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the holidays, and her husband’s hectic work and travel schedule, she noticed she ate when things felt overwhelming.

Oz says that Porter’s story is all too predictable.

“You just told the story of weight gain in America, the number one cause is stress,” he said.

Stress changes the body’s hormones and can also impact the ability to eat proper amounts of food, both of which can add to the waistline. And it ruins a good night’s rest, also contributing to weight gain. To avoid stress eating, Oz recommended that people learn to recognize toxic hunger, the body’s false feeling of emptiness. When a hunger pang strikes, Oz said to avoid eating for five minutes. If the hunger subsides, it means the body wasn’t really in need of food. Real hunger will be accompanied by salivation, which in turns helps people enjoy the food they are eating. Stress eaters rarely taste what they are eating.

While stress is a leading cause of weight gain, aging can also add extra pounds. Lillian Lee noticed that over the past eight years, she gained about 10 pounds that she can’t lose. Sadly, this happens to everyone as they age—the body’s metabolism stalls, says Oz, adding thatwhen it comes to midlife weight, structured diets help. He suggested a diet including a breakfast of about 300 calories, a lunch of 400 calories, and a dinner of 500 calories.

Women struggling to lose the baby weight face different challenges. Keisha Ajyei gained 80 pounds after having two babies 11 months apart. While she lost most of the baby weight, she still has that nagging 10 pounds she hopes to drop.

“The baby weight gain, in particular, it's driven by hormones and when you have this growling in your stomach, you have to have snacks,” Oz told TODAY.

In addition to following the 1,200-calorie diet he recommended for Lee, he says that women trying to lose the baby weight should add three snacks of either 75 or 100 calories. In total, the snacking calories should amount to 250 calories a day.

Having several low-calorie snacks per day helps women lose the baby fat because it calms the hormone causing the tummy to act up and growl. And it gives them an extra boost of energy to get through the day.

You can find more tips from Oz in the current issue of Good Housekeeping.

View the original article here