Ancient Paths, Naturally: Is Weight Loss Part of YOUR New Year's Resolution?

Have you decided to lose a little weight? Maybe you have a lot to lose and maybe you could lose 5 or 10 pounds to reach your ideal weight. You probably know that carrying around extra weight is bad for your health, but did you know that some key diseases are that are directly related to being overweight?

Research has shown that as weight increases to reach the levels referred to as "overweight" and "obesity,"* the risks for the following conditions also increases:

Coronary heart disease

Type 2 diabetes

Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)

Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)

Stroke

Liver and Gallbladder disease

Sleep apnea and respiratory problems

Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)

Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility)

*Overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher; obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or higher.

I don't know about you, but I sure want to avoid the above diseases if I can! Remember, only 20% of your health is determined by genetics. That means that 80% of your health is in your control.

Yo-yo's make fun toys but awful diets!

The Yo-Yo Diet

Most diets require us to consume fewer calories and increase our physical activity. This is the ideal way to lose weight and stay healthy. So why don't diets tend to work in the long run?
The big key is muscle mass. For every 12 pounds a person loses there is 5 pounds of lost muscle mass. You have lost 12 pounds in weight but almost half of that has not been from fat loss. Why is muscle important? It is the muscle that is the key to our metabolism. Those 5 lost pounds of muscle mass means that now your body can metabolize 250 fewer calories. So once the diet is complete and we go back to a 'normal' eating habit, our bodies are able to metabolize fewer calories and so we gain weight again. Often times we gain more weight than we just lost.

Do you recognize this yo-yo?

Why does your body eat up the muscle instead of just the fat? Our bodies don't understand dieting. When we eat less our bodies shift into famine mode, it thinks we might starve to death. Since unused energy is stored as fat, our bodies are not willing to let go of the guaranteed source of energy quite so quickly. Our bodies are created to sustain life and ensure life as much as possible. Our bodies want to keep that energy on hand to make sure that our hearts continue to beat, our lungs continue to breathe, our brains continue to send and receive signals, etc. It's a life sustaining mechanism that G-d built right into our bodies. BUT some of us are carrying around too much 'extra energy' and it's causing us to suffer with diseases and difficulties. Disease is not life sustaining.

So how do we lose the fat without damaging our muscles and losing our muscle mass?

Introducing Cinch

Cinch is a weight management plan that contains leucine. Body builders use leucine. What is leucine? Leucine is an essential amino acid that heads straight to the muscles, counteracts muscle breakdown and encourages muscle building. This means that you are able to keep more muscle while you are eating less calories, which means keeping your metabolism up. Along with leucine, Cinch provides an adequate amount of protein because protein is the building block for muscle. The leucine triggers muscle building and the protein is there to develop that muscle.

The Cinch Plan is a weight management plan that delivers leucine to your body throughout the day. Have a delicious Cinch shake for breakfast (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and cafe latte flavors) along with the Cinch 3-in-1 multi-vitamin/multi-mineral. The shakes are designed to be nutritious and filling, so you don't get hungry. Then at lunch, have a second shake and a delicious meal bar (berry almond crunch and peanut butter chocolate chip flavors), which is just what it says - a complete meal in a bar. When the afternoon snack-attack hits, there are snack bars (chocolate decadence, lemon cranberry and peanut butter crunch flavors). Throughout the day you can drink the Cinch energy tea (unsweetened and pomegranate flavors). Hot tea or cold tea, it's up to you! The Cinch Plan doesn't leave you hanging for dinner plans. Included is a wonderful book of recipes for healthy, well rounded meals to have with your family (or friends!).

The Cinch Plan makes it a cinch to lose those inches. There is an entire community of people online using Cinch and taking advantage of the Cinch Coach - which is a wonderful way to track your progress on your computer. No more counting points or calories. Just use the pedometer that comes with the program and monitor your daily physical activity with it, follow the Cinch Plan and find friends who are doing the same at the Cinch Plan community online.