Can Grapefruit and Lemon help you burn fat?

Question: True or False: Can grapefruit juice and lemon juice help you burn fat?

A friend emailed me this question and I felt it necessary to blog about it. It is a great question. . There are many claims out there that a certain food can help boost your metabolism, help you burn fat, etc. We all remember the fad grapefruit diet. The word "fad" being key here. First of all, lets examine the question closely. Lets look at the fruits mentioned. Grapefruit and lemon. Both contain a powerful antioxidant called ascorbic acid, or more commonly known as Vitamin C. They also both contain a large amount of both soluble and insoluble fiber, important for digestion, as do most citrus fruits. We can safely assume any citrus fruit could go here. Grapefruit has more fiber in it than other fruits but you would have to eat the tough membranes sectioning the fruit as well to make this true.

The answer to the question is false. There is no magical weight loss component in these fruits. They do offer wonderful health benefit's though!! They have a powerful dose of anti-oxidants . Anti-oxidants are our powerful allies. they bond with free radicals in our body that may damage cells contributing to all sorts of diseases,including the dreaded cardiovascular disease. Vitamin C helps prevent this from happening so rapidly. It could certainly help prevent the on set of many diseases. Vitamin C rich fruits include grapefruit, lemon, orange. We can also get this vitamin from veggies such as broccoli and cauliflower.

Another dietary tool and reason to include vitamin C in your diet is it has lots of fiber! That's right! Digestive health is very important, you want to keep things movin' if you know what I mean. It also slows digestion and absorption so that glucose(sugar) in foods are entered into the bloodstream slower, helping blood sugar stay at a more even level preventing hypo-glycemia (the cold sweats and shakes) and helping the body feel fuller, longer. Fiber also hangs around in the stomach longer, again, helping one stay full longer. Most expensive dietary supplements you can purchase via infomercial or health food store contain large amounts of it...so you spend lots of money on something you could get in your diet alone.

Bottom line on grapefruit and lemon? Eat em up! They are great for you!!! There is no magical food that will "help you burn fat" more quickly than others. It's all about how you feed your body though. Eating a balanced diet, which naturally includes plenty of vitamin C, is the only way to go. Our bodies were built to break down all of these foods to use for energy and maintenance, we don't even have to think about it after we eat, we just feed our body, and it does the work for us, placing the nutrients where they are needed, any excess is either expelled or stored as fat, our bodies are truly amazing. We must fuel it efficiently just as we do our vehicles, hopefully it won't get quite as expensive though ;-). Also, while efficiently fueling our bodies exercising to keep it strong is the second key to health and weight loss (if that's your goal). If you let your car sit for a while with a full take of gas, it may be sluggish when you crank it up, or it may not crank at all!!! Do you know what I mean?? I hope this helps! ~K

And the Answer is...

Running. Yes, in general we burn more calories running than the other exercises I listed. The reason is because when we run, we are using our upper body as well to maintain balance and speed. Have you ever tried running with your arms down to you side? Not easy, or natural. Because we are using more muscle groups to move, we are burning more calories. You do burn quiet a bit cycling but you are not relying on you upper body nearly as much. Cross country skiing burns the most calories of all because you are using your upper body to push yourself as well as you legs and core, hence the popularity of the elliptical trainers with the arm movements or any skiing exercise machine. Its still not as effective as the real thing though!!

A Calorie is a Calorie!

First blog... calories, calories, calories. Yes, the one thing we hate to count almost as much as we hate to count through a big jar of pennies. But, with all of the new diet fads running ramped right now I just wanted to simplify for you. That right, you said it. A calorie really is... a calorie!!! Ok, its not rocket science, really, its not. If you eat more calories than you use, you gain. If you use more calories than you eat, you guessed it, you loose. Just like pennies in the penny jar. If spend more, than you are puttin' in, the jar is lighter, less pennies!! Oh, how simple is that!! If you are reading this blog in hopes of finding the secret of weight loss, well, there it is! Now, can I collect my millions???. I think not.

Is it really that simple? Well, yes and no. Most of you knew this little piece of information WAY before my fingers did this typing, the complicated part is figuring our how many you need. You don't need as many as you probably think you do... bummer!! But we must first take in account your gender, age, and activity level. Women, sorry, we need less in most cases. If you are over weight, then you need to start tallying up how many you take in normally. Be Honest!! You are only lying to yourself!!! Then start taking away from that. So, if you find you are taking in 2,000, and you are overweight then you need to start finding other ways to lesson your caloric intake but not starve yourself!!! So if you drink sodas, switch to water, or diet soda's. If you have been indulging in that bowl of full fat ice cream, switch to frozen yogurt. If you look at your diet and pick these things out, make a change, you will find you can really save calories here!!!

Do you really want to get the weight off? Get heart healthy? And feel awesome?? Add exercise in the mix! Yeah, that's right, I said it! EXERCISE!! Say it with me....EX-ER-CISE!! You did it, now SMILE! Exercise is great. We have got to get away from thinking there is a way around it. There simply is not! It is as important as eating the right foods. AND you find exercise that you like? Your as good a gold. Set small goals for yourself, try new things. Don't pigeon hole yourself in saying " I don't like that" " I'm not coordinated enough to do that" or the dreaded " I wont be able to keep up" Yeah, not if you don't do it!! OH and please!! Dont give me the "I don't have the time" excuse! Everybody has 30 minutes a day to do something good for themselves!!! We all make time for priorities such as family, eating, bathing, exercise must be a priority! So, look up community centers, YMCA's, local running/walking clubs. You would be amazed at whats out there!! Don't be afraid. DO IT!

Back to calories. Cut calories back slightly, (portion control) keep a food diary, this will also help you stay on track, look at calories as fuel, we could not function with out them, so you don't want to cut them back too drastically, and exercise. This is a great start. I'm feeling good about this blog already! Stay posted for the next blog, it will be coming very soon. -K