The hunger meter

Before you sit down to eat, follow these simple steps.

1. Take a moment to assess your hunger.

2. Give it a rating on a scale of 0 (ravenously hungry) to 10 (Thanksgiving stuffed).

3. When your hunger is a 4, it’s time to start eating; waiting until you’re at 2 or 1 could put you at risk for overeating.

4. Start slowing down when you get to a 6 or 7 and reassess: Are you still eating to satisfy your hunger? Or are you simply munching mindlessly?

How to think yourself thin

You can learn a lot by watching a 3-year-old eat. She carefully inspects her food, smelling and touching it, before cramming it into her mouth. She pushes away her plate as soon as she’s full. And she doesn’t dive face first into a bag of Oreos because she feels lonely.

In fact, 3-year-old are masters at “intuitive eating.” New research shows that the practice of mindfully listening to your body’s natural hunger cues—instead of dieting or emotionally eating—can help you lose weight and get healthier. Women who eat intuitively have lower BMIs than non intuitive eaters; they also report higher levels of appreciation for their own bodies. Other studies show that mindful eating can reduce binge eating and lower cholesterol levels and cardiovascular-disease risk.

Take fiber to lose weight

Daily soluble-fiber supplements (such as Metamucil and Benefiber) may help you lose weight by curbing your hunger, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Nutrition. People who took them lost an extra 9 pounds over four months. Experts say eating fiber-rich foods each day can work similar magic. A few to try:

• Oatmeal (1 cup, cooked, instant or regular)
• Popcorn (3 cups, air-popped or microwaved)
• Edamame (1/2 cup, cooked)
• Raspberries (1 cup, fresh or frozen)
• Potatoes (1 medium with skin, baked or roasted)

What is physical fitness?

A condition or state of being that helps you look, feel and do your best. It is the ability to do tasks full of energy, and still be able to do other things with your time, such as schoolwork and activities with family and friends. It is a basis for good health and well-being. Fitness involves performance of the heart and lungs, and the muscles of the body. Fitness can also influence how alert you are and how you feel emotionally.

Singaporean's one stop health portal

Singapore's government has launch a website which act as a one stop health portal. myhealth.sg is developed by experts in weight management and fitness, health screening, mental health, and diet at Changi General Hospital.

This website is made specially for Singaporean, one will have to register and signed in to get information. To register, you will need to provide a Singapore ic number and a valid Singapore hp number. The information and services provided in this website are:

• Personal health profile
• Asian health benchmarks
• Asian meal choices
• Security & confidentiality
• Supported by medical professionals

But foreigners like us can still benefit from site. It provides:

• Heart disease risk calculator
• Food nutrition calculator
• Ideal weight calculator
• Diabetes risk calculator
• Waist-hip ratio calculator
• Body mass index calculator

5 great reasons to get moving

More energy
This one's hard to believe, but exercising will make you feel more energetic. When scientists at the University of New Orleans asked 42 volunteers to assess their mood before and after a 50-minute aerobics class, most of them said they felt less tense and less tired after breaking a sweat. In a 1997 study, researchers found that a brisk 10-minute walk gave people more energy than eating a candy bar. How can that be? Exercise boosts a hormone that increases energy. And it doesn't take more than a few workouts before strength and the lungs' capacity to provide oxygen to working muscles improve, increasing stamina -- which is enough to make anyone feel more energetic.

Less stress
Just one simple workout can ease stress and anxiety. In an experiment at Indiana University, researchers used psychological tests to gauge anxiety levels in 15 volunteers before and after a 20-minute session on an exercise cycle. The volunteers all reported feeling significantly less anxious during an hour or two after the workout. Exercise enhances the flow of brain chemicals, such as serotonin, that are related to positive mood. Because it also increases core body temperature, it can be as relaxing as a good soak in a hot tub.

A sharper mind
Exercise can even spark creativity. Researchers at England's Middlesex University tested creative thinking in a group of 63 volunteers -- once after they'd done an aerobic workout and once after they'd sat around watching a video. After the workout, volunteers in the experiment felt more positive and scored higher on creativity.

Healthier arteries
Physical activity boosts levels of high-density lipoproteins, or HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, by as much as 20 percent. HDL helps rid the body of low-density lipoproteins, or LDL, the artery-clogging kind. Studies show that HDL can even pick up cholesterol deposited in arteries and move it to where it won't do harm. Another benefit to the arteries: The level of fat particles in the blood, called triglycerides, falls by as much as 40 percent after a vigorous workout. Exercising converts triglycerides into fatty acids -- the form in which fat can be burned for energy. You burn stored fat each and every time you work out -- the key to keeping weight off. Plus you lower your level of triglycerides in the blood. And the lower your triglyceride level, studies show, the lower your risk of heart disease.

Better defenses
The moment you begin exercising, your heart starts pounding and your blood pressure surges, sweeping disease-fighting immune cells out into the blood, where they're able to detect troublemakers like cold or flu viruses. Studies show that people who exercise have 40 to 50 percent fewer sick days than their sit-around-and-do-nothing counterparts.

Lose Weight with Xenical

The Xenical effectively treats people those who are overweight or obese. This will reduce your fat and you will get back into shape within a course of few months. This medicine basically belongs to the group of Lipase Inhibitors. The Xenical doesn’t suppress your appetite rather it actually targets the absorption of the dietary fat that get into your body.

These dietary fats are large molecules, which need to be broken down before they can be absorbed by the body. Lipase is basically an enzyme that breaks them down. This is where lipases play an important role in the digestion of dietary fat. When taken with a meal, Xenical gets in the way of the activity of these enzymes and allows about 30% of the fat eaten in the meal to pass through the gut undigested. Therefore, your body cannot store these excess calories as fatty tissue or use them as a source of energy. This helps you to reduce your weight by burning up fat that you are already carrying, maintain your lower weight and reduce the chances of any weight regain.

It is suggested that you should have the Xenical Capsule with a well-balanced calorie controlled diet. Foods that are high on calorie and fat will continuously keep on increasing your weight because Xenical will keep only around 30% of the fat undigested. Exercising, while having the course of Xenical reduces weight very effectively and quickly.

It is always advisable that you consult your physician before you start having any sort of medicine, so it is the same in case of Xenical tablets. Consult your physician before you start the course of Xenical tablets and mention your diet and other details like if you are allergic to something or some pancreatic problem or if you had any recent major surgery to your stomach or intestine.