Water or Fat Loss?

It's Spring so it is time to be concerned about how you look in a bathing suit. This is where many busy moms are tempted to take a weight loss supplement with a bit of something to pep you. The problem with these products is that they do not help you lose your fat. They can cause you to lose water and the water less is temporary. When you drink those Chinese teas and stuff it only works for a few days.

Diet products that cause water loss and not weight loss are called diuretics. The loss is temporary and fat is never dissolved as is sometimes claimed on the package, as that is not scientifically possible. Diuretics can actually promote dangerous heart problems. As soon as the body runs dry the weight comes back as you drink to quench the thirst caused by the dieting. If your weight loss is to be meaningful at all it must include the dropping of fat as well as water.

If you are dealing with a weight loss product that makes outrageous promises such as Lose Twenty Pounds in Two Weeks or Take Ten Inches off of your waist in a week then you really need to drink a lot of water. Also if you are dieting because you are a new mom who is trying to lose the baby weight you need to be aware that this type of crash dieting can really deflate your mood and make you feel depressed and fatigued.

The products that are diuretics can be hard to identify. You must look at the ingredients. According to the FDA the ingredients in anything must be listed from what the product contains the most of to what it contains the least of. If the first listing on the box is caffeine then you are looking at diuretic.

Most magical weight loss formulas (and especially those that are marketed as Chinese or miracle weight loss teas) contain herbs that act as diuretics. This includes green tea, which sounds all healthy, but any weight loss is causes are triggered by diuretic action and loss of water. There is no such thing as 'fat burning herb' only herbs that speed up heart rate, breathing and other functions. This is not “fat burning” it is simply a way to stress the body all of the time so it wastes a lot of calories.

There are quite a few herbs that you should not take if you are a mother. They make you moody and cause weight loss only. One of these is Bochum, which causes dizziness and fatigue so you can't function.

Another one to avoid in any mixture is Kola Nut. This is a powerful diuretic that is not to be fooled around with. The side effects are excessive thirst, nervousness, anxiety, restlessness, frequent urination, and urges to go on an empty bladder, over stimulation, mania and insomnia.

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Get Rid of Still and Standing Water!

There has been a lot of rain this Spring and if you live in certain areas then there are likely to be big pools of still water where kids play. These pools of water could be in the playground or in the parks. They could be in gutters on the road. It is common to find pools of water in your back yard or near eves troughs that have not been fixed. Still water also collects inside of old flowerpots that have been left out and deflated swimming pools.

Still water, which is also stagnant water is a big threat to public health. Yellow fever is a tropical disease that is spread by the yellow fever mosquito in parts of Africa and South America and the disease is spread by still water.

Yellow fever is not to be confused with Jungle Yellow Fever, which is a disease, spread from monkeys to mosquitoes to humans. Sometimes to make the differentiation the kind of yellow fever that is spread by mosquitoes only is referred to as Urban Yellow Fever. Jungle yellow fever is actually quite rare.

Yellow is much more common and it is spread by mosquitoes from human to human. The yellow fever mosquito that carries the disease is known as the Aides Egypt. These urban disease carriers make their home in still water in cities, towns and villages. Anything that can hold water such as discarded oiled drum and tires makes an excellent breeding ground for the yellow fever mosquito. As it rains frequently in both South American and African jungles they breed constantly in muck and puddles of still water.

There is no predicting whether or not a bite from a yellow fever mosquito is going to lead to a mild or life threatening illness. It really depends on the strains of infection that are around that particular year. The good news is that most cases of yellow fever, although uncomfortable are relatively mild.

Yellow fever gets its name from the fact that it can cause jaundice, which causes the whites of the eyes and the skin to turn yellow. Symptoms of a life threatening infection are high fever, headache, chills, backache, headache, muscle aches and vomiting. Sometimes the disease has a cycle where the person appears to get much better after a few days and then takes a severe turn for the worse, which can lead to shock, internal bleeding, liver and kidney favor. However this strain of the infection that is carried by the yellow fever mosquito is a lot rare.

Unfortunately there is no real specific treatment for yellow fever. People who contract it are advised to rest and drink plenty of fluids. Another essential part of the treatment is the use of mosquito repellents and nets to keep female yellow fever mosquitoes from biting the infected individual and spreading it to another human. Of course a big part of prevention is removing still water form the vicinity.

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