I have a problem with bloating. Are there certain foods that I should avoid?

Many plants foods can cause bloating. Some plant foods generally are not digested well. When these foods enter the small intestine, bacteria degrade them and produce a lot of gas. This gas is responsible for bloating. Similarly, the excess gas is also passed out through the rectum.

Dietary fiber is commonly associated with bloating; consumer should not eat more than 20g of fiber per day as it leads to bloating. The best away to avoid bloating is to keep a diary of foods and avoid foods that cause gas.

Other foods known to cause bloating include drinking caffeine/cola beverages and artificial sweeteners. Individuals who have lactose intolerance also develop bloating when they consumer dairy products.

Vegetables that have a reputation for bloating include broccoli and beans. These foods are high in fiber and not well digested and always lead to excess gas production.

Is there a special diet I should eat to lose belly fat?

No, you can eat anything you want as long as you do not pile up the calories. However, common sense indicates that a healthy diet is important.  There should be no more junk food or high calorie foods in the diet. Learn to read labels, replace your diet with fruits, vegetables, and unsaturated fats. Increase portions of complex carbohydrates and reduce simple carbohydrates like white bread and refined pasta. Further, decrease the portion size or eat several small meals 5-6 times a day. Finally, drink water or fruit juices. 

There is no need to buy any books to follow this simple advice. The majority of dietary books on weight loss are frauds, offer advice which is not practical and just add up as junk in the home or as a replacement for firewood. Read less and start walking today if you want to lose weight.

Can I prevent gallstones with changes in diet?

Yes, anyone who wants to avoid gallstones and surgery should start to make changes in their diet. Majority of gallstones are made of cholesterol and calcium. So to prevent gallstones you should eat a low fat diet and avoid too many simple carbohydrates. This means less sugar, candies, chocolates and white flour based products.

Start with a diet which is rich in fiber and one that includes fruits and vegetables. Drink ample water everyday, keep your weight down, exercise and avoid excess red meat. If you still develop gallstones after this, then you just have plain bad luck

Will a vegetarian diet help me better control my diabetes?

There is no question that a vegetarian diet can help you better control your diabetes, but it will not cure it. There is a lot of evidence that certain vegetable foods can help delay absorption of carbohydrates  from the stomach and help stabilize blood sugars. In addition with time, your body will be better able to respond to insulin.


The other benefits of a vegetarian diet include lower calories which will help you manage your weight and also lower your blood cholesterol. Vegetarian diets can also help you reduce the risk of heart disease. 


Unfortunately there is no one particular vegetarian food that can be recommended. 


You may want to start on a diet of poultry, dairy products and a variety of vegetables. Vegetarian diets contain all the minerals and nutrients that you need to live a healthy life. The only negative is that vegetarian diets do lack variety and can become dull.

Are there are any clinical reports on hydroxycut?

Unfortunately, the vendors of HCA have never conduced trials to determine if their products work in humans. All the anecdotal reports claim that it is junk. There are countless blogs on cyberspace and the majority of people who have bought this supplement feel cheated. In fact, the FDA has recently sent a warning to all these manufacturers to stop marketing HCA as a weight loss supplement. Of great interest to all consumers is that HCA has been shown to cause liver damage, seizures and heart problems—something that the manufactures never mentioned.

In two small trials, some individuals did lose 2 pounds over 12 weeks but the weight loss was not sustained. Further, one should remember, rats were given massive doses of HCA and now with the data clear on toxicity of the supplement, I am not sure if many consumers would be so interested in ingesting mega doses of HCA.

Finally HCA is not an inexpensive product. Depending on where you buy and from whom the cost can vary from $40-$60 for a month’s supply and most of these vendors sucker you into buying 3-6 months’ supply at a discounted rate.

So what should the consumer who wants to lose weight do?

For the moment, there is no magic weight loss pill. If you really want to lose weight, start an exercise program or start to walk, and eat less. This method is slow, safe, cheap and gets you the results if you remain motivated.

So does hydroxycut work?

Experts claim that hydroxycut is an intermediate in the metabolism pathways. When you eat excess carbohydrates, they get converted into fat. This fat then starts to add up on your buttocks and waist line. Hydroxy citric acid somehow stops the enzyme what coverts carbohydrate into fat- so you do not get fat deposits even if you eat a lot of carbohydrates.  All this sounds great but does it work? Experts in nutrition claim that this is not the only pathway for the body to make fat; there are many other pathways that are not affected by hydroxycitric acid and thus, most people do not see weight loss.

Is there a best appetite suppressant?

Almost everyone wants to lose weight, look slim, trim and beautiful. Unfortunately, most people tend to seek the easy way towards weight loss- everyone wants a drug or a health supplement to do the work for them. More importantly, everyone wants the results immediately!

The one health supplement that has been hyped up to be the best appetite suppressant is hydroxycitric acid (HCA). Hydroxycitric acid is found in the rind of the fruit tree, garcinia Cambogia, a tree that is native to many parts of SE Asia. In this part of the world, Garcinia has been used for centuries both as a flavoring agent and as food preservative. People who have used extracts of this plant in cooking claim that it makes them feel full and avoids over eating. These anecdotal reports did not go unnoticed by the enterprising weight loss and soon, extracts of Garcinia were available in every health food store by the 1980s. 

The manufacturers of hydroxycut have based all their evidence on experiments done on rats in the 1970s. In these experiments when rats were given massive amount of hydroxycut, they ate less and lost weight. Well, since then hydroxycut has been marketed as HCA, Citrimax, Super Citrimax, citrin and super garcinia as a weight loss agent for humans. Today, people spend millions of dollars on hydroxycut with the hope that they will lose weight and look sexy again.