7 secrets the weight-loss industry doesn't want you to know

Lose weight without high-priced diets, personal trainers and expensive gym memberships. Here are the secrets to weight-loss success.

Exercise, by itself, is an ineffective weight-loss tool

If any trainer tells you his gadget or workout routine will burn off all the weight you need, you should burn some calories by running away from him. To lose weight and keep it off, you have to pair exercise with a diet plan. In fact, exercise alone leads to a very modest decrease in total body weight: less than 3 percent. What’s worse: For some, exercise alone as a weight loss plan induces more hunger, which can offset what improvements you’ve made.

Fat is an essential part of a weight-loss eating plan

The trick is eating the right kind of fat. Sure, saturated fat in highly processed meats and trans fat in desserts are bad for your health and waistline. But good fats, such as monounsaturated fatty acids can actually help you lose weight. Eating foods such as olive oil, nuts, avocados, and fatty fish including salmon is an easy way to add these fats to your diet. These fats can help increase how many calories your body burns and help you feel fuller longer. A handful of nuts or some peanut butter on whole wheat crackers makes a terrific snack.

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17 unusual weight-loss tips

Every culture has its secrets for helping people stay slim. Here are 17 unusual weight-loss tips from around the world.

Losing weight around the world

Just about every culture has some custom that can help people lose weight. For example, if you dine out in Europe, a waiter generally sets a bottle of mineral water on your table. But at restaurants here in Canada, you often have to request water and, as a result, you may end up having pop or other drinks high in calories instead. Or you might have one more glass of wine or beer than you would if you were alternating sips with water. Here’s our collection of clever tips from 17 countries—call it an international healthy eating plan that can help us all.

Thailand: Eat spicy food

Thai food is among the spiciest in the world. Hot peppers raise your metabolism, but the real benefit of food with a little zing is that spicy food slows your eating. When you eat too fast, as many North Americans do, by the time your body signals it’s full, you’ve overeaten. Eating more slowly is a good weight-loss strategy, and making food spicier is an easy way to do it.

Poland: Eat at home more often

Poles typically spend only five percent of their family budget on eating out. On the other hand, the average Canadian family 
now spends almost 30 percent of total food dollars at restaurants and fast-food joints, according to Statistics Canada. To save money and pounds, start tracking how often you eat out and how much you spend on those meals each month, then gradually cut back."People who eat out a lot tend to eat less-healthy food and to be heavier," says Melodie Yong, dietitian for the Heart and Lung Institute of St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. In fact, the decline of cooking at home, linked in part to the increasing number of women in the workforce, tracks very closely with the rise in obesity over the past 30 years, she notes.

Brazil: Have rice and beans

All that shaking at Carnaval isn’t the only body-friendly habit in Rio; Brazilians stay slim by enjoying this traditional dish with just about every meal. A study in the journal Obesity Research found that a diet consisting primarily of rice and beans lowers the risk 
of becoming overweight by about 14 percent when compared with the typical Western fare. That’s because it’s lower in fat and higher in fibre, which is thought to stabilize blood sugar levels. It may be counterintuitive, but a diet full of beans equals a beach-ready body.

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Meet the small yellow worm that can REGROW its own head - and its old memories

Scientists have discovered that not only can the planarian worm regrow its head if its cut off, the regenerated brain contains the same memories that were stored in the decapitated one.

Researchers from Tufts University in Boston tested the memory of the planarian worms by measuring how long it took them to reach food in a lab environment.

The small yellow worms had been trained to ignore the bright lights in the lab so they could find their meals without being distracted and the scientists found that even after decapitation worms remembered this training. 

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10 Most Amazing Monuments in the World

Ushiku Daibutsu, Japan

Highest monument in the world are in Ushiku, Japan. Completed in 1995. Having a 120m high from the ground, including the 10m and 10m from the high court was tall lotus on the memorial. Inside the monument has provided a lift for visitors who can take visitors up to a height of 85m, where there is alot more to see the sights around from above.

Bayhan, Afghanistan

Buddha of bayhan is shaped Buddhist monument statue made ​​in Afghanistan cliff. located about 230kmfrom the North of Kabul, has a height of about 55meter. But unfortunately this monument was destroyed by the Taliban organization in 2001. Can be seen in the photo below, that most of the statue's face was finally broken. Later in the mission to rebuild the damaged section, several countriesand organizations participated. Among them, Japan, Switzerland, UNESCO and other countries.

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