FOOD N BEVERAGE N HEALTH

2013-05-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

3 Simple Steps to Eat LOTS of Carbs
and NEVER Store Them as Fat...

By Shaun Hadsall

Did you know that if you intentionally avoid your favorite carbs all the time because you think they’re unhealthy or you believe they’re the root cause of your belly fat, it can be disastrous for your hormone levels and wreak havoc on your metabolism?
Did you know that if you’ve EVER dieted or used a low carb diet, your fat burning hormones automatically plummet, slow down your metabolism and can STOP your body from burning fat in LESS than a week?
Did you know that there are 3 steps you can use to STOP all this from happening and STILL enjoy all your favorite carbs WITHOUT getting fat?
In fact, once you discover these 3 simple steps, you can use carbs to speed up calorie burning, STOP your metabolism from slowing down, and keep your body’s #1 fat burning hormones at healthy levels day in and day out.
All you have to do is follow the 3 simple rules below to ensure that EVERY time you eat your favorite carbohydrates they’re NEVER stored as fat on your body.
This isn’t another hyped up gimmick or diet quick-fix. It doesn’t require any costly supplements. And it works for everyone. Regardless of your age, your gender, or your current condition you can watch your belly get significantly FLATTER in as little as 14 days using this approach.
My name is Shaun Hadsall, and my 15+ years of experience in the diet and nutrition industry have allowed me to acquire a proprietary nutrition secret that will keep your body looking young, help you CONTROL your fat-burning hormones, and legitimately make stubborn belly-fat your body’s DAILY “go-to” energy source.
I’ve used and taught this system to thousands of men and women of all ages from all over the globe, and all you have to do is apply these 3 simple steps right now, and you’ll NEVER store carbs as fat on your body again.
But I do have to warn you. What you’re about ready to read will probably be the exact opposite of what your local dietician, family doctor, or personal trainer will recommend.
That’s because the weight loss industry has fooled everybody into thinking carbs are the enemy and they’ll make you fat if you don’t stop eating them. Low carb, fad diets may work initially but for 95% of the population it’s just a temporary short cut and you’ll gain the weight back TWICE as fast as you lost it.

These 3 steps reveal what you absolutely MUST STOP doing... and it will only take you 14 short days to wake up your dying fat loss hormones, "spark" your dead metabolism, and quickly burn off belly fat –
WITHOUT Avoiding Carbs.

Below, you’ll find all 3 steps, and you’ll also discover how easy it can be to fix your broken metabolism and FORCE lower belly-fat to be your body’s “go to” energy source on a daily, ongoing basis…

Step 1: STOP Using Low-Carb Diets

Low carb diets, low carb foods, low carb diet shakes, low carb everything. It’s been around for years now. Unfortunately, it’s not working. In fact, well over 90% of people who start a low carb or trendy diet gain all or more of their weight back within a year of losing it. Even worse, epidemics like obesity and diabetes are at all time highs.
This is why you shouldn’t be afraid of carbs – your body NEEDS them. Carbs stop muscle loss, speed up recovery, provide energy to your brain and body, elevate your metabolic rate, and stimulate your body’s most important fat-burning hormones. Yes, believe it or not, things like insulin aren’t always evil! Your body needs carbs to keep your metabolism healthy, happy, and burning fat.
People who go on chronic low carb diets radically alter their hormones and damage their metabolisms, so their bodies simply won’t burn fat. In fact, it only takes as little as one week of cutting carbs to start losing muscle, slowing down your metabolism and destroying your fat-burning hormones.
Besides, do you really want to constantly obsess over calories, count carbs all the time and deprive yourself of your favorite foods? Of course you don’t…you’ll be miserable.
But there is a “smart” approach you can take to ensure you get all these benefits of carbs WITHOUT fat-storage. It can even help you heal any previous damage you may have done from crash dieting. You’ll see exactly how this method works on the next page.

Step 2: STOP Carb-Based Fat "Spill-Over"

There are three simple stages of carbohydrate storage. If you understand how they work, you can eat your favorite carbs and NEVER have to worry about storing them as fat on the body.
But if you don’t, you’ll consistently suffer from carb-based fat “spillover” and continue to accumulate more belly fat and even develop ugly pockets cellulite.
Stage 1: Immediate Energy Needs: As soon as a carb hits your mouth, digestion begins and they are quickly made available for energy needs or stored for later use.
Stage 2: Storage in your Muscles & Liver: Your body then stores carbohydrates as glycogen in the muscle and the liver as a source of energy for movement and daily function. Storage continues until the muscle and/or liver is full.
Stage 3: Spillover / Fat Storage: After just a few short days, when energy intake is abundant and little or no energy is expended, muscle and liver stores over fill and the body starts storing the unused carbohydrates as fat.
In other words, if you’re not consistently utilizing more carbohydrates than you’re taking in, your muscles and liver will “fill up” with glycogen. When this happens, every time you consume carbs (unless you’re burning them off with strategic exercise) they start to “spillover” and automatically be stored as fat.
However, there is a super simple protocol you can use to STOP carb-based fat-spillover and STILL eat all the carbs you want. We’ll share more on the next page.

Step 3: STOP Eating Carbs at the WRONG Times

Carb timing confusion is one of the primary reasons that 95% of the population gains their weight back after losing it.
But when you consume lots of your favorite carbs at the right times (and even cheat foods at specific times), you’ll NEVER have to worry about them getting stored on the body as fat.

Here are 3 simple ways you time your carb intake to LIMIT stage 3 fat-spillover and KEEP your body burning fat.

GOOD: A good time of day to eat your favorite carbohydrates is first thing in the a.m. when your metabolic rate is higher and insulin sensitivity is peaking “naturally”. This means there’s more room in your energy tank to let the carbs in without any fat storage.

BETTER: An even better time to consume impact carbs is 3 to 4 hours before you exercise.
This will ensure the carbs you consume are burned off during and after the workout to avoid fat-spillover and prevent muscle loss. It will also provide you with increased energy levels throughout your workout. Better performance equals more fat and calories burned during and after the workout.
BEST: The best time to consume your favorite carbs is post-workout. When you use the RIGHT TYPE of exercise, your muscles act like a sponge that’s been rung dry, so your body will literally “soak up” all your favorite carbs.
Timing your carb intake the right way is one the easiest ways to eat all your favorite foods while skyrocketing your fat-burning hormones and rebooting your dead metabolism.
This is how you can ALL the fat-burning benefits of carbs listed above and STOP fat-storage from your carb intake.
Simply put, if you eat carbs with the wrong foods - at the wrong times, you’ll STORE fat. If you eat carbs with the right foods at the right times, you’ll BURN fat.
All three of the steps above are part of a unique and proprietary nutrition method we’ve coined, Macro-Patterning™, which gives you the flexibility to eat the foods that you love while strategically using carbs, and all your favorite cheat foods, as a way to rapidly speed up your metabolic rate, preserve lean muscle tissue, and burn an INSANE amount of fat – all at the same time.
But unfortunately, those who don’t have access to this information will continue to consume carbs the wrong way, wreak havoc on their metabolisms, suppress their fat-burning hormones, and prevent stubborn belly fat from being their primary energy source.

2013-05-16T12:44:00.001-07:00

The 5 best foods to eat before bed (for a flat belly)

You may have heard some trainers or gurus telling you that eating before bed is a big-time "no no" if you're looking to lose weight. In fact, you've probably even heard that eating late at night will undoubtedly cause you to GAIN weight...even worse!

Well, there's good news... not every food that you eat past 7PM will be automatically deposited to your belly fat, thighs, and love handles.

In fact, there are certain foods that you can eat as a late-night snack that can actually INCREASE your fat loss results through hormonal improvements! The key is knowing which foods to eat, and which to avoid, as the evening progresses.

Here's a good rule of thumb: Avoid carbs before bed in favor of slow-digesting high-quality protein and healthy fats. Fiber is ok too as long as it's low in starch or sugars.

Carbohydrate consumption causes significant rise in the storage hormone insulin, which also puts the breaks on fat-burning. That's a recipe for disaster in the late evening hours as your metabolism is winding down, but fortunately, slow-digesting protein isn't.

Instead, slow digesting proteins provide your body with a steady flow of amino acids throughout the night to help you recover from exercise and maintain your calorie-burning lean muscle as you lose fat.

Here are some of my top pre-bedtime food choices:

1. White Meat Protein - White meat animal protein sources such as chicken and turkey are great pre-bed meal choices because they digest slowly and have a very low insulin release. These sources also promote the release of another hormone, glucagon, that assists the body with breaking down stored carbs and fat within your body to be burned for energy...a double win!

Having some cooked ground turkey or chicken handy in tupperware in your fridge makes for a quick late night snack whenever you need it... my favorite way is to warm it up and add to a quick lettuce wrap with a little avocado and hot sauce whenever I need a night time snack. A delicious way to aid your metabolism and fat loss efforts!

2. Cottage Cheese - Cottage cheese is very slow digesting and coats the stomach to be assimilated by the body over many hours. As a protein, it also stimulates glucagon release, which as I just mentioned is great for fat loss, making this a good pre-bedtime choice. Just make sure you're using plain cottage cheese, not the flavored varieties with added sugars. Add some stevia and cinnamon if you need to flavor it up a little!

3. Green Vegetables - While these aren't considered a protein, they contain virtually no calories (insignificant), are high in fiber, and they're very filling. Often times when I get a late night craving I eat a big bowl of green veggies and it completely kills my craving...a diet savior to prevent you from giving in to junk foods late night!

4. Almonds, pecans, walnuts, or pistachios - These nuts are not only great sources of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants, but provide the fiber and healthy fats necessary to control your cravings late at night and make sure you don't give in to junk.

5. A Slow-digesting, Low-carb Protein Shake - I use a slow-digesting protein shake before bed a lot of times. It's a great dessert alternative that's much lower in sugar and better for your body. The vast majority of my clients have grown to love the habit as well...who doesn't love dessert before bed? :) I normally blend the shake with almond butter to get some healthy fats in there, and oh man, it tastes good with the right protein powder.

WARNING: Avoid taking a simple whey protein powder before bed...research has shown that it causes more of an insulin release than white bread! Instead, try this time-released blend that includes a blend of slow-digesting, high-quality proteins.

2013-05-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

Studies Show 5 Proven Tricks to Eat Less Calories
by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best-selling program - The Truth About Six Pack Abs

I found most of these five tricks (that are proven to help you eat less food and less overall calories) while reading a fascinating book recently called 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman. I think you'll find these very helpful if you're looking to control your caloric intake and reduce your body fat.
These tricks were tested in scientific studies and are quick and easy to implement. I thought these were VERY interesting...
Trick #1 to Eat Less -- Several studies prove that the size of the bowl, plate, or spoon that you use can directly influence how much food and calories you consume.
Richard Wiseman, in the book 59 Seconds, talks about one study conducted where party guests were randomly given either 17 or 34-ounce bowls and 2 or 3 ounce spoons, and allowed to help themselves to ice cream. It was found that the party guests given the large spoons and large bowls had eaten 14% and 31% more ice cream respectively, than the people using the smaller spoons or smaller bowls. Interesting huh!
Another study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania used a bowl of M&Ms that were left in the hallway of an apartment building. A sign next to the bowl told people to help themselves to the M&Ms. Some days a tablespoon sized scoop was used in the M&Ms and on other days, a larger scoop was used in the bowl. The researchers found that the larger scoop caused people to take TWICE the amount of M&Ms on average compared to the people that had used the smaller scoop.
I've also seen studies referenced in the past that showed that people who used larger plates consumed more calories than those using smaller plates.
The lesson -- Use smaller plates, bowls, and silverware and you may inadvertently reduce your calorie intake. This also means saying NO to seconds and thirds!
Trick #2 to Eat Less -- You've probably heard before that eating slower can help you to eat less because it gives time for the fullness signal to reach your brain and thereby shut off your appetite before you've eaten too much.
However, this study below found a twist on this!
According to Mr. Wiseman in the book 59 Seconds, a study at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center had overweight participants eat a meal at 3 different speeds:
a) their normal rate
b) half their normal rate
c) their normal rate at first, followed by half their normal rate (normal-slow combo)
The results were interesting... Eating at the slower rate caused the men to eat less, but not the women (that's weird!). However, the 3rd group that combined the normal pace at first with the slower rate after that caused both the men and women to have a large reduction in their appetite and eat less. The normal-slow combo was found to be more effective than just the slow-only group. Why? I have no idea, but those are interesting results!
Mr. Wiseman stated that the lesson here to eat less is "to start at your normal speed but then savor each and every mouthful".

Trick #3 to Eat Less -- According to the book 59 Seconds, a series of experiments conducted in offices compared putting chocolates right on people's desks vs placing the chocolates six feet away. In another experiment, the chocolates were put inside either transparent or opaque jars. When the chocolates were placed on the person's desk instead of 6 feet away, people ate on average 6 more chocolates per day per person. Also, the chocolates in the transparent jars were eaten 46% more quickly than the opaque jars.
Just shows... out of sight, out of mind! As you may already know, I recommend never even having junk food around your house at all...that way, you're never tempted by it and you're forced to only eat healthy foods... but then you can use your weekly cheat meals to eat junk food out at a restaurant. That way the junk food is never in your house to begin with!

Trick #4 to Eat Less -- This trick was reported based on a Georgia Tech study. The study essentially found that people tend to subconsciously eat bigger portions of food when their plate is the same color as their food.
It seems like an odd association, but remember that a lot of these are always subconscious things that we don't realize are happening. In this particular study, the scientists theorized that less color contrast between plate and food makes our brains work harder to figure out appropriate portion sizes. More color contrast between plate and food would make people eat slightly smaller portions subconsciously.

Trick #5 to Eat Less -- Studies have found that people eat significantly more when they are distracted by TV, movies, games, or other distractions. In one experiment mentioned in the book 59 Seconds, people who were more absorbed by a movie ate significantly larger amounts of popcorn compared to those that were paying less attention to the movie.
In another experiment, people who actively listened to a detective story during lunch (being distracted by the story), ate 15% more food than those who sat in silence during their lunch.
The lesson -- ditch the TV and other distractions and focus on your food! Enjoy every bite of your food and you will naturally consume less calories while enjoying your food more.

2013-05-13T12:26:00.001-07:00

7 foods that HEAL your digestion (and bowel movements)

Today's article about unique foods that can FIX your digestion is a short excerpt from our brand new manual recently released, The Top 101 Foods that FIGHT Aging

If you have any digestion problems at all, or don't have "perfect" bowel movements daily... if you have constipation, diarrhea, bloating, gas, or just don't go regularly, then you NEED to pay attention to these foods I'm going to show you today.

These foods can dramatically improve not only your digestion, but your immune system as well, helping to keep you from getting sick!

Please note: if you have food intolerances to foods such as gluten, dairy, or various grains, you'll still need to find out about those intolerances and get rid of those foods in your plan if you're going to completely fix your digestion issues.

But aside from food intolerances, I think you'll be amazed to see how rapidly your digestion and bowel movements improve once you start incorporating a LOT of these 7 foods we'll discuss below!

This is important... even if you're already eating 1 or 2 of these foods below, it's MUCH more powerful to include as MANY as possible to dramatically improve your digestion.

So what exactly are we talking about... well, we're talking about probiotics from fermented foods!

Unfortunately, today’s modern diets are processed, pasteurized and basically ‘dead’ foods most of the time. What happens when people eat a diet heavy in processed, ‘dead’ foods, is that harmful bacteria can take over in the digestive systems, causing many problems—not only with the digestive system, but the body as a whole.

Many diseases start in an unhealthy environment in our guts. And this becomes even worse from taking antibiotics. While antibiotics can kill dangerous pathogens, they also kill off the healthy and beneficial bacteria in our bodies as well.

Probiotic actually means "for life," and probiotics like lactobacillus, plantarum and bifidis help immune cells fight disease, prevent diarrhea and constipation, protect the mucous lining of the intestine, assist digestion and provide the proper nutrients for healthy blood cells. Probiotics are also responsible for the manufacture of B vitamins and vitamin K right in the intestines where are immediately absorbed.

Eating too much unhealthy, processed, starchy or sugary foods can cause bad bacteria to grow out of control, making our immune systems weak, and affecting our ability to metabolize and synthesize vitamins and nutrients.

The intestines also function as one of the body’s most important immune defenses. In fact, 70-80% or so of the body’s immune cells are present in the intestines. Of course our immune systems protect us from dangerous viruses, bacteria, and parasites, but they also control responses to foods and food allergies as well.

Negative changes in our intestinal flora can be associated with inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. It is now thought that many allergic reactions, asthma, and even obesity are tied to bacterial imbalances in the gut.

The good news though, is that adding the right types of probiotics and good bacteria will maintain or restore a healthy balance in your intestinal tract and improve overall health in the entire body, and fight aging.

Although we typically think of probiotics benefiting just the intestines, they actually benefit the entire digestive system, including the mouth, throat, stomach, etc.

Some of the other ways probiotics can benefit your body:

•    Probiotics can help prevent wrinkles and give you a glowing complexion by eliminating the toxins and fighting free radicals that can damage skin and cause early signs of wrinkling and sagging. And probiotics help you digest your food better, so you get more nutrients in your body.

•    Probiotics can help you burn fat better by reducing cravings for carbohydrates, sugar and alcohol and help you have more energy to be more active.

•    Probiotics help to protect your liver which is reflected in your skin and eyes. When you keep toxins from building up in the liver, you have younger looking skin with less liver spots, moles and skin tags, and you have bright, clear eyes.

•    Probiotics help your hair and fingernails grow faster and stronger by keeping the blood vessels surrounding your hair follicles nourished. Healthy blood nourishes hair, skin and nails. Probiotics also help to break down proteins in the diet that benefit hair and nails.

So what are the best sources of probiotics?

Kimchi (also spelled Kim Chee sometimes) -This traditional spicy Korean condiment is made of cabbage and other vegetables and seasoned with salt, garlic, ginger and chili peppers. Fermented vegetables make them easier to digest as well as increasing the vitamin levels. I like to have some Kimchi with my morning eggs for an extra daily probiotic boost. The types of beneficial bacteria in Kimchi are quite different than the organisms in yogurt and other fermented foods, and variety works best when it comes to probiotics!

Kombucha Tea - This tea is made from a culture of symbiotic beneficial bacteria and yeasts that has been popular in China for thousands of years. Kombucha contains many important amino acids, B vitamins, and powerful substances that enhance the immune system. It’s also known to help prevent cancer.

Yogurt - Avoid the sweetened, heavily processed yogurts, and instead go for unsweetened, plain, organic types of yogurt. And be sure the label says, “Live cultures”.

Kefir - A cultured milk product and is generally helpful to those with lactose intolerance. Kefir contains different types of beneficial bacteria than yogurt does, as well as beneficial yeasts. Kefir contains more bacterial strains that remain viable in the digestive system, increasing the likelihood of intestinal colonization. As with yogurt, try to avoid the sweetened varieties and get plain kefir and then add your own stevia if you need it a little sweeter. Kefir is great to use in smoothies!

Sauerkraut - This cabbage dish has been salted and lacto-fermented over a period of weeks. The healthy bacteria in sauerkraut produce beneficial enzymes as well as having anti-carcinogenic substances. Make sure it’s fresh and not canned sauerkraut which is likely to be “dead” from the heating during canning.

Tempeh - A healthier form of fermented soybeans (generally soybeans are not a healthy food-unless they are fermented). This soy food is easier to digest and provides many valuable vitamins and nutrients, as well as protein, calcium and iron. The mold that is produced from the fermentation produces a natural antibiotic that strengthens the immune system.

Fermented drinks - Besides kombucha and kefir, there are beginning to be many fermented fruit and vegetable drinks showing up on the shelves of many healthy grocery stores and health food stores. One of my favorites is called, “Inner Eco”, which is a fermented coconut water, and can be found at Whole Foods and other health food stores or specialty stores. This product contains one of the highest concentrations of beneficial bacteria that I've seen with over 100 billion probiotics per Tablespoon!

Some people don’t enjoy the taste of fermented drinks like kombucha tea, so what I often suggest for them is to mix kombucha tea with regular iced tea to balance the taste. Personally, I love the taste of most brands of kombucha tea, and some of the newer flavors brewed with ginger (or other flavors) in them too are really delicious in my opinion.

In addition to the naturally fermented foods we’ve talked about here, considering that we consume a lot less bacteria in our food compared to our natural ancestral diet, I think one of the smartest supplements you can take to FIX your digestion and boost your immune system is a probiotic…

Something that I personally use, and is brand new on the market is called: Pro-X10

It's one of the most powerful probiotic supplements that I've seen yet to date… it also uses a patented technology called micro-encapsulation which prevents most of the probiotics from dying in your stomach and making it to where they need to be... this gives Pro-X10 the equivalent of 50 Billion CFU compared to other probiotic supplements since much more survive through to your intestines.

But perhaps most interesting ingredient in Pro-X10 is something called Actazin™ ... this unique substance supports the regeneration of gut-lining cells, as well as enhanced gut lining protection. This means that even if the gut lining has been damaged by exposure to harmful compounds, including dangerous wheat fragments like gluten (which most people’s guts have), Actazin™ shows strong promise in being able to help heal the damage and return the gut to normal function.

2013-05-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

The Vitamin You May Have Never Heard Of… Vitamin K!

by Chris “the Kiwi” Ashenden, and Liana Ashenden, PhD

Hey Mate,
I hope this finds you ROCKING!
Last week, my big sis and I outlined a vitamin D action plan and explained why getting sunshine on your skin is so important to your health .
If you missed it, or my speech on why the sunscreen industry approach is SO WRONG (and hurting your health) then get reading.
Vitamin D Action Plan
Why Your Doctor is WRONG About Sunscreen
Today let’s chat about a wonderful friend of ours, whom you should have over to dinner frequently.
A friend most people have never heard of, the all important Vitamin K.
Vitamin K is VITAL to the blood clotting process that stops you bleeding to death from injury. It helps to prevent fractures and has been linked to protective effects against coronary heart disease and some types of cancer. It may have a role to play in the brain and cognitive health.
Keep reading if you care about

Not bleeding to death
Preventing fractures
Protecting against heart disease
Brain health
Looking good naked

Vitamin K shares a number of similarities with vitamin D. Both substances are fat-soluble. Like vitamin D, vitamin K is important for bone health. Also like vitamin D, vitamin K has been studied for almost a century in relation to one particular area of health (blood clotting), while recent studies have suggested a much wider role in the body.
Some people confuse vitamin K with potassium, because the chemical symbol for potassium on the periodic table is K. These are NOT the same substances and have very different effects in the body.
I will show you why your mother was right about eating greens – they really are good for you – and why eating the whole animal makes sense from both a vitamin K perspective and evolutionary perspective…. Organ meats, anyone? Yummy.
The detailed version starts below, if you are in a hurry, you can skip all the science stuff if you want and go straight to the recommendations part, which will be marked like this
**********
BUT that would be boring and you won’t learn much.
For those sticking with me, let’s get to it.
First, some science background.

What is Vitamin K

Vitamin K is best known for its crucial role in blood clotting. Its name actually comes from the German ‘Koagulationsvitamin’, or ‘coagulation vitamin’, although vitamin K plays a role in anticoagulation and many other physiological functions as well.

: Figure 1 Historically vitamin K is known for its role in blood clotting, but it may have a much wider role in the body (photo credit: Sansculotte)

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, along with vitamins A, D, and E. Vitamin K is not one substance but rather a group of compounds with a similar chemical structure. The two naturally occurring forms identified so far are vitamin K₁ and K₂ and both are biologically active in animals and humans.
Vitamin K₁ is found in green plants, where it plays a role in photosynthesis.

The richest dietary sources of vitamin K₁ (400-700 mcg/100g) are the dark green leaves of kale, spinach, collards, Swiss chard, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, parsley, cabbage, mustard greens, and turnip greens.
Vitamin K₁ can also be found in soybean, olive and rapeseed oils (50-200 mcg/100g).

: Figure 2 Kale and other green leafy vegetables are a good source of Vitamin K₁. (Photo credit: Evan-Amos)

Vitamin K₂ is primarily made by bacteria.

Bacteria in the human gut produce long-chain subtypes of vitamin K₂, but it remains unclear how much of this we absorb.
The vitamin K₂ subtype menaquinone-7 (MK7) is found in foods produced by bacterial fermentation like natto (fermented soybeans) and cheese.
Human and animal tissues such as the brain and arterial walls convert vitamin K₁ into a different subtype of vitamin K₂, menaquinone-4 (MK4).
Dietary sources of MK4 include egg yolks, liver and other organs, and (to a lesser extent) meat.

: Figure 3 Natto (made from fermented soybeans) is rich in vitamin K₂, but doesn’t appeal to everyone as a delicacy! (Photo credit: Gleam)

Synthetic forms such as vitamin K₃ are toxic and to be avoided.
Babies derive vitamin K₁ and K₂ from their mothers’ milk (or from formula if you are unlucky).

Geek box:

Vitamin K compounds all have a methylated naphthoquinone ring structure.
In photosynthesis, vitamin K₁ (phylloquinone) acts as an electron acceptor during the electron transport chain in Photosystem I.
In bacterial anaerobic respiration, vitamin K₂ (menaquinone) transfers electrons between enzyme complexes in the electron transport chain.
Cruciferous vegetables belonging to the Brassica genus contain particularly high levels of vitamin K₁.
Vitamin K₁ is called phylloquinone, phytonadione or phytomenadione.
Vitamin K₂ is called menaquinone or menatetrenone.
Vitamin K₃ is called menaphthone or menadione.

Completely random side-note.
Whenever I hear the word K2 I can’t help but envisage the MOUNTAIN of the same name in the Himalayas.
Famous for being the second highest mountain in the world and also the second deadliest taker of lives (as big mountains go), this thing is a beast and is considered one of the world’s most difficult summits to climb. Two movies about it I remember are K₂ and Vertical Limit, but I digress.
Sorry.

: The MOUNTAIN K₂ – A beast, but this is not what we are talking about here. (photo credit: Svy123)

Health

Vitamin K₁ and K₂ are necessary for an important chemical process called carboxylation that allows certain important proteins to function properly. Without vitamin K, these Gla proteins, also known as vitamin K-dependent proteins, would not be able to bind calcium and interact with cell membranes.
Frequently referred to with a traffic light analogy, after speaking about it with my sister, we decided that perhaps the best analogy was your local postal system.

: Figure 3: Think of the postal system (photo credit: kladcat)

Think of the postal system. Without stamps (calcium), chances are the envelopes and parcels (Gla proteins) in the mail won’t reach their destinations (tissues throughout the body). When mail doesn’t get delivered, especially crucial mail, life can suck.
The good folks at the Postal Service put the correct stamps in the correct place at the correct time in the correct amount on your mail, ensuring that the system works well (this is the role of vitamin K and associated enzymes).
Vitamin K-dependent proteins play important roles in tissues throughout the body.
Their function is still being understood and is a growth area in science – my bet: vitamin K₁ and K₂ will have many surprises in store for us yet as the science evolves.

Geek box:

Vitamin K compounds all have a methylated naphthoquinone ring structure.
Vitamin K is a cofactor for the enzyme gamma-glutamyl carboxylase.
This enzyme converts the glutamate (Glu) units or residues of vitamin K-dependent proteins into gamma-carboxyglutamate (Gla) residues that are able to bind calcium.
The binding of calcium ions is essential to the Gla proteins’ structure and function, facilitating interaction with phospholipids such as cell membranes.

: Figure 4 3D image of a Gla protein (photo credit: proteinboxbot)
(note: I am pretty sure I drew this as a three year old)

Blood

Hemostasis is the first stage in wound healing and causes bleeding to stop via the blood clotting cascade. Vitamin K (especially K₁) is essential to this process.
Drugs prescribed to prevent thrombosis such as warfarin act by blocking the action of vitamin K in all in forms. Warfarin decreases the concentration of vitamin K in body tissues and results in clotting factors with inadequate Gla. People taking warfarin or other vitamin K antagonists need to be especially careful and consistent with their vitamin K intake – please consult your doctor if you are on these medications.

: Figure 5 Without the blood clotting cascade you would bleed to death from even a small injury. (photo credit: crystal)

A severe vitamin K deficiency results in bruising and bleeding. It is very rare in adults, but can sometimes occur in newborn babies. This is because vitamin K₁ and K₂ are not easily transported across the placenta and the baby’s intestines have not yet been colonized with vitamin K₂ -synthesizing bacteria. Some pediatricians recommend supplementation with vitamin K for newborns, either orally or through an intramuscular injection. However this is a controversial practice because some studies suggested a correlation between newborn vitamin K supplementation and childhood cancers such as leukemia, although a causal link has not been substantiated.
Geek box: the vitamin K-dependent blood clotting cascade proteins carboxylated in the liver are coagulation factors II (prothrombin), VII, IX, and X, and anticoagulant proteins C, S, and Z.

Bone

Studies show that vitamin K has a protective effect against bone fractures and that osteoporosis is associated with low levels of vitamin K.

: Figure 6 X-ray showing osteoporosis in the hand and wrist (photo credit: Nevit Dilmen)

Vitamin K₂ may be more important than vitamin K₁ in this regard, although some studies show also a beneficial effect of vitamin K₁ on bone health:

A number of clinical trials showed that supplementation with vitamin K₂ (but not vitamin K₁) protects against fractures in the elderly, especially in post-menopausal women.
In Japan the vitamin K₂ subtype MK4 is recommended as a treatment for osteoporosis.
Japanese people derive the vitamin K₂ subtype MK7 through their dietary consumption of natto.

There is inconsistent evidence on vitamin K’s effect on bone mineral density. Some scientists suggest that vitamin K mediates its skeletal effects through other mechanisms, perhaps through collagen metabolism.
Some of you have asked me about the interaction between vitamin K and vitamin D.
Both are important for bone health. For example, vitamin D’s active form, calcitriol, regulates the synthesis of a protein called osteocalcin, but vitamin K activates this protein into a form that can bind calcium. The two vitamins also appear to have a synergistic effect. A clinical study showed that healthy women who took combined vitamin K₁, vitamin D and calcium supplements showed greater increases in wrist bone mineral density than the women who took vitamin K₁ only or vitamin D and calcium without vitamin K₁.
Want good bones, you don’t just need good Vitamin D status, you need to get some Vitamin K action.
Some nutritionists suggest that potential toxic effects of very high vitamin D consumption are in fact only due to vitamin K deficiency, and therefore they advocate co-supplementation as a way to increase total vitamin D intake to higher levels. There is no rigorous evidence to support the safety of this approach.

Geek box:

Vitamin K-dependent proteins involved in bone metabolism include osteocalcin, matrix Gla protein and periostin.
Vitamin K-dependent protein S is made by osteoblasts (bone-forming cells).
Osteocalcin plays a role in bone mineralization and osteoblast and osteoclast activity, and is used as a marker of bone formation.
The vitamin K₂ subtype MK7 induces more complete carboxylation of osteocalcin than vitamin K₁.

Cardiovascular System

A build-up of calcium (calcification) in the arterial walls decreases their elasticity and increases the risk of clot formation. In atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), calcification of the atherosclerotic plaque occurs at a late stage of the disease.

: Figure 7 Atherosclerosis in the internal carotid artery (photo credit: Patho)

Vitamin K helps to prevent a build-up of calcium in the arteries. A number of large, prospective cohort studies have shown that intake of K₂ (but not K₁) is associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease and a protective effect against calcification of the coronary and aortic arteries. Vascular calcification is a potential side effect of taking vitamin K-antagonists such as warfarin.

Geek box:

The mechanism for vitamin K₂’s action is likely to be through two vitamin K-dependent proteins that are carboxylated within the blood vessels (rather than in the liver).
Matrix Gla protein is not only found in bone and cartilage, but also in blood vessel walls and other soft tissues. In the arterial wall, it is expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells and is a potent inhibitor of arterial calcification.
Gas6 affects vascular smooth muscle cell apoptosis (cell death) and movement.

Cell Growth

Vitamin K may have an effect on cell growth through the vitamin K-dependent growth specific gene 6 protein, or Gas6, which promotes cell survival and inhibits cell death. Gas6 protein binds and activates receptor tyrosine kinases, enzymes that can stimulate cell replication and transformation.
In cancer cell lines in vitro, vitamin K has the opposite effect and inhibits cell growth. Prospective studies in humans suggest that dietary intake of K₂ (but not K₁) is associated with a reduced risk of prostate and lung cancer. However, rigorous clinical trials are needed to explore the potential effects of vitamin K₂ on cancer.

Central Nervous System

It is possible that vitamin K in all its forms affects cognitive health via the carboxylation of proteins involved in the brain and nervous system. Vitamin K is involved in the biosynthesis of sphingolipids. These complex lipids are a structural component of cell membranes throughout the body and also play a role in cell signalling. They are present in high concentrations in neuronal and glial cell membranes in the brain. Two other vitamin K-dependent proteins are relevant here. Gas6 protein is involved in cell signalling in both the central and peripheral nervous systems and the anticoagulation protein S is expressed in the brain.

: Figure 7: Sphingolipids, Gas6 protein, and protein S are found in the brain – These are all related to Vitamin K (Wiki Commons)

Gut Health

Studies in rats suggest that vitamin K₁ and K₂ may trigger gene expression of alkaline phosphatase in gut epithelial cells.

Biochemistry

By now you should have figured out that vitamin K₁ and K₂ can be obtained from the diet, and that our own bodies can make K₂ from K₁. The bacteria living in our gut can also provide us with K₂ (as shown by vitamin K deficiency in people taking antibiotics). Both forms of vitamin K are transported around the blood by lipoproteins.
Vitamin K in both forms can be reused in the body because it undergoes a cycle of oxidation and reduction (the vitamin K cycle). However, it is also extensively metabolized in the liver and excreted in the urine and in feces (in bile), which means that vitamin K levels need to be continually replenished. Vitamin K₁ is the major circulating form of vitamin K and vitamin K₂ is the major form stored in the human liver. Vitamin K₂ has a longer half life.
As outlined above, the two forms of vitamin K appear to have different physiological actions. Vitamin K₁ is preferentially used up by the liver in the synthesis of active blood clotting factors, which may explain its low stores in the liver. Vitamin K₂ is linked with skeletal and cardiovascular health.

Deficiency

Symptoms of deficiency include bleeding (including the gums and gut), heavy menstruation, and bruising. Severe deficiency results in low levels of carboxylated blood clotting factors and can lead to uncontrolled bleeding (hemorrhage).
If you’re worried, have a blood test. High serum levels of under-carboxylated prothrombin (coagulation factor II) can indicate sub-clinical vitamin K deficiency. Remember the postal analogy? This is like finding lots of mail without stamps.
Severe deficiency is very rare. People with the following conditions may be at risk of a sub-clinical vitamin K deficiency:

Fat mal-absorption syndromes
Inflammatory bowel disease
Liver disease
Pancreatic insufficiency
Cystic fibrosis
Anorexia and/or bulimia
Chronic alcoholism

Newborn infants have a higher risk of vitamin K deficiency.
Drugs can affect vitamin K₁ and K₂ levels in your body. For example, taking antibiotics is associated with low levels. Conversely, large, sudden increases or decreases in vitamin K₁ or K₂ intake can alter the effectiveness of warfarin and other anti-thrombotics.
If you have any of these medical conditions or are on medication, PLEASE seek your doctor’s advice before taking vitamin K supplements or increasing your dietary intake.
***************

Kiwi, I GET IT. Vitamin K IS Important – But what should I DO?

Clearly, vitamin K is important for the health of our blood, artery walls, and bones.
And vitamin K is likely to have a host of other physiological effects not yet elucidated by science.
No question, food is first, and food is best. I advocate consuming vitamin K in both of its forms through your DIET wherever possible.
Tip: remember that the bio-availability of vitamin K is improved by eating fats and by adequate bile synthesis and fat absorption in the gut. Take down some olive oil with that salad.
Strategically optimize your dietary intake of both K₁ and K₂ as they appear to have different effects in the body:
For vitamin K₁ and blood health:

Eat plenty of dark green vegetables, such as kale, spinach, collards, Brussels sprouts, parsley and broccoli. When I’m eating out I often order an extra side dish (or two) of spinach.
Eat them alongside good fats and oils to increase bioavailability of the fat-soluble vitamins in the gut.

: Figure 8 Mmm broccoli – a great source of Vitamin K_{1 (photo credit: David Monniaux)}

: Figure 9. DOUBLE MMMMMM Chicken livers fried with onions – organ meats are a great source of Vitamin K_{2 (photo credit: Ludovic Peron)}

For vitamin K₂ and bone and arterial health:

Eat eggs and organ meats from poultry, fish and animals. Goose liver pate is a rich source. Our ancestors ate more of the animal than just the prime cuts – why not try it out.
Other good sources of vitamin K₂ include cheese and butter from cows that eat dark green leaves containing vitamin K₁ (i.e. grass), but I don’t recommend eating diary products because many people are lactose intolerant.
Athletic Greens contains 80 mcg of the vitamin K₂ subtype MK7. This is processed via fermentation from the same type of bacteria that produce the dietary source of MK7 from natto (see below)
The richest dietary source of MK7 is natto, a heavily fermented Japanese “delicacy” but due to its smell and slimy texture few non-Japanese people can stomach it. If you’re not brave enough for natto (not many of us are), or if you want to avoid eating legumes for other reasons, just get your vitamin K₂ from the sources mentioned above.

: Figure 10 Egg yolks are a good source of vitamin K₂, and also choline, another one of my favorite nutrients (photo credit: Paul Goyette)

What Dose Is Best, Kiwi?

In 2001, the non-governmental organization the Institute of Medicine published Adequate Intake (AI) recommendations for vitamin K of 120 mcg/day for men and 90 mcg/day for women.
You can safely consume more than this in the diet if you want to, because no cases of vitamin K toxicity have ever been reported, to my knowledge. Please note that I’m talking here about the naturally occurring forms vitamin K₁ and K₂. Do NOT take synthetic vitamin K₃ as it can harm you.
As shown by the complementary effects of vitamin D and K on bone, the fat-soluble vitamins can often act synergistic-ally. I recommend that you optimize your intake of vitamins A, D, and K.
The dietary sources for the fat-soluble vitamins tend to overlap, which is helpful. You can get your vitamin A from the same leafy green vegetables and liver that you’re going to eat for vitamin K₁ and K₂ intake, respectively.
Get your vitamin D from exposing your skin to sunshine, eating oily fish or taking D3 supplements. For more information on vitamin D see my previous post.
Alrighty then mate?
Of course, the good folks at team Athletic Greens were nice enough to put Vitamin K₂ in the formula, but as always I want you to start with food. Athletic Greens is there for the supercharge component.
So get eat your delicious dark green vegetables, eggs and organ meats to ensure your vitamin K and A intake, and while you’re at it, get outside for some sunshine and vitamin D.

2013-05-12T12:27:00.001-07:00

The type of bean to AVOID eating

While beans are actually one of the healthiest carbs sources out there, loaded with fiber and protein, there's actually one variety of beans you should be AVOIDING at all costs:

Baked Beans.

Fact is, manufacturers of commercial "baked beans" are completely RUINING this health food by piling in sugars galore along with a slew of artificial ingredients.

Many brands are now even including high fructose corn syrup and numerous other corn ingredients, such as corn starch, in their products...bad news!

For example, a 1-cup serving of canned "baked beans" contains more than 20 grams of ADDED sugar on average while the same 1-cup serving of regular kidney beans, pinto beans, red beans, etc, contains only a gram or two of naturally occurring sugar. BIG difference!

That said, when buying beans and adding them to your diet (which is actually a great choice), make sure to avoid commercial "baked beans" products and instead go with bean products that don't add all the extra junk.

Some great varieties of beans and legumes are:

Pinto Beans
Red Beans
Navy Beans
Lima Beans
Black Beans
Black-eyed Peas
Marrowfat Peas
Chickpeas
Butter Beans
Lentils

And there are even some natural packaged versions of the above listed beans and legumes that add a number of healthy and natural seasonings to spice them up a bit. The lesson here is to avoid "baked beans" in favor of the plain stuff (which you can then spice up at home) and when buying anything packaged, take a good, hard look at the ingredients and nutrition facts.

If it's got added sugar and artificial ingredients, skip it!

2013-05-12T12:21:00.002-07:00

The 5 best foods to eat before bed (for a flat belly)

2013-05-12T12:13:00.001-07:00

Is "paleo" the healthiest human diet? (controversial)

The hottest thing in nutrition over the last few years is the "Paleo" style of eating (aka, Paleolithic nutrition). In some ways, it's a simple concept, and it's common sense... eat a similar hunter-gatherer diet like our ancestors did for over 1.9 Million years, and since this is the diet that the human digestive system is most adapted to during 99% of our existence, good health will follow, and getting a lean body becomes easier.

Some paleo authors though forbid even tiny amounts of grains and dairy in their recommendations, while other mainstream health authors and experts just aren't convinced yet (or haven't been explained the science yet) that whole grains can possibly be bad for you in any way.

My thought on this is that not all grains are necessarily bad for you, but some are a LOT worse than others... this is where I see "paleo" nutrition in a slightly different light than some very strict Paleo authors that advise to 100% eliminate ALL grains. I don't quite see it that way.

A couple things that I keep in mind in terms of deciding on the healthiest paleolithic nutrition plan:

1. For people that are extremely active such as long distance bikers, runners, and athletes that do intense activity for several hours per day, the extra calories from starch that grains give can be useful. The extra calories and carbs from grains can also be useful to those looking to build muscle mass.

However, there's no reason at all that these types of people can't fuel their carb needs with potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruit, squash, quinoa, and other non-grain carb sources, and still get the calories and carbs they need without getting all of the gluten and other problematic anti-nutrients that are in many popular grains.

2. Some grains are worse than others. For example, rice and oats still have anti-nutrients, but have a lot less anti-nutrients than wheat does. Rice and oats also don't contain gluten (unless they contain traces from processing machines that also processed wheat or barley), and as you know, chronic gluten intake can irritate the gut and cause internal inflammation in a large majority of us, even if we're not Celiac.

This means that rice and oats are more "neutral" than wheat is, and if you're extremely active and burn boatloads of calories with hours of exercise each day, then rice and oats can be a reasonable source of calories, although still not necessarily the "best" carb source per se.

However, if you're an average person that exercises a couple days a week, and not daily for hours each day, there's really no need for the extra calories and carbs that even "neutral" grains provide.

3. It's important to know that grains are NOT "essential" to the human diet in any way. After all, before agriculture started approx 10,000 years ago, grains were just a very tiny % of the human diet, dating back almost 2 Million years.

Currently, it's estimated that the average modern day person obtains 67% of their total calories come from only 3 foods -- wheat, corn, and soy and their derivatives.

However, ancient paleolithic humans most likely only consumed about 1 or 2% of their total calories from wild grains that they could have gathered. Mass produced grains to make bread, baked goods, and pasta that are modern day staples simply didn't exist back then.

This means that for 99% of human existence, humans only ate grains in a very tiny fraction of their total calories, and for the last 1% of human existence, we now eat 67% of our total calories from wheat, corn, and soy alone (although technically, soy is not a grain...it's a legume, but soy has it's own health issues as well).

Ancient paleolithic humans were very active hunting and gathering each day (and probably fighting off predators too in most locations!), yet somehow us humans managed to "fuel our bodies" for almost 2 Million years without the need for large amounts of grains like modern day athletes resort to as the go-to carb source.

Although I'm not personally a competing athlete in anything, I'm a very active skier, mountain biker, hiker, and weight lifter. But I don't fuel my body on grains, and I don't necessarily fuel my body on primarily carbohydrates either. And I feel amazing every single day!

I tend to prefer to fuel my body primarily from healthy fats like avocados, nuts, egg yolks, seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, and grass-fed butter and cream. But I still also fuel my body with small to moderate amounts of carbs each day from eating loads of veggies, raw honey in my morning or afternoon tea, maybe a few potatoes or sweet potatoes each week, squash, and one or two pieces of fruit a day. This type of plan replicates the ancient paleolithic hunter-gatherer diet much more closely than these modern plans loaded with grains at every meal.

I'm sure we'll talk more about this topic in upcoming newsletters, but let's look at the big picture here...

The way I see it is that you can probably find a lot of examples of people you know that eat a lot of grains and yet remain lean, and seemingly healthy. This doesn't mean that gluten and other anti-nutrients they are consuming daily aren't causing at least some form of moderate internal inflammation, blood sugar problems, or minor digestive problems though in many of these grain-eaters.

I personally don't avoid grains altogether, but I would say that I only eat grains about 1 day per week, and I try to get variety when I do instead of only one type of grain, so that I'm not always consuming the same types of anti-nutrients which might affect specific minerals from being absorbed in the body. This can lead to some mineral deficiency with over-consumption of certain grains too often.

2012-10-06T13:46:00.001-07:00

2 Pre-Meal Tricks to Control Your Blood Sugar Response and Stay in Fat-Burning Mode

In several other articles, I've told you about some of the really cool experiments that Tim Ferriss has done in his new book that I read recently, The 4-Hour Body, and I wanted to show you this one today, because it's pretty cool, and also a simple thing to do...
You may have heard different websites or anecdotes in the past about these 3 substances and their possible effects on reducing the blood sugar response of a meal (taken either before or during a meal), which can, essentially help to keep insulin levels lower post-meal and keep the body from depositing extra body fat. Maintaining lower and more stable blood sugar levels also helps to prevent cravings and slow the aging process by reducing formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in your body.
These 3 substances that he tested pre-meal are:

vinegar
lemon juice
cinnamon

But do they actually work in controlling blood sugar response from a meal?
Well, that's what Tim decided to test out on himself as one of his experiments that he did in The 4-Hour Body. Tim actually used a blood sugar meter (normally for diabetics) that attached probes into his abdomen to get constant measurements and graphs of his blood sugar and response to different foods and meals.
In his tests, he tested ingesting all 3 of these "substances" before meals in separate tests.
The results?
The pre-meal vinegar
The vinegar failed!
Tim tested both white vinegar and balsamic vinegar and neither showed any lowering effect on his blood sugar in his tests. He even drank 3 Tbsp+ of vinegar before meals as a last attempt to see if vinegar could have any blood sugar controlling effects. But he found no effect.
Tim includes some theories in his book on why the vinegar didn't have any effect.
The pre-meal lemon juice
Better news with the lemon juice!
In Tim's personal tests, he used 3 Tbsp of fresh-squeezed lemon juice (not store-bought stuff with preservatives and artificial additives) prior to his meals and this lowered his blood sugar response to meals (compared to his controls) by approximately 10%.
Remember that lowering the blood sugar response to a meal can help to control insulin levels and therefore keep your body in fat-burning mode for longer...and prevent cravings too!
The pre-meal cinnamon
Yet another score!
If you've read my articles in the past, it's no secret that cinnamon can be powerful in terms of helping to blunt blood sugar response to a meal. In fact, I regularly take 2 cinnamon capsules (approx 1 gram) if I know I'm going to eat a meal that contains moderate or high levels of carbohydrates. Some studies show that cinnamon can reduce the glycemic response of a meal up to 29%!
But there are different types of cinnamon...so which is best?
Tim actually tested 3 types of cinnamon in how they affected his blood sugar response to meals.
Saigon cinnamon (aka Vietnamese cinnamon) was found in Tim's tests to be the most effective at controlling blood sugar.
Cassia cinnamon came in 2nd place in effectiveness
Ceylon cinnamon came in 3rd place in Tim's tests in effectiveness in controlling blood sugar response to a meal.
Tim did note however that all 3 types of cinnamon helped control blood sugar to some extent. I personally like to use cinnamon in smoothies, in yogurt or oatmeal, with apples and almond butter, or in capsule form before any meals that are going to have more than 35 grams of carbohydrates.
Keep in mind that if you take medications, you need to consult with your doctor to make sure that cinnamon use does not interfere with the medications (especially with blood thinners). Tim also warns that 4 grams per day (about 1.5 teaspoons) is probably the max amount of cinnamon that anyone should take.

So there you go! Lemon juice and cinnamon are the 2 tricks that Tim revealed through his own blood sugar testing that helped to control blood sugar response, fight cravings, and therefore can help you to maintain lower blood sugar and insulin levels and stay in fat-burning mode longer!
And remember that yet another benefit of maintaining lower blood sugar levels is that you help to SLOW the aging process, since high blood sugar levels over time increase glycation in your body, which ages you faster.

2012-10-06T13:26:00.001-07:00

Do cereal and bread cause heart disease?

We talked a little bit the other day about the truth about cholesterol and why most people have been misinformed about "reducing their cholesterol" when in fact, total cholesterol has almost nothing to with heart disease risk.

But we also need to talk about another related topic that is equally important...

Most people over the years have been misinformed by the media that dietary fats are the cause of heart disease. In recent years, scientists have become quite clear that this is not the case. Sure, artificial trans fats are a big cause of heart disease, but not necessarily healthy natural fats from unprocessed foods (except in the case of excess omega-6 fats compared to omega-3 fats).

But here's another cause of heart disease that most people aren't aware of...

First, remember that LDLs can be broken down into big puffy LDLs (type A, which don't contribute to plaque in the arteries) and small dense LDLs (type B) which do contribute to plaque in the arteries.

Now this is where it gets interesting... High insulin levels from a high carbohydrate intake over time cause your body to produce higher levels of nasty small/dense LDL particles in your blood (type B LDL particles), which are known to be atherogenic (causes plaque in your arteries).

Yes, that's right... a chronically high carb intake can actually be one of the causes of heart disease.

What does the government recommend... a high carbohydrate diet. Doesn't make much sense does it? Is their recommendation biased to support big business? I'll let you decide on that.

Now another thing to keep in mind are your triglyceride levels. Higher triglyceride levels in your blood are another risk factor for heart disease. According to well-known nutrition author Rob Wolf , "Triglycerides are a measure of circulating blood fats, so you would think a high-fat diet would mean high triglycerides, right? Interestingly, this is not the case. Triglycerides are in fact an indicator of high dietary carbohydrate and insulin sensitivity. High carbs and poor insulin sensitivity = high triglycerides."

Once again, everything you've been told over the years about eating a high-carb diet being healthy, is not quite accurate. Eating moderately higher protein and healthy fats along with loads of fibrous vegetables, nuts, and small amounts of fruits (while minimizing grains and sugars) can all be exactly what we need to prevent heart disease and also diabetes.

2012-10-06T13:23:00.001-07:00

The TRUTH about Potatoes, Glycemic Index, and "White Foods" - Friend or Foe for Fat Loss?
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Author - The Truth about Six-Pack Abs

I'd like to start a little discussion today about carbohydrates... and in particular, "white foods" as well as potatoes. One reason I wanted to mention this is because so many health and fitness professionals trash talk potatoes about being a bad carbohydrate choice because of the high glycemic index. Some even say such ridiculous things as "avoid any and all white carbohydrates".
Ok, now while I certainly agree that white bread and refined white sugar are two of the worst things we can be feeding our bodies, I definately don't agree with avoiding any and all "white carbohydrates". Now I know all of the buzz lately has been about colorful foods and the protective antioxidants that they contain. They tell you to focus on colors and stay away from white.
"White Foods" aren't necessarily always the enemy
It's true that colorful foods are great, but it is a big mistake to specifically avoid white foods! There are plenty of white foods that have specific nutrients that are hard to find elsewhere. Let's look at a few examples...
Onions & Garlic
What about onions and garlic? They are both white and they are chock full of protective phytonutrients, vitamins, and trace minerals that aren't easy to find elsewhere in a normal diet... such nutrients as allicin, quercetin (an important flavonoid), chromium, and other unique anti-inflammatory nutrients.
In fact, onions are so powerful for our health, that one study of centenarians (people that live to over 100 years old) identified that a common thread of these amazingly healthy individuals was that they ate a lot of onions throughout their lives. And we also know that garlic is one of the most powerful substances for a strong immune system, among other qualities.
Cauliflower
Another example of something white that is great for you is cauliflower. Cauliflower is loaded with vitamin C, fiber, minerals, and special compounds such as glucosinolates and thiocyanates, which are specifically abundant in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. And a little-known fact is that some of the compounds in cruciferous vegetables help to combat other estrogenic compounds in our food supply and environment and can help prevent excess belly fat. So eat up on that cauliflower!
Mushrooms
Not many people realize this, but surprisingly, even white mushrooms have high levels of unique nutrients and antioxidants. White mushrooms are high in a couple types of antioxidants called polyphenols and ergothioneine. And some types of mushrooms, such as portobella mushrooms, are surprisingly good sources of Vitamin D.
Potatoes
Now that also leads us to another example - white potatoes (which by the way, can also be found in red, yellow, purple varieties, etc). Many health professionals claim that potatoes are a bad carbohydrate because they are thought to have a high glycemic index. First of all, if you've read my Truth about Six Pack Abs ebook, then you understand that glycemic index is not necessarily the most important factor in choosing your carbohydrates.
While a generalization can be made that most low glycemic index carbohydrate choices will help you lose body fat easier than high glycemic index choices, it is not all that it's cracked up to be. There are many other factors that determine how your body will react-to and process the carbohydrates you ingest, such as glycemic load and also how you combine the high GI food with other foods.
For example, using glycemic load as an example... it is known that watermelon has a high glycemic index. However, the glycemic load of a normal serving of watermelon is just way too low for your body to start packing on body fat just because you ate a high glycemic index fruit. You would have to eat such an enormous quantity of watermelon just to get enough grams of carbohydrates to have any negative glycemic effect, that it is just non-sensical.
Not to mention that watermelon is also a great source of vitamins, minerals, and lycopene. There's just no reason to avoid it simply because it has a high GI. My point is... candy bars, cupcakes, and donuts make you fat... NOT watermelons, carrots or potatoes... French fries excluded of course.
Also, as i mentioned, food combinations are important in how your body processes the carbohydrates and the associated blood sugar and insulin response you receive. For example, if you mix a high glycemic index carbohydrate with an extra source of fiber, healthy fats, or even certain proteins, many times the blood sugar and glycemic response will be slowed down considerably by the way you combined the food. Again, I talk in detail about this entire topic in my Truth about Six Pack Abs book
Alright, so back to my point that white potatoes are actually a healthy carbohydrate as long as you eat them in the right form... with the entire skin, and please don't ruin them by deep frying them into french fries either! French fries are one of the most evil things ever invented for your health, but only because we ruin them by soaking them in a scorching bath of trans fats in the deep fryer from the hydrogenated oils that are typically used.
Keep in mind that potatoes contain so many vitamins and minerals that the list is way too long to even try. Also, as long as you eat the skins, you get a decent shot of fiber too.
Will 7-9 potatoes per day make you fatter?
On the topic of potatoes not being so bad after all, I don't remember where I saw this referenced, but I recently saw a particular study that had participants eat something like 7-9 whole potatoes per day for several weeks.
At the conclusion of the study, the potato eaters had actually consistently lost weight! I'd venture a guess that the reason the people lost weight is that they were probably so full from eating all of those damn potatoes, that they actually consumed less calories than normal! An average sized potato only has about 100-120 calories, and I can surely imagine you'd be full constantly from eating 7-9 potatoes each day.
Of course, this does NOT mean that french fries are ok to eat! Those will only make you fat, and the trans fat will lead to an early death. Seriously... fries are one of the most deadly foods in our food supply. Plus, deep fried potatoes build up dangerous acrylamides from the frying oil reacting with the starch, and these compounds are carcinogenic.
Anyway, back to the 7-9 whole potatoes per day... Now I would never recommend going to those extremes, but my point is that an occasional potato is not going to hurt your efforts to get lean, especially if you combine it with some other fibrous vegetables and maybe a healthy fat and some protein. On that note, I have one of my favorite recipes for you, using potatoes.
Geary's Lean-Body Potato Side Dish

Desired quantity of baby potatoes (I like to use this mixture I found recently at a health food store... it is a mixture of white, red, yellow, and purple baby potatoes)
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 or 2 onions
a couple cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or mashed garlic from a jar, organic preferably)
1 or 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and/or virgin coconut oil
a little salt and pepper to taste (I like using a sea salt instead of normal commercial salt)

Cut the baby potatoes into slightly smaller pieces and place in a steamer until soft all the way through. Slice up the peppers and onions into strips and add with the chopped garlic into a pan with the olive oil. Cook the peppers, onions, and garlic until tender, and then add the steamed baby potatoes. Stir it all together and serve. This is a delicious and healthy side dish that goes great with chicken or red meat.
I hope you've enjoyed this little topic today about potatoes, healthy carbohydrates, glycemic index, and my killer healthy potato recipe idea!

2012-10-06T13:18:00.002-07:00

5 Reasons that I Think Treadmill and Elliptical Machine Workouts are a Waste of Time
Plus 10 workout ideas that I believe are more effective and fun!
by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best-selling program: The Truth about Six-Pack Abs

Now that I pissed off all of the treadmill and elliptical machine worshipers... let me say that if you truly enjoy mindlessly pumping away on a treadmill or elliptical (or exercise bike for that matter too), then by all means, keep doing what you enjoy, because enjoying your exercise is one of the most important aspects to sticking with any exercise program...
However, don't say that I didn't warn you that you were wasting your time with all that mindless cardio machine boredom.
If I haven't mentioned it before, I don't believe in cardio machines, and to be quite honest, I don't think I've personally used a treadmill, elliptical, or exercise bike for at least the last 7-8 years or so.
As a matter of fact, I don't even use cardio machines anymore for warmups before a workout (I did before occasionally)... Nowadays, I prefer to do dumbbell or kettlebell snatches and swings mixed with bodyweight exercises as the perfect full body warmup at the beginning of my workouts.
So why do I have such hatred for cardio machines? Well, here are 5 reasons:
1) Treadmills, ellipticals, and exercise bikes are mind-blowingly BOOOORING! Personally, I can think of a million things I'd rather be doing than pedaling my way to nowhere!
2) Mindless steady state cardio exercise while watching TV or reading creates a mind / body disconnect resulting in poor results from your exercise routine. Instead of reading a gossip magazine or watching a cheesy reality TV show on the TV screen in front of the cardio machine, a REAL workout consists of actually having your mind engaged strongly in what your body is doing!
3) I've seen studies that indicated that treadmill running may be less effective than outdoor running for various reasons such as stride abnormalities on treadmills vs natural running, slightly less caloric burn compared to outdoor running, etc.
...although I never recommend just "jogging" anyway (or as Ron Burgundy would say, "yogging") ... Instead, variable intensity walks / runs or sprints are so much more effective, training your heart rate in a much wider range instead of just the same pace during the entire workout. I choose to do a lot of hiking up mountains and also wind sprints, but never steady state jogging.
4) Treadmills and ellipticals are ridiculously expensive and a waste of money for people that workout at home... there's so many better options for home workouts you could have spent your money on rather than wasting it on a treadmill, bike, or elliptical.
The perfect home gym setup is MUCH cheaper... there's no reason you need anything other than a jump rope, bodyweight exercises, a few dumbbells, stability ball, maybe a few kettlebells (if you want to get fancy), and perhaps high tension bands for some more variety. And of course... the great outdoors has some of the best workout options of all... hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, skiing, sports, and more!
5) Treadmills and elliptical machines are just a very ineffective way to workout compared to other options. The metabolic response is much lower compared to the types of workouts ideas that I describe below. Why should you do treadmill or elliptical workouts when you can get better results by doing more interesting forms of training that actually stimulate a fat-burning hormonal response and stimulate your metabolism to a greater extent...
So what are the alternatives to treadmills, exercise bikes, and elliptical trainers? Here are TEN of my favorite types of alternative workouts:

jumping rope - great mind-body connection - try speed jumping, crossovers, and double jumps once you get skilled at it. An amazing metabolic exercise with one of the cheapest pieces of equipment available. There's a reason that every world class boxer uses this exercise!
kettlebell training - nothing will get your heart pounding like high repetition KB swings and snatches or clean & presses (can be done with dumbbells too, but I prefer KBs). Personally, I think one of the most intense body changing exercises ever invented are double kettlebell snatches (snatching both kettlebells at the same time overhead from the floor).
outdoor wind sprinting (the ultimate exercise for a rock hard ripped body... just look at the chiseled powerful bodies of world class sprinters, and compare that to the weakling withered physique of a typical marathoner... nuff said! I generally do wind sprints 2-3 days a week during the warm times of the year, and I'll do something such as 50 yards, 60 yards, 70 yards, 80 yards, 90 yards, 100 yards, and then repeat (with about 40-60 second rests between sprints). By the way, for the international folks, a "yard" is just slightly shorter than a meter.
hill sprinting - yet another classic exercise for a rock hard lean and powerful body! I like to do 30 yard sprints up a steep hill and then walk down and repeat a bunch of times for maybe 20-30 minutes. Amazing workout.
The rowing machine - ok, I don't really lump this in as a "cardio" machine like treadmills and ellipticals... I think the rowing machine is actually a great full body workout that actually uses resistance... The best results come from using variable speeds and really pulling hard to challenge your body.
Sprint style swimming workouts - a more muscular workout than steady state distance swimming... I actually love the upper body pump I get from sprint style swimming -- this is the same concept as sprinting vs jogging but in a pool instead. It's all about intensity!
heavy bag punching / kicking workout, speed bag, rebound bag - all are great forms of training and much more interesting than boring cardio machines. These exercises are also great examples of exercises that require an intense mind-body connection, which is missing in boring cardio equipment like treadmills and elliptical machines.
shadow boxing - This is an awesome workout, but if you're shy, this is best saved for your home workouts since you'll get some crazy stares doing this at a typical gym from people who think they're "too cool" for stuff like this.
dumbbell circuits -- This is a super metabolic type of workout that involves alternating between various full-body multi-joint exercises to get a crazy fat-burning workout in minimal time. A good example would be alternating between dumbbell lunges, overhead presses, bent over rows, step ups, and squat presses all with minimal rest between.
bodyweight training - bodyweight squats, pushups, lunges, jumps, bear crawls, mountain climbers and jumpers, planks, and the list goes on and on. Another example of great mind-body connection and much more metabolic type of training than treadmills and ellipticals.

Well, I hope this article helps give you ideas on how you can get away from all of these mindless and ineffective treadmill and elliptical trainer machines (and exercise bike) workouts that are just wasting your time and energy that could be better spent on more effective workouts.
If you want maximum results, it's all about your intensity levels and also your mind-body connection... and that all important mind-body connection is usually missing when it comes to elliptical and treadmill workouts, that most people do while watching TV or reading.

2012-10-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

3 Random Fitness and Nutrition Tips

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author - The Truth About Six Pack Abs

I just had a few sort of "random" workout and nutrition tips for you on my mind today, so here they are:
Tip #1. Onions = Amazing Superfood... Eat onions daily if possible.
Not only do I love onions, but I recently read a longevity study that surveyed a large amount of people who had lived over 100 years of age. One of the common threads they noticed from the survey of these amazing people that lived to ages exceeding 100 was that they ate a lot of onions.
Kind of weird huh... but not a surprise to me. In fact, onions are definitely an important super-food as they contain unique organosulphur compounds and potent antioxidants that are rare in other foods.
I've also read dozens of studies that correlated onions (and garlic too) with pretty impressive reductions in cancer risk.
I like to add onions to almost any meals I can think of... added to salads, in my morning eggs, in veggie mixtures with lunch or dinner, and more.

Tip #2. Mix up your workouts with "5-minute bodyweight exercise challenges"
This is a unique way to add some variety to your workouts and maybe even get a friend in a little competition with you.
You can throw one of these in at the end of a workout as a high intensity finish, or even just do at home on non-gym days.
Basically, all you do is choose 1 specific bodyweight exercise such as bodyweight squats, pushups, lunges, etc and try to do as many reps of that exercise as you can in exactly 5 minutes (timed). I've also used dumbbell swings or kettlebell swings for these 5-minute drills and they work great.
This works best by trying to do 20 or 25 reps at a time and then taking short breathers of about 10 seconds before continuing on your next round of reps.
We've even made this a little competition between a couple people at my gym in the past where we all line up and get timed for 5 minutes and see who can do the most bodyweight squats or pushups or whatever it may be in that 5 minute time period.
From what I've seen, if you can do 100 or more pushups in 5 minutes, or 200 or more bodyweight squats in 5 minutes, those are pretty impressive numbers. I think my record was somewhere around 225 bodyweight squats in 5 minutes (which was an improvement on the 160 bw squats I got the first time I tried this 5-min challenge)
If you try dumbbell or kettlebell swings for 5-minutes, I've found that anything over about 130 swings is pretty good for 5-minutes.
Whatever exercise you choose, keep track of your numbers that you get, and try to improve on them each week.

Tip #3. Example of the Glycemic Index (GI) being fairly useless
In several of my newsletters in the past, I've given examples of how choosing your foods based on the glycemic index can be misleading and even useless in many cases.
Case in point...
Watermelon has one of the highest measured GI's of all foods (much higher than even cake and ice cream). However, a normal serving of cake and ice cream may give you a whopping 600 to 800 calories, whereas a typical serving of watermelon may give you 50 to 70 calories max! You'd have to eat a massive quantity of watermelon to rack up any significant grams of carbs.
Trust me... watermelon isn't making anyone fat... But cake and ice cream are!
The lesson... GI is almost useless when you're not considering "Glycemic Load", which also factors in the quantity of carbohydrates ingested in a typical serving.

2012-10-06T12:57:00.003-07:00

5 Steps To Looking 10 Years Younger

By Steve & Becky Holman

Did you know that once you hit 40 years of age, whether you're a man or a women, your body starts aging FASTER than normal? Studies have shown that without the proper nutrients and exercise, your body will age about 6 months EXTRA for every year that passes. Think about that! If you are 40, that means by the time you hit 44 you will LOOK and FEEL 48. And by the time you reach 60, you will LOOK and FEEL 70 YEARS OLD! We see this every day... just look around you.
Did you know that 90% of people over the age of 35 lose enough muscle every year to burn off an additional 4 pounds of body fat? That means you not only lose the only thing on your body that creates shape, tone, and strength—you also gain more fat every year, even if your calories stay the same.
Did you know that all of this is reversible at any age? That there are specific ways to move, eat, and think that tell your brain to STOP this rapid aging process... and even SLOW IT DOWN to the point where you're aging less than a year for every year? That means you can look younger at 40 than you do at 35... or if you're like Becky and I, younger at 50+ than we did at 40!
This is not fantasy talk. This does not require a boatload of anti-aging drugs, supplements, or gimmicks. And, this works for anyone, male or female, and works at any age. 35, 45, 55, 65, 75... you name it. The biology is exactly the same.
My years as editor-in-chief at Iron Man Magazine have allowed me to peer into the secret routines of the anti-aging experts. Over the years, both Becky and I have picked up SO many tips, tricks, and strategies that have allowed us to literally reverse the aging process, at least from a cellular level. That means our body's look, feel, and MOVE younger than our chronological age.
We've taught this System to countless men and women over the years, and it always begins with these 5 key principles you must apply in order to STOP the rapid onset of aging that's going on right now, reverse it, and begin "aging backwards" by restoring your body's natural youth hormones.
That said, we have to warn you: What you are about to hear may go against all the conventional diet and exercise advice you've been hearing. That's because the world has, to be utterly frank, gone soft! "Core training", hot yoga, spin classes, tai chí all of these are just fine, but they won't slow your aging, and they certainly will never shape your muscles or burn off stubborn body fat. No way!

These 5 steps reveal the things you absolutey MUST AVOID if you want to slow the aging process, reclaim your health, and achieve your ideal body.

What you need is a splash of cold water, a touch of Old School, and the honest truth. Sound good? Let's dive in!

Step 1: Forget Low-Fat Diets

Low fat everything has been the craze now for decades and look around. What has that wonderful bit of advice done for the bodies you see? We're fatter, sicker, and more addicted to sugar and carbs than any other time in history. And, we're passing these habits to our kids.
Fats are not to be feared – they're to be embraced. They do not make you fat; rather, they help your body regenerate your power hormones. Testosterone, the 'strength' hormone, for example, is the direct result of cholesterol and dietary fat intake. That's right: "Cholesterol" isn't a dirty word! Your body needs dietary fat and cholesterol in order to produce ANY AND ALL vital hormones.
People on low fat diets look drawn, gaunt, and weak. They are often sick, sometimes to the point of literally breaking down. And, they can never just enjoy eating out. Every meal and every gram must be accounted for. Do you really think this will make you younger? Of course not... it will worry you to death if it doesn't kill you first!

Step 2: Stop Spinning: You're Just Spinning Your Wheels

Spinning classes can be fun, if you like sitting in one place and torturing yourself. But have you noticed how little people change their bodies in these classes? Sure, it's good "cardio", but cardiovascular conditioning can be gained with far less time and effort.
Spinning, and any form of endurance training (especially running) does very little to help the age reversal process. Many times, these long-duration exercise bouts accelerate the aging process by increasing free radicals. These free radicals are scavengers that prey on your body's essential nutrients and tissues.
There's a smart way to exercise... we'll cover that in a minute. And, what's wonderful is that it takes you about ¼ the time of traditional workouts. We'll cover more details on the next page.

Step 3: Stop Blaming Everything On How Old You Are

The guys to the left are not fat because they are old—they're fat because they eat, think, and move like a fat, old, dying person! Becky and I are both in our 50s—older than the guys in this photo—and I still sport a nice six-pack, and Becky transformed her body from the typical "middle age mom" to a slim, toned, and super-sexy woman who looks 10 years younger. (See the next page for photos!)
Listen: Your body doesn't own a clock. Studies have shown that men and women in their 90s were able to gain muscle tone in just a matter of weeks of simple weight training. I've personally seen men and women transform their physiques at literally all ages—25 to 95!
If you're around those naysayers who are constantly talking about growing old, all their aches and pains, and how life is just down hill after 40—LEAVE! Surround yourself with positive thinkers who absolutely crave a challenge. A challenge is what keeps you YOUNG, and the best challenge there is happens to be taking control of your health and body.
We'll show you HOW we do that on the next page.

Step 4: Avoid Chronic Dehydration

Water isn't just "good for you" — water burns fat. Water suppresses hunger. Water renews your skin. Just drinking 12 ounces of pure water every day can take a few years off your face in a matter of weeks. You'll also drop fat, have more energy, and save your kidneys and liver from chronic overwork.
When your kidneys are taxed from too little water, your liver has to take over. Now, get this: Your liver is your number one fat-burning organ. Do you REALLY want it processing liquids and toxins rather than BURNING FAT? No way, right? Well, grab a glass of water, and watch the mirror. Within a few weeks, the change to your face and body will be noticeable.

Step 5: Work Out LESS (Yes, Less)

If you don't work out at all, you're going to lose muscle tissue every year. That means you'll get fatter and flabbier each and every year with less shape and more sag. Is this what you desire? No way, right?
Well, the answer is old school resistance training. Here's the secret: hardly anyone is doing it right!
Becky and I have seen literally thousand of pro fitness athletes train over the years. The ones who looked the best — and that means looked the youngest, most toned, and had the least amount of unwanted fat — were the ones who left the gym while others were still warming up!

2012-10-06T12:57:00.001-07:00

5 Steps To Looking 10 Years Younger

By Steve & Becky Holman

These 5 steps reveal the things you absolutey MUST AVOID if you want to slow the aging process, reclaim your health, and achieve your ideal body.

What you need is a splash of cold water, a touch of Old School, and the honest truth. Sound good? Let's dive in!

Step 1: Forget Low-Fat Diets

Step 2: Stop Spinning: You're Just Spinning Your Wheels

Step 3: Stop Blaming Everything On How Old You Are

Step 4: Avoid Chronic Dehydration

Step 5: Work Out LESS (Yes, Less)

2012-09-12T11:01:00.001-07:00

he Top 20 Food Rules You NEED to Know to be Truly Lean & Healthy
Everything you wanted to know about protein, carbs, calories, probiotics, vitamin D, cooking oils, foods that burn fat, foods that make you fat, foods that can kill you slowly, and much more.
by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best selling program: The Truth About Six Pack Abs
This article is one that you're going to want to bookmark to come back and reference at any time. And you'll also want to share this page with all your friends and family to help spread what true healthy nutrition is all about. Seriously, there's more great information about nutrition on this page than a lot of entire books.
I'm going to rattle off a bunch of random important facts (in no particular order) about food and eating healthy that you need to know. I'll also refer to any of my previously published articles where appropriate, and where a more full explanation might be needed if you want more details on that topic. All references to other articles will open in a new window so that you can stay on this page when you're done any of the other reference articles.
Before we start this list, let's establish a big picture view first, before we dive into various smaller topics like specific foods...
The Big Picture View (most people have never thought of food in this way)
Let me give you something to think about, and this is VERY big picture and VERY important... if we took away modern society and plopped you on a deserted island, what is the #1 most important thing in your life at that point? That's right... FOOD! What will I eat to survive and thrive. At that point, you can forget about careers, technology, video games, television, nightlife, cell phones, and just about every other aspect of modern life... the single most important thing you need to focus on at that point is what to eat.
However, in our modern day, most of us don't have to think about what to eat at all, and in fact, most people NEVER think about what they put in their mouths... they just eat whatever they see in front of them that they know tastes good, without any thought about whether it's an appropriate food for humans to eat.
You can call that the "See-Food Diet"... you "see" the food and you eat it.
Isn't that a major disconnect? Food is quite literally one of the most important things in our daily lives, yet barely anybody thinks about the ramifications of what they eat and how it will affect their health and the quality of their life (until, of course, they lose their health).
Since food is one of the most important things in our lives for our quality of life, don't you think that it should be a priority as one of the fundamental topics that children learn about throughout school? It should be a priority, but it isn't. Kids get a thorough education on topics such as Math, History, Science, Languages, etc, but never get more than a couple hours in their entire 12 years in school about the most important thing in our lives...what to eat.
If you think about it, that's absolutely insane... One of THE single most important aspects of our lives is never really taught to children in school. And parents don't generally pick up the slack and teach kids nutrition because they were never taught about it either. This is a modern day phenomenon because the abundance of food all around us in modern day life means that we don't have to think about what's appropriate to eat.
If you want to be lean and truly healthy, obviously you NEED to think differently than the average person who eats the "SEE-food diet" where they eat without thinking.
There needs to be some simple rules to follow if you want to successfully navigate the current food landscape out there where so many foods are making you fat and sick.
And THAT's why I wrote this page for you... to simplify and give you some simple food rules to be lean and healthy, yet still ENJOY food.
Food Rules Simplified
Okay, so let's simplify nutrition a bit here... everyone out there seems confused about what is the best "diet" to be on. People seem to love to always jump from fad diet to fad diet such as low-fat diets, atkins diets, south beach diets, grapefruit diets, detox diets, vegetarian diets, and other sometimes ridiculous diets that most times are based on one person's opinion or marketing scheme (or personal agenda) rather than based on actual science.
The only "diet" that's actually based on real science is the study of paleolithic nutrition (aka - paleo diet). But I hate to call it "paleo diet", because it's not like any other fad diet, since it's based on real archaeological nutritional science about what our ancestors ate before the agricultural revolution came around. The idea is simply that for the first 99.5% of our existence (ancestors back as far as 2 Million years ago, homo erectus), we only ate wild plants and animals, while for the last 0.5% of our existence (since the agricultural revolution in the last 5,000-10,000 years), humans now almost entirely eat farmed plants and animals. The biggest change this represents is the massive inclusion of grains in our current diet (and what our animals are fed) now compared to our Paleolithic ancestors.
Many people think that we don't know exactly what ancient humans ate... but this is false.
Nutritional archaeologists know pretty convincingly what ancient humans ate as they study a lot of evidence such as ancient feces remains as well as studying isotope ratios in human bone samples from all over the world through every time period in history to determine ratios of animals vs plants that ancient humans ate --which by the way, was always an omnivorous mixture of plants and animals, and a fairly high protein intake...there was no such thing as ancient paleolithic vegetarians...any Nutritional Archaelogist can confirm that they simply didn't exist. We were all omnivores that ate different ratios of plants and animals based on what part of the world, what latitude we lived, and the time of the year.
So what exactly did our Paleolithic ancestors eat for the first 99.5% of our existence, representing what we are still programmed to eat? Simple:

Wild meat, fish, and seafood (animals that ate the right foods, unlike our current farmed meats and farmed fish)
fruits
veggies
eggs
nuts
seeds

Grains were only a very TINY fraction of the ancient Paleolithic diet as there was no way to process large amounts of grain back in that day into flour, so amounts of wild grain would have been small such as a few grains in an occasional soup or stew. As you can see, this is vastly different from the modern human diet that includes grain at almost every meal and in very large quantities in cereals, breads, pasta, muffins, bagels, etc.
So with that big picture explained...let's get into the details of my top 20 food rules:
Food Rule #1.
Carbohydrates don't need to be eliminated... they are not inherently "bad" in reasonable quantities. But grains and processed sugars in particular should be minimized. So to make things simple, you will be leaner and healthier if you get most of your carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables instead of grains and processed sugar.
The biggest problem with grains (breads, cereals, pasta, bagels, etc), aside from the abuse to your blood sugar regulation system (pancreas and insulin sensitivity), is that grains typically contain a lot of anti-nutrients which prevent your body from absorbing some minerals, as well as gluten and other substances that cause chronic gut inflammation and even possibly digestive system damage in some cases of severe gluten intolerance.
Please note that potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other tubers have less problems in terms of digestive system inflammation than grains do. Potatoes and sweet potatoes can be much better tolerated by very active people that have no problem burning off the extra carbohydrates.
What do I personally do? Well, I avoid grains as much as possible, except on 1 cheat day per week. That will always be a meal dining out, so that we're never tempted with breads and cereals in our house. I eat whole fruits (never juice) and veggies daily, and might have an occasional potato or sweet potato once or twice a week.
Food Rule #2.
Focus on quality protein sources such as wild game, wish fish and seafood, grass-fed meats, and free-roaming organically fed eggs, while trying to avoid most farmed meats and farmed fish that were fed mostly grains and kept in unhealthy "factory farm" environments. You can read my article about why grass-fed meats are superior to grain-fed meats here.
Food Rule #3.
Most people need to be more aware of the omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio of the food they eat. The ancestral human diet of the Paleolithic era appears that it had a ratio of approximately 1:1 to 2:1 omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats. The current average western diet contains anywhere from 20:1 to 30:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats. This is a major problem and one of the causes of many degenerative diseases.
In order to balance this out better, you need to AVOID corn oils, soybean oils, cottonseed oils (or anything cooked in these oils), and minimize grain-fed meats and farmed fish that were fed grains. Instead, focus on wild fish, grass-fed meats, grass-fed dairy, free-range eggs, as well as other foods that can help you get more omega-3's like chia seeds, walnuts, hemp seeds, and fish oil and/or krill oil, which are vitally important sources of DHA and EPA. I personally take both fish oil and krill oil, as the fish oil has a larger quantity of DHA and EPA (and more omega-3 volume overall), while the krill oil has more antioxidant benefits from the astaxanthin and a higher absorption rate than the fish oil.
Take note that animal sources of omega-3 fats are MUCH more powerful to your health than plant sources of omega-3's like walnuts, chia, and flax. This is because animal sources of omega-3's already contain DHA and EPA already converted whereas plant sources don't, and your body is very ineffecient at converting plant sources of omega-3 fats to DHA and EPA.
Food Rule #4.
Aside from processed sugar, if I had to pick 3 of the WORST foods in the average western diet that would be most important to start avoiding, it would be corn, soy, and wheat, and their derivatives such as corn syrup, corn oil, soybean oil, soy protein, etc. Do you want to hear an appalling statistic about what the average person eats... Currently, the average adult eating a typical modern western diet in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, etc consumes approximately 67% of their total caloric intake from only 3 foods -- CORN, SOY, AND WHEAT (and their derivatives).
Keep in mind that ancestral humans have historically eaten over 80,000 species of plants, animals, and fungi throughout human history, yet modern humans are getting 67% of their calories from only 3 foods. That's a problem! Read this article to see why it's a terrible idea to get most of your calories from corn, soy, and wheat and the health problems this is causing worldwide.
Food Rule #5.
Beware of hidden calories and inflammation-causing ingredients in condiments and dressings. You can read my article here on my vote for the top 5 picks for healthiest condiments as well as the worst.
Most people don't realize just how many calories and metabolism damaging high fructose corn syrup they are ingesting in things like ketchup, salad dressings, cocktail sauce, marinades, etc. For example, 1 Tbsp of ketchup has 5 grams of sugar (usually from HFCS), but the average person uses 2-4 Tbsp of ketchup with a typical burger and fries meal. That's anywhere from 10-20 grams of EXTRA sugar just from the ketchup alone, and not even counting the sweetened drink that most people have with the meal too.
Be a label reader and avoid HFCS! And despite deceptive advertisements out there from the corn refining industry that claim "HFCS is no worse than sugar and is natural", this is far from the truth as you can read in this article that shows why HFCS is indeed worse than plain sugar, despite them both being terrible for you.
Food Rule #6.
Speaking of sugar, most people don't realize that they are addicted to sugar, and just how bad sugar is for your body internally. I hear people say things all the time when eating candy or drinking a sweetened drink that "oh, it's just sugar, I can burn it off easy". Oh, if it were only that simple. You can read the article (and video) here about why sugar is actually TOXIC in your body.
That's right... not only does sugar make you fat, it's one of the direct causes of diabetes, heart disease, as well as feeding cancer cells. Avoid sugar as much as possible with the exception of a small amount of natural sugars in a piece of daily fruit.
Food Rule #7.
Avoid canola oil as much as possible... despite the false marketing claims that canola oil is "healthy" and contains lots of monounsaturated fats just like olive oil, canola oil is NOTHING like olive oil from a biochemical standpoint and how it reacts internally in your body. Read this article for the full story on why to AVOID canola oil at all costs. Note that most canola oil is genetically modified too, so yet another reason to avoid it.
Food Rule #8.
In addition to avoiding canola oil, I highly recommend avoiding soybean oil, corn oil, or cottonseed oil as much as possible too. These oils are highly inflammatory in your body, disrupt your omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid balance in your body, and also are typically made of genetically modified crops, of which the long term health consequences are not yet fully understood by scientists.
This article here details everything you need to know about which cooking oils to fully avoid and which oils are healthy for you. You might be surprised to see why fats you falsely thought were unhealthy such as butter, lard, and coconut oil are actually the healthiest fats/oils to cook with.
Food Rule #9.
Butter vs margarine? I have no idea why anybody is still debating this... I use grass-fed butter on a daily basis, but I would NEVER even touch margarine... not even the so-called "healthy" margarines, which usually still contain inflammatory soybean or corn oils. REAL butter is the only answer in this case. You can read my article here with more details about why real butter can actually HELP you to get lean.
Food Rule #10.
Egg whites vs whole eggs? Once again, I have no idea why anyone is still debating this. Most of the general population has still not gotten the memo that egg yolks are actually the healthiest part of the egg, with over 90% of the micronutrients and antioxidants, and 100% of the fat soluble vitamins that are so important for our health. Why anybody would only eat egg whites and avoid yolks is beyond comprehension. And no, the dietary cholesterol is eggs is not bad for your heart... in fact, it increases your good HDL cholesterol. I have a full article here on why whole eggs are much healthier than egg whites, help increase your fat burning hormones, and why I personally eat 3-4 whole eggs per day and how this helps to stay in single digit body fat range.
Food Rule #11.
Beware of the carcinogenic and estrogenic chemical BPA that is commonly found in some canned foods and bottled drinks. BPA has been linked to increased abdominal fat, birth defects, cancer, and more. Remember that canned tomatoes are one of the worst offenders with highest concentrations of harmful BPA because of the acidic leaching effect of the tomatoes. You can read all about BPA and canned foods and bottled drinks here to learn the best ways to avoid this harmful chemical.
Food Rule #12.
In my opinion, it's best to AVOID microwaved foods. Some scientists believe that microwaving food changes the the biochemistry of the food in ways that cause negative effects in the body compared to raw or conventionally cooked food. Think of this from a logical perspective... the human digestive system evolved over a period of approximately 2 million years (our ancesters homo erectus & neanderthal, as well as current homo sapiens) eating a combination of raw and cooked food that was cooked with either fire or hot water, not microwaves.
Microwaves are a new invention which cooks food in an entirely different way than hot water or fire, creating damaged molecules in food that were not found in nature previously, and that our body does not know how to deal with. Logically, it's easy to understand how this could have health consequences. Read this article here for a full description of why I never eat microwaved foods anymore and have not for at least the last 6-7 years. We also show you how easy it is to live without a microwave and heat up your foods in healthier ways.
Food Rule #13.
One of the healthiest things to include in your daily diet are herbs and spices. In fact, herbs and spices typically contain LOADS more antioxidants than most fruits and vegetables. Spices are extremely powerful, and almost medicinal for your body. Turmeric has been shown to have protective effects against cancer. Cinnamon has powerful blood sugar controlling effects. Many spices boost your immune system. Read this article to see our top 10 votes for the most powerful spices that boost your metabolism and protect your body from degenerative disease.
Bottom line...spices rule! Use them generously in all of your cooking for the best health benefits.
Food Rule #14.
Remember that despite all of the bad nutrition information you hear from the government and the media, saturated fats have been falsely villified in the past, and are much healthier for you than most people realize. In fact, in recent years, scientists have become a lot more clear that saturated fats are actually important for health and hormone balance, your cell membranes, and many other vital functions in your body. You can read my article here about why saturated fats aren't so bad after all, and can even be healthy sometimes depending on source.
If you're interested in more of the actual science about why saturated fat can be healthy for you, I have an article below written by a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry called The Truth about Saturated Fat - it's a must read if you want to understand the science about why saturated fats have been falsely villified and how to enjoy these foods that have always been part of the ancestral human diet.
Food Rule #15.
Always avoid artificial sweeteners! Just because they don't contain calories doesn't mean they don't harm your body. In fact, many studies link artificial sweetener use to weight gain. New research is also showing that artificial sweeteners can "trick" your body into releasing insulin due to cells in your mouth and stomach that sense the sweetness and are expecting sugar. Remember that high insulin levels can cause body fat deposition. Also, triggering insulin in this way can cause more cravings for carbohydrates and sugar in the hours after eating or drinking the artificially sweetened product.
You can read my article here with more details about why artificial sweeteners are terrible for your health, including possible long term health consequences such as cancer.
Food Rule #16.
Pay attention to your Vitamin D levels.
Vitamin D is one of the most important substances in your body. It's one of the single most important things in your body that control your hormones as well as your immune system. If you get sick often or have hormone imbalances, it's quite likely that the cause is linked to low vitamin D levels.
Unfortunately, it's estimated that almost 90% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D. Get your blood levels of vitamin D tested. Your goal should be blood levels between 50-70 ng/ml, where hormonal balance and immune function seems to be maximized. Sadly, most people typically clock in with levels in the 20's or 30's or lower, and these sub par levels can cause a lot of health problems.
Mid day sunshine is the most important source of vitamin D as your body produces vitamin D from a reaction with oils in your skin and UVB rays from the sun. Fatty fish, egg yolks, and organ meats are the best sources of dietary vitamin D, but it is hard to get enough vitamin D from diet alone, so small doses of daily mid-day sun is also important for your health (without burning).
You can read my article here to see why our food supply has diminished vitamin D levels now compared to decades ago.
For lots more great info on vitamin D, and it's powerful benefits to your body, you can also read a really interesting article here that shows why vitamin D can even make you the equivalent of 5 years YOUNGER!
Food Rule #17.
Probiotics rock!
Along with vitamin D levels, this is one of the single most important things you can do for your health. Your "microbiome" in your gut is made up of TRILLIONS of microbes in total and hundreds of types of these friendly probiotics. These serve so many more vitally important functions in your body than most people realize.
Probiotics are equally important to your immune system as your vitamin D levels. Probiotics are your first line of defense in keeping pathogens at bay and preventing sickness. They're extremely important for your digestion too.
Read this article to see how probiotics can improve your digestion and immunity as well as the best sources to build up your healthy colonies in your digestive system.
Food Rule #18.
Beware of carcinogenic acrylamides in browned carb-based foods. This is yet another reason to minimize grains as much as possible as breads and cereals are some of the worst offenders with acrylamides. Read our full article here on acrylamides, everything you need to know, and how to counteract these chemicals to protect your health.
Food Rule #19.
Avoid the unknown health consequences of eating genetically modified foods. Again, going back to the principle that we are most adapted to eating what our ancesters ate for almost 2 million years, that list of foods obviously did NOT include genetically modified foods, since these "frankenfoods" weren't included in the human food supply until the 1990's.
There are still no long term health studies proving that GM foods are safe to eat. Read this article to see the possible dangers of eating GM foods and which 4 foods are the worst offenders to look out for.
Food Rule #20.
Lastly, enjoy your food! And enjoy good company with food. Don't just mindlessly eat food in front of the TV. Studies show that people unknowingly eat more calories and gain more weight when they mindlessly eat in front of the TV. Instead, focus on your meal instead of a distraction...savor each bite you have. Pay attention and enjoy the subtle flavors and aroma of each bite. This makes you enjoy your food more, while eating less calories.

2012-06-15T14:48:00.001-07:00

Adipokines: The Reason You Can't Lose Weight

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES

There are many people who are trying to lose weight.

However, losing weight today is a much different process that it has been previously.

Factors such as diet and physical activity levels are a lot different today than in previous years.

This could account for some of the changes that have led to the development of “sick” fat cells, commonly referred to as "toxic fat cells."

Today, research shows that fat cells should be considered an endocrine organ similar to your thyroid and pancreas, due to their ability to secrete hormones that could affect metabolism.

Fat cells release many hormones which help regulate energy levels in your fat cells and boost metabolism and fat burning.

However, research also shows that fat cells release pro-inflammatory molecules, which can increase inflammation in your fat cells.

This can lead to resistance of your cells to the powerful hormones that are responsible for boosting fat metabolism.

The following is a list of the top three Adipokines That You Need To Worry About

SAA

SAA is another name for serum amyloid A which is an acute phase protein.

Research shows that high levels of SAA can be associated with increased inflammation and could also play a role in the development of atherosclerosis.

Doctors use SAA levels to determine the extent of cardiovascular diseases, or to determine if there was a cardiovascular event.

SAA is an important molecule that also has been associated with insulin resistance, obesity, and Type II Diabetes.

It can be secreted by fat tissue (adipocytes) and, in cases of diabetes and obesity, there is an increase in the production and the secretion of SAA.

The problem with high levels of SAA, according to research, is that increased levels of SAA alter the way the body processes lipoproteins (cholesterol).

In fact, it has been shown that SAA promotes the ingestion of HDL cholesterol (your good cholesterol) by macrophages, which reduces the cardio-protective benefits of HDL cholesterol.

Increased levels of SAA could potentially lead to systemic inflammation, heart disease, and toxic fat cells.

IL-6

IL-6 is the abbreviated term for interleukin-6, which is a pro-inflammatory cytokine release by many different cells in your body and your fat cells.

When inflammation is not present, however, roughly 15 to 30 percent of IL-6 released comes from adipose tissue.

There are two different types of fat in your body: adipose and visceral.

IL-6 is released by both fat tissues, however, visceral fat releases roughly three times the amount of IL-6 compared to white adipose tissue.

IL-6 affects many different cells in your body and, according to some research, is the main driving force behind the release of C-reactive proteins from your liver.

There has also been a positive relationship between IL-6 levels (release from adipose tissue) and circulating C-reactive protein levels.

IL-6 cytokines released from visceral adipose tissue could result in increased health risks.

It has been shown that increased IL-6 from intra-abdominal fat (visceral) could impair liver metabolism.

This could lead to an increased release of triglycerides from the liver, which is termed visceral-related triglyceridemia.

Higher triglycerides can lead to heart disease and other chronic diseases.

IL-6 also could increase insulin resistance, which makes it harder for your body to process sugar from your blood, liver, and muscles.

This has the potential to increase inflammation and decrease the release of beneficial hormones such as Adiponectin and Leptin from your fat cells.

Visfatin

Visfatin is a new molecule that has been discovered that could also lead to increased levels of inflammation.

Made and secreted by visceral adipose tissue, research shows, visfatin is a result of adipocyte (fat cells) differentiation.

Adipocyte differentiation is a process where unspecialized cells take on the specialized features of adipose cells, in order to synthesize and store dietary fat.

Research suggests that visfatin could be an inflammatory mediator, and is responsible for the increased activation of pro-inflammatory mediators such as TNF-alpha, MP-9, and IL-8.

Free Your Toxic Fat Cells

Toxic fat cells could help prevent weight loss and increase the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which can increase inflammation levels in your fat cells and in your body.

Diet and exercise have been shown to increase weight and fat loss, potentially returning your fat cells back to healthy cells.

However, when your fat cells are toxic, either resistance to powerful fat burning hormones or the secretion of these hormones may be decreased.

By making your fat cells healthy again, you could increase fat loss and boost your metabolism in the process.

2012-06-15T14:44:00.002-07:00

My Top 55 Lean-Body Foods to Build Lean Muscle and Lose Body Fat

by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Author of best-selling program: The Truth about Six Pack Abs
In most of my Lean-Body Secrets Newsletters, I like to provide a healthy snack or meal recipe that not only is delicious and healthy, but also helps to get you closer to that hard-body appearance that everyone is looking for, while also more importantly, improving your health for life. In this article, I'd like to give you healthy food ideas in a different way. This time, I figured I'd just give you some ideas of what I stock my fridge and cabinets with.
Remember, if you don't have junk around the house, you're less likely to eat junk! If all you have is healthy nutritious foods around the house, you're forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your grocery store trip. Now these are just some of my personal preferences, but perhaps they will give you some good ideas that you'll enjoy.
Some of these will be obvious healthy choices, such as fruits and veggies... however, others on this page I think will surprise you!
Alright, so let's start with the fridge. Each week, I try to make sure I'm loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. During the growing season, I only get local produce, but obviously in winter, I have to resort to the produce at the grocery store. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables like onions, zucchini, spinach, fresh mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. to use in my morning eggs. I also like to chop up some lean chicken or turkey sausage (make sure to look for nitrate & nitrite free) or grass-fed bison sausage into the eggs, along with some swiss, jack, or goat cheeses (preferably raw grass-fed cheeses when I can find them).
By the way I'm talking about whole eggs, NOT egg whites. Always remember that the yolk is the most nutritious and nutrient dense part of the egg, so only eating egg whites is like throwing away the best part... and no, it's NOT bad for you because of the cholesterol... whole eggs actually raise your GOOD cholesterol. Try to get free range organic eggs for the best quality. Here's an entire article I did on the topic of whole eggs vs egg whites.
Coconut milk is another staple in my fridge. I like to use it to mix in with smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes, but it's also full of healthy saturated fats. Yes, you heard me right... I said healthy saturated fats! ...Healthy saturated fats such as medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), specifically an MCT called lauric acid, which is vitally important for your immune system.
If the idea of healthy saturated fats is foreign to you, check out my article about why saturated fat is not as bad as you think.
Back to the fridge, some other staples:

Walnuts, pecans, almonds - delicious and great sources of healthy fats. Try to get raw nuts if possible as the roasting process can oxidize some of the polyunsaturated fats in some types of nuts making those damaged fats slightly more inflammatory. Overall, nuts are still healthy even if they are roasted, but raw nuts are optimal.
Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt (grass-fed and organic if possible) - I like to mix cottage or ricotta cheese and yogurt together with chopped nuts and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.
Chia seeds and/or hemp seeds - I add these highly nutritious seeds to yogurt, smoothies, or salads for a great nutty taste and loads of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins and minerals. Don't use pre-ground versions of these seeds as the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals if you use pre-ground seeds. No grinding is necessary to properly digest these seeds.
Whole eggs - one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing them).
Salsa - I try to get creative and try some of the exotic varieties of salsas.
Avocados - love them...plus a great source of healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or sandwiches.
Butter - don't believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor to anything and CAN be part of a healthy diet... just keep the quantity small because it is calorie dense... and NEVER use margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack. Most important -- choose organic butter only, since pesticides and other harmful chemicals accumulate in the fat of the milk which is used for butter, so choosing organic helps avoid this problem. Also, choose grass-fed (pastured) butter if you can find it as it will contain higher levels of healthful omega-3 fats and the fat-burning conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
Nut butters - Plain old peanut butter has gotten a little old for me, so I get creative and mix together almond butter with pecan butter, or even cashew butter with macadamia butter...delicious and unbeatable nutrition! Using a variety of nut butters gives you a broader range of vitamins and minerals and other micronutrients, and gives you variety instead of boring old peanut butter all the time.
Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots - for salads with dinner.
Home-made salad dressing - using balsamic vinegar, spices, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo's Choice oil blend. This is much better than store bought salad dressing which mostly use highly refined canola or soybean oil (canola and soybean oil are both very inflammatory in the body). Here's an article showing why to NEVER use store-bought salad dressings.
Sprouted grain bread for occasional use -- My personal belief from years of nutrition research is that we're not really meant to consume the massive quantities of grains (not even whole grains) that we do in this day and age... a small amount may be okay, but our digestive systems are still primarily adapted to a hunter/gatherer type of diet with only a very small amount of grains, therefore I try to only have breads and other grain-based foods on cheat days.
Rice bran - If we're going to have some grain-based food, we might as well have the most nutrient dense part, and rice bran is one of those parts, since it includes the germ of brown rice too. Rice bran is loaded with vitamins and minerals but without the large amount of starch calories that rice has... and it actually adds a nice little nutty, crunchy taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking to add nutrients and fiber to the recipe.

Some of the staples in the freezer:

Frozen berries - during the local growing season, I only get fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies. I also get frozen goji berries sometimes for a little "exotic" variety.
Frozen fish - I like to try a couple different kinds of fish each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have to get bored. Just make sure to ALWAYS choose wild fish instead of farmed versions, as the omega-3 to omega-6 balance is MUCH healthier in wild fish. Also, as this article shows, there are some possible other health issues with farmed fish.
Frozen chicken breasts - very convenient for a quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.
Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground beef: Grass-fed meats have been shown to have as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury). Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels of fat-burning and muscle-building conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to typical grain-fed beef that you'll find at your grocery store. I recently found an excellent on-line store where I buy all of my grass-fed meats now (they even deliver right to your door in a sealed cooler) - www.healthygrassfed.2ya.com
Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other "exotic" lean meats - Yeah, I know...I'm weird, but I can tell you that these are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you're serious about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef, chicken, and pork that's sold at most grocery stores.
Frozen veggies - again, when the growing season is over and I can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner table.

Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:

Various antioxidant-rich teas - green, oolong, white, rooibos (red tea) are some of the healthiest. One of my newest favorite teas is yerba mate, which is a south american tea that is loaded with antioxidants and other nutrients. I've found some delicious yerba mate mixes such as chocolate yerba mate, mint mate, raspberry mate, etc.
Oat bran and steel cut oats - higher fiber than those little packs of instant oats, which are typically loaded with sugar. If I'm trying to reduce body fat and get extra lean, I make most of my breakfasts based on eggs and veggies and bison sausage, but if I'm on a muscle building phase, I increase carbohydrate intake and use more oat bran and oatmeal.
The only healthy oils I have in my cabinets are virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil. Macadamia oil may also be a reasonable choice as long as it's not "refined". But other than that, all "vegetable oils" (which is usually soy and corn oil) are total junk and very inflammatory. Never use soy or corn oils! Also, always avoid canola oil, as there is nothing healthy about canola oil, despite the deceptive marketing claims by the canola oil industry.
Cans of coconut milk (loaded with healthy saturated MCT fats) - to be transferred to a container in the fridge after opening.
Brown rice and other higher fiber rice - NEVER white rice
Tomato sauces - delicious, and as I'm sure you've heard a million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn syrup. You also want to make sure that the tomato sauce is made with olive oil instead of unhealthy soybean oil or canola oils. Also get tomato sauces in glass jars instead of cans, as canned tomatoes are notoriously high in the dangerous chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA) due to the acidic leaching of BPA from the can lining.
Stevia - a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.
Raw honey - better than processed honey... higher quantities of beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in studies to improve glucose metabolism (your efficiency in processing carbohydrates). I use a small teaspoon every morning in my teas. Yes, I know that even honey is pure sugar, but at least it has some nutritional benefits... and let's be real, a teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5 grams of carbs... certainly nothing to worry about, and a better choice than refined sugar.
Organic REAL maple syrup - none of that high fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap...only real maple syrup can be considered real food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your muscles to aid muscle recovery.
Organic unsweetened cocoa powder - I like to mix this into my smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks (delicious!).
Cans of black or kidney beans - I like to add a couple scoops to my Mexican dishes for the fiber and high nutrition content. Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth enhancing antioxidants! Did you know that black beans and kidney beans have more antioxidants than blueberries...it's true!
Dark chocolate (as dark as possible - ideally more than 70-75% cocoa content) - This is one of my treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of antioxidants at the same time. It's still calorie dense, so I keep it to just 1-2 small squares after a meal... but that is enough to do the trick, so I don't feel like I need to go out and get cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.

Lastly, another thing that's hard to go wrong with is a good variety of fresh fruits and berries. The staples such as bananas, apples, oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like to also be a little more adventurous and include things like yellow (aka - mexican or champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats, papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others. Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, black raspberries (the highest fiber berry) and cherries are some of the most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you can eat.

CHOCOLATE AND YOUR METABOLISM?

2012-06-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

Dark Chocolate, Cheat Meals, Cocoa, and Your Metabolism
by Chris the Kiwi

Hey mate

I hope this finds you better than ever and absolutely rocking in your own focus on health and happiness.

Today I wanted to give you my take on my favorite low guilt, high benefit CHEAT MEAL FOOD... chocolate!

Surprisingly Good Companions:

A double espresso over ice, and my current favorite chocolate bar, the Endangered Species 88%. This is the one to beat in my opinion.

This particular food is so good that women’s magazines and ex-girlfriends have been caught reporting that chocolate can be better than sex.

Regardless of your thoughts on that comment – chocolate is YUMMY, and for reasons some of us can’t explain, eating it makes you FEEL good.

Perhaps you did not know is that done right, it is also extremely good for you.

So good that we have a super high-spec high polyphenol cocoa extract in Athletic Greens. It is one of my favorite ingredients (and one of the most potent) in Athletic Greens.

So let’s start with the active ingredient in my favorite cheat meal food, DARK CHOCOLATE, and then we will cover how to EAT it.

Dark Chocolate, and Cocoa

Theobroma Cacao, (theobroma is a Greek derived word which translates to “Food of the Gods”) or cocoa as we commonly call it, has been around for a while, originating in the tropical parts of Central and south America.

Originally used by Mesoamerican peoples (the original cultivators thought to be the Aztecs, though I think many would have used cocoa) for both its taste enhancing benefits and for its stimulating properties (theobromine is in the methylxanthines family, which includes a more famous cousin, caffeine), they also apparently liked it for its mood enhancing effects.

Wooohoooo!

Fast forward a year or five hundred since the Europeans first tasted this puppy and “chocolate” is a major industry all of its own.

When we are referring to cocoa, we are referring to what comes out of the cocoa beans.

Despite what Nestle’s marketing department probably hopes you would think, the terms “chocolate” and “cocoa” are not in fact interchangeable, and is an important point to remember when thinking health benefits.

- Cocoa is fermented and finely ground up cocoa beans, subsequently used in the production of the likes of chocolate via chocolate liquor or cocoa butter. (Cocoa is considered the non-fat part of cocoa liquor).

- Chocolate refers to the finished, generally solid food product made up of cocao, cocoa butter, sugar, milk, emulsifiers etc

- The processing of some types of cocoa can remove a large amount of the polyphenol (anti-oxidant) content, and render a lot of the health benefits null and void.

- Milk chocolate has a very low ratio of cocoa solids (the good stuff) and generally is more heavily processed.

Further, milk chocolate is, quite simply, bad for you, and fattening; it is full of sugar and generally comes with some nasty emulsifiers and additives, and has nearly none of the good stuff (cocoa) and a lot of things that are bad for you.

If you want even the remotest of health benefits, milk chocolates and white chocolates are out. Sorry.

Dark Chocolate, specifically high cocoa content dark chocolates of 80-85% cocoa or more, with their higher ratios of cocoa and lower ratios of sugar (and no dairy!) are IN.

Here is why we love cocoa!

NOTE: a bit of science below, hopefully it is not tough reading. If you want to skip to the good stuff, the “how to eat chocolate” part, feel free to skip down a little. I marked the page like this.

Here we go:

Active Ingredients

The active ingredients in cocoa include methylxanthines – caffeine, theophylline and theobromine (with theobromine being by far the dominant stimulant in cocoa), dopamine, serotonin (as well as tryptophan), anandamide and phenethylamine.

That is all before we even discuss the amazing antioxidant content, dominated by flavonoids and the flavanols epicatechin and catechin (like those in green tea) and oligomeric pro-anthocyanidins (OPC’s, stronger in cocoa than in grape-seed extract) in particular.

Known Benefits of Cocoa (when I say known it means the literature backs this up)

Of the many health benefits reported in the scientific literature, the most commonly mentioned are anti-hypertensive and anti-thrombotic effects and overall cardio vascular benefits, thought to be attributed to the anti-oxidant effects of the flavanols and procyanidin content. These include directly lowering of blood pressure, reduction in hypertension, increase in HDL (good cholesterol), decrease in LDL, and improved endothelial function (the functioning of the lining of blood vessels).

All good stuff. There is more….

Diabetes: Proanthocyanidins in cocoa appear to combat the effects of diabetes mellitus, including the reducing the progress of diabetes induced cataracts, and in one study even showed a dose dependent effect on the prevention of hyperglycemia in obese mice.

Mice are mice, people are people, and we all know that we can avoid type two diabetes by smart eating choices but still, all good stuff. And yes, there is more….

Perhaps most exciting to me, being in the “I hate chronic inflammation” camp, are some recent studies suggesting potent anti-inflammatory effects of cocoa, again thought to be by the sexy procyanidins content, which have also been shown to modulate immune response.

Cocoa extracts have further been shown to repress inflammatory responses in the brain while improving blood oxygenation to the brain – which shows interesting potential for cocoa flavanols to be used for neuro protective benefits with maladies such as dementia and strokes. Yes, still more…..

Sooo...between heart health benefits, immune benefits, and anti-inflammation benefits, it should be obvious that the anti-oxidants pack a pretty serious punch in cocoa extract, above and beyond fighting free radicals. The anti-oxidant content of cocoa is awesome, and the cocoa extract used in Athletic Greens provides a nice chunk of the anti-oxidant punch in that product. (It also adds to the taste)

Yay for cocoa! It should be noted that studies have shown that the processing of some types of cocoa can trash the anti-oxidant content so pick your source wisely.

There also seems to be good early indication that the antioxidant effects of the polyphenols might be directly linked to cancer prevention, as they seem to selectively inhibit growth of cancer cells in in vitro studies⁠.

For the antidepressant effect, similarly, there is indication polyphenols are responsible for the effects, but it is not yet clear how.

I have my thoughts.

Stimulation, Mood, and “I Feel Happy When I Eat Chocolate”

As mentioned above, cocoa has a mild stimulatory effect. While cocoa does have caffeine in it, it is there in tiny tiny amounts compared to theobromine (it is nearly 8 to 1 theobromine to caffeine).

So it is the theobromine that is giving the stimulant boosting effect found with cocoa, or specifically, cocoa heavy dark chocolate. Yes, dark chocolate can wake you up, if taken in sufficient amounts.

When it comes to the mood enhancing benefits, it is where the research is a bit of a mine field.

While some of the polyphenols now seem likely, many of the mood-enhancing benefits were originally thought to be attributable to the phenethylamine content.

I used to think so too, especially since I can’t even pronounce phenethylamine, so it seemed the obvious intelligent answer.

However, it has now been shown that orally ingested phenethylamine barely makes it past the gut, and results only in tiny increases in brain levels of this mood enhancer (which we can make ourselves too, by the way). So while this surely plays a part, there must be something else to it.

My thought is pretty simple. It does make people feel better. So whether the mechanism is the mild stimulant effect, some chemical effect that has yet to be conclusively proven, or the endorphins released when you eat chocolate from the taste and the pleasure, of well, eating chocolate are what cause people to feel happy when eating chocolate... the cause is a moot point.

If you feel happier when eating chocolate, and you can do so on occasion without crapping on your health, then eat it and enjoy!

Next...

There are enough positives shown from the cocoa content to more than justify the inclusion of this food in your diet in the form of dark chocolate.

Dark, Cocoa Laden Chocolate, which had no anti-nutrients or auto-immune problem causing ingredients like dairy, and other than the small amounts of sugar is generally not nearly as bad for you as it tastes, being so wonderfully delicious to eat.

Which brings us to the fun part... Eating it.

The HOW To Eat Chocolate

If you have skipped down to here, welcome back!

Number 1: always always always make it dark chocolate

Number 2: darker is better. The higher the cocoa content, not only is there less room for crap (generally sugar if avoiding milk chocolate, which we are doing) there is more goodness from the higher cocoa content. Start at 70% if you have to, but aim to get over 85% as soon as you can

Number 3: organic is better, cleaner, less likely to be contaminated. If you can get it, go for fair trade too

Number 4: since poor processing of the cocoa can destroy the majority of the anti-oxidants, be careful in who you select for your dark chocolate fix. We were super careful with our cocoa extract in Athletic Greens for exactly this reason

I give my current favorite chocolate bar a bit further below (see pic).

Though you may think that you will find it bitter, and it is bitter compared to the sugar laden milk chocolate varieties, you will be surprised how much your taste buds move or have already moved after a period of clean eating such as following my Food for Fat Loss guidelines .

If, however, you still think you will find it too bitter, and don’t want to eat dark chocolate by itself, try playing with it as follows (fun for taste too, even if you are already a dark chocolate fan).

As a contrast to bitterness or big flavors:

- With a double espresso – the movement from the extra bitter espresso to the considerably less bitter dark chocolate will make you smile. You also get a double stimulant hit from the caffeine in the coffee and the theobromine in the cocoa and if you keep the number of pieces to one or two, all for about 4 grams of sugar... Where do I sign?

- With a glass of red wine – I find the big bold reds the best wine companions, (such as shiraz or cabernet sav). I have no idea why these taste so good together but they do

- With some super strong green or black tea – similar to the espresso, this contrast is excellent, you are also going to be in anti-oxidant heaven.

As a contrast to sweetness:

- Eat your chocolate with a bowl of berries

- Eat it with some ice-cream (on your cheat day only, and only if ok with dairy). I know this Kiwi guy who has been known to use dark chocolate pieces as a scoop with his full fat ice cream, on occasion.

- Melt some dark chocolate down on low heat and pour it over some strawberries, then put the lot in the fridge for a few hours. Bring these out at a party and I guarantee you extreme social points. These are also a great way to slowly bring the family over to dark chocolate-ness

Dark Chocolate Strawberries - Not a dark chocolate hard sell (photo credit: tomkellyphoto)

The WHEN:

Post workout is an ideal time for eating your dark chocolate, with the improved nutrient partitioning effects post exercise helping minimize the impact of the sugar.

People who are already lean, if you have a piece or two a few times a week, it doesn’t concern me in the least, especially so if you do it post workout.

Cheat meals – Sorry, the sugar content is still there, so if chasing fat loss, I recommend cheat days only. Bear in mind that the calorie content of dark chocolate is high, and concentrated. I am more worried about the sugar than the calories, unless you are doing it often.

This however, makes it awesome for an overfeeding event, or for going large on a cheat day, where you will feel satisfied, probably quite happily sick if you really get stuck in, and not do too much damage to yourself.

NOTE: if you wake up feeling a bit down and depressed, I have found a wake up stack of acetyl-l-carnitine, a double espresso, two pieces of dark chocolate, and the all important walk outdoors in the sun can do wonders. Not suggesting you swap in a regimen of stimulants and chocolate, nor am I recommending a replacement for aggressively going after happiness in all elements of your life, but your neurotransmitters and endorphin levels will thank you.

For its inherent goodness via the cocoa content and the limit with high cocoa content chocolate on things that are bad for you, dark chocolate gets two Kiwi thumbs up.

A comment on life and eating cleanly:

Feel like you are absolutely going to go off the rails with your eating? Whether you are lean or not I would MUCH rather you went off the rails intelligently and had some Dark Chocolate, than went wild with something that was going to tear your gut into pieces, or cause your insulin levels to go beserk. (Just remember to get back on the clean eating bike afterwards).

In fact, I encourage you to do so. Dark chocolate is yummy, and if the cocoa content is high enough, it is surprisingly good for you.

So get out there, and enjoy.

For my dark chocolate lovers, my current favorite dark chocolate is the Endangered Species 88%, though I also really love some of the Theo chocolates (I also love their mission and approach, if you are in Seattle, well worth a factory tour visit).

If you are starting someone else off with a push towards dark chocolate, then I recommend you make it 70% for the newbies, and build up towards 85% plus from there.

So... What is your favorite dark chocolate bar at the moment? And what is your favorite way to eat it?

“100% Focus on Happiness”

That is my mantra, and it starts with phenomenal health.

4 HEALTH FOODS THAT CAUSE FAT AND CRAVINGS

2012-06-15T14:06:00.002-07:00

#1: Fruit Juices

Most of the world is fooled into thinking that downing fruit juices is a great way to be healthy and lose flab. But the fact is, this just isn’t true. Grape juice, orange juice, pineapple juices, apple juice—they all almost instantly spike your blood sugar levels and cause cravings for more sugar. Even worse, processed juices are stuffed with High Fructose Corn Syrup and Crystalline Fructose which cause even more powerful cravings than regular ol’ sugar. Eat fruit instead. The fiber in whole fruit slows down the release of insulin and holds cravings at bay.

Tip: Diet soft drinks and diet waters with artificial sweeteners cause even more cravings than fruit juice! Buyer beware.

#2: Whole Wheat Grains

Many people think that most whole wheat breads and pasta are good for them. But the truth is, most of these foods are stripped of all their natural fiber and nutrition. Therefore, these “complex carbs” act just like sugar in your body and they get quickly stored as fat. Look for sprouted grain versions of these foods. Even “whole wheat” bread isn’t good unless it says 100% Whole Wheat on the label.

#3: Healthy Cereals

Take a look at most cereal boxes and you will see two things: (1) Some advertising claiming how healthy it is and (2) a TON of sugar in every serving! And, most people eat two or three servings in a bowl. Then they wonder why they’re hungry an hour or so later.

Check the labels and stick to cereals that have a lot of natural fiber and lower sugar. Even equal amounts of fiber and sugar will help reduce cravings. What’s more, natural oatmeal is a great choice with a little cinnamon, stevia and a couple blueberries. It’s loaded with fiber with some good fats and proteins.

#4: Most Yogurts

Yogurts tend to be packed full of craving-causing sugar. I’m talking about 20 or more grams in a little tiny container. This is definitely a diet food that will cause your belly to bulge. Alternative: Look for Greek yogurts. They tend to have ½ the sugar and double the protein4 HEALTH

14 CELLULITE SMOOTHING SUPERFOODS

2012-06-15T14:01:00.001-07:00

14 CELLULITE-Smoothing Superfoods

First off, I want to make it clear that getting rid of cellulite does NOT require yet another diet of rabbit food and endless hours of leg lifts and bum squeezes.
You won’t have to stop eating out… or say no to your favorite foods all the time… or even bother counting calories. But let’s start with the basics…

What Is Cellulite?

Cellulite is usually found in places where we store stubborn fat – the thighs, bum, backs of the arms and stomach. It is those areas of skin that look lumpy, kind of like cottage cheese or the surface of a golf ball.
But really, cellulite is just a fancy name for fat pockets that push against the connective tissue underneath your skin. If the connective tissue doesn’t hold in the underlying fat, it creates that lumpy look.
Your body composition (muscle to fat ratio), genes, gender, skin thickness, age and lifestyle, all influence whether or not you have cellulite and how much you have.
Cellulite affects women more than men because of the female hormone estrogen and a woman’s tendency for thin skin. Estrogen tends to increase fluid buildup in fatty tissue and along with the thinner skin, the superficial fat shows through more easily.
Most women and even teen girls have some cellulite and, as I said before, even “skinny” people can have cellulite.
So, no matter what the cause of your cellulite, if you’re exasperated by your dimply bits, read on to find out how to conquer them once and for all.
With that in mind, let’s dive into a few sneaky tricks that smooth cellulite fast, from my friend and female fat loss expert Sue Heintze, of IdealBodiesOnline.com…

Sneaky Trick #1: Eat Cellulite Smoothing Superfoods

Mom was right – you really do have to eat your fruits and veggies every day.
What she may not have told you is that fruits and veggies help supply the antioxidants that fight free radicals.
Antioxidants are sometimes called “free radical scavengers” because they come along and mop up the mess made by free radicals.
They also prevent future damage by providing a layer of protection for the cells and tissues in your body, just like a thick coat of wax protects your furniture and your car’s finish.
When it comes to choosing fruits and veggies for their antioxidants, go for the bright colors!
Carrots, squash, tomatoes, broccoli, peaches, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, berries.
Citrus fruits like oranges, limes and lemons are awesome too. Along with berries, these citrus fruits contain lots of vitamin C to help build collagen (which supports healthy skin). Dried fruits are excellent sources of antioxidants too, especially prunes, figs, apricots and dates. Just be sure not to overdo it because many fruits are high in sugar.

Sneaky Trick #2: Take Out The Trash

Supposedly, your body is a wonderland. John Mayer coined the phrase in a popular song. However, with today’s ‘on the go’ lifestyle of convenience, most people’s bodies are more like a toxic wasteland than a wonderland.
You’ve probably heard the term free radicals before.
To get a little technical for a moment, a free radical is a molecule that has lost one of its electrons and become extremely unbalanced. It attempts to restore its balance by stealing a vital electron from another cell. Within the body, this can cause unnecessary damage.
Free radicals cause cell damage, disease, and premature aging. Toxins produce these harmful free radicals – which are treated like poison in our bodies.
Your lymph system is what flushes toxins from your body. Free radicals put a lot of pressure on your lymph system and make it sluggish. This sluggishness creates fibers that bind to the walls of fat pockets, making them thicker. This extra pressure squishes your fat further upwards and creates the appearance of cellulite.
Some of the leading causes of free radicals are: cigarette smoke, stress, alcohol, charred food, pesticides and internal inflammation caused by eating the wrong types of foods.
Certain foods lead to increases in pro-inflammatory hormones. Refined sugar and processed foods (things in boxes), are among the worst. The body treats preservatives, colors, additives and other chemicals in foods as toxins. They trigger an immune system response, which leads to inflammation. As a rule, all processed foods contain chemicals and increase inflammation.
Eating foods you are allergic to (or have intolerance to) also triggers a response from the immune system, causing more inflammation. Many people (without even knowing) have intolerances to wheat and dairy products, so these are good foods to test removing from your diet. (If you feel the same after 4 weeks you can add them back.)
Your body is constantly replacing and repairing free-radical damaged cells, but with the way the majority of people abuse their bodies these days, these free radicals are out of control and are a major cause of premature aging, disease and… yes, it can increase cellulite.
So, what do we need to be aware of?
Cigarette Smoke. You’re not gonna make me explain this one are you? Ok, in brief, there are approximately 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes, hundreds of which are toxic. The ingredients in cigarettes affect everything from the functioning of internal organs to the efficiency of the body’s immune system. The effects of cigarette smoking are destructive and widespread.
So c’mon, give up the ciggies – and avoid second-hand smoke too.
Stress. There’s no way to completely eliminate stress from our lives – in fact, some stress is a good thing; it keeps us on our toes and makes us take action. But it’s good to be aware of how too much stress affects your body. Some signs that stress might be an issue for you: anxiety, insomnia, impatience/anger, headaches, high blood pressure and other diseases, etc.
Regular exercise, a good diet, massage and relaxation techniques will alleviate stress even when you’re not able to eliminate the source.
Charred Food. You probably cover your nose when you have to walk through a cloud of exhaust or cigarette smoke, or when you smell trash burning from a distance. Well, the same toxins in those fumes are also found in grilled and charred foods.
High Sugar Foods. You know the culprits here – chocolates, cakes, donuts, sodas, juices and so on. Sugar produces insulin — and insulin increases fat storage and the production of those dastardly free radicals.
Processed Foods. These contain additives and preservatives, and usually are high in fat, sugar and salt, which only contribute to fat gain and increase the toxic overload in your body.
Trans Fats. Margarine is sometimes called a “twisted sister” because of its awful combination of saturated fat and trans fat. Stay away from it.
Did you know more trans fats are used in commercially baked goods than in any other food? Do your baking at home so you can have control over the fat content.
An important note: just because a label says “low-fat” doesn’t mean there is no trans fat. Always read labels. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website says you should look for the following in labels if you want to avoid trans fats:
If the ingredient list includes the words “shortening,” “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” or “hydrogenated vegetable oil,” the food contains trans fat.
Alcohol. Alcohol increases free radicals and can boost fat storage as well. Again, don’t panic, because you don’t have to be a tee-totaller – but you MUST be careful of both the type of alcohol you consume, the quantity and what foods you consume it with. A few glasses of red wine a week are fine. Two a day and you’ve got big trouble.
Obesity-Causing Environmental Chemicals. We’re going to get into these a LOT more in the next blog post, but the bottom line is that scientists have discovered that there are certain chemicals hidden in foods and beverages, and chemicals that seep into our foods and drinks from the packaging materials they are stored in, that alter the regulatory systems that control our weight. In other words, we’re getting fatter, and getting more cellulite not just from the calories in food but from chemicals within the food and chemicals we encounter in our environment. Pretty scary stuff. (By the way, make sure not to ever use any type of plastic cookware in a microwave. The intense heat can cause chemicals from the plastic to enter your food. Science is showing that these chemicals can disrupt our endocrine systems and even lead to added body fat including cellulite.)
***

4 CELLULITE SOLUTIONS EXPOSED

2012-06-15T13:58:00.003-07:00

What exactly is cellulite?
Cellulite is simply “fat pockets” that occur when connective tissues underneath the skin do not hold in the underlying fat, which pokes out causing dimples like you would see on a golf ball.
However, it is important to remember that cellulite is simply normal fat. It looks bumpy because this fat is pushing through the connective tissue that usually keeps the fat distributed evenly beneath your skin.
Cellulite occurs in most areas around the body where the skin is thinnest. Places like the thighs, legs, and buttocks of women. Your total percent of body fat, your age, and your genetics all combine to determine if you will have cellulite or not. Basically, there is a big genetic component to having cellulite, so if you do not like it you can blame your parents. (But there are ways to overcome your genetic predisposition.)
Cellulite affects women more than men because of the female hormone estrogen, and a woman’s tendency for thin skin. You see, estrogen tends to increase the fluid buildup in fatty tissue and women tend to have thinner skin than men so their superficial fat shows more easily if it pushes through the surrounding connective tissue.
It is estimated that 85% of all women have some cellulite regardless if she is heavy or thin. Even women under 100 lbs can have cellulite!
<<< CELLULITE CURES? THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
Before I reveal several new and exciting cellulite solutions, it is important to mention techniques that plain DO NOT WORK. Here they are so you don’t waste your time and money:
1. SOME CELLULITE CREAMS: There are countless creams available as supposed cellulite treatments. However, the scientific research does not support most of them. Generally speaking, slathering gobs of cellulite cream onto your skin and expecting it to do something is nothing but wishful thinking. These creams only absorb into the top layer of skin, not to the deep layers of connective tissue where cellulite is found.
After all, your skin is specifically designed to keep things from “soaking in” to your body. It is a protective mechanism. Otherwise, anything that touched your skin would be absorbed and circulate throughout your body.
Thankfully, this does not happen.
Thinking that a cellulite cream is going to work by absorbing into your body is kind of like spreading pudding on your belly and expecting it to “soak in” to your stomach and make you full.
If you are set on using a cellulite cream, look for one that contains both caffeine and theophylline. There are some studies that indicate these ingredients MAY have a positive effect on cellulite by causing fat cells to shrink.
2. LIPOSUCTION: A lot of people are under the impression that liposuction is a cellulite cure. But that is not the case. The fact is, liposuction can make cellulite look worse!
You see, liposuction is designed to suck away the fat that is deep down beneath the skin. But cellulite is generally to close to the surface for liposuction to help.
Therefore, by sucking away deep-fat, your surface fat could “cave in” and make your cellulite look much worse. Besides, liposuction is extremely expensive and, like all surgeries, can be dangerous.
3. MESOTHERAPY™: This cellulite treatment was originally developed in France and involves a series of injections directly into the small pockets of cellulite fat. These injections contain a solution of homeopathic medications that supposedly break down and dissolve fat so it can be excreted by the body.
The problem is, there are no scientific studies to back up this procedure and there is a lot of skepticism surrounding it in the medical community. The other problem with mesotherapy is you have to get a LOT of injections, which can have side effects and problems. Mesotherapy is also very expensive with individual sessions costing hundreds of dollars. Until further research is done, I would stay away from this procedure.
4. LIPODISSOLVE™: Lipodissolve injections, also called injection lipolysis, is a technique, similar to mesotherapy, where a combination of substances, including vitamins, enzymes and phosphadatidylcholine, a natural substance derived from soy, is injected into fat-pockets to help break apart the cellulite fat-pocket.
Again, there is no scientific research (to my knowledge), to show that lipodissolve injections are effective. Furthermore, it is recommended that you get two to four treatments every week for six to eight week intervals to see results. This can be very expensive and injections can be painful.
Common side effects include local pain, minor burning sensations for a few hours, temporary bruising, along with itchiness and soreness for one to two days after treatment.
Some patients may feel a few bumps under the skin, which will dissolve within two weeks and the injection areas may experience tenderness and swelling for 48 hours.
Anyway, those are the four techniques I DO NOT recommend at this time. New studies may prove differently in the future, but in the mean time… stay clear.

3 HOUSEHOLD ITEMS THAT CAUSE FLAB

2012-06-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

Most people blame weight gain on the chocolate shakes or burgers they have been eating. And while consuming those foods will undoubtedly add inches to your waistline, new information shows that there may be chemicals within the body that are also to blame.
Obesogens. They are endocrine disruptors and they are natural and man-made chemicals that alter the regulatory system that controls your weight. Obesogens increase the amount of fat cells you have while at the same time decreasing the amount of calories you burn. In addition, they change the way your body manages hunger.
New research studies are being conducted on the effects of obesogens on the body. To understand what obesogens are and how they are making people fat, you first need to know how these chemicals work.
Obesogens interfere with the body’s natural hormones. Hormones are responsible for just about every function in the body, including metabolism and fat burning. Obesogens disrupt hormones by either copying their natural action or by preventing them from functioning properly.
When Obesogens mimic hormones, it can cause an influx of reactions as the body tries to compensate for too much hormone. When Obesogens block hormones form functioning properly, those hormones cannot do their job, which in turn affects systems in the body. Again, this includes metabolism and fat burning.
These chemicals cause the body to store more fat. What’s worse, they can actually alter cells in the body, reprogramming them to become fat cells. Some obesogens interfere with the production of leptin and prevent it from being released into the body. Leptin is the hormone that send the signal to your body that you are full. Without it, you are likely to overeat.
Obesogens can make the liver become resistant to insulin. When this happens, the pancreas go into overdrive trying to produce more insulin. The excess amount of insulin in the body results in energy being converted to fat.
Wonder where these hormone disruptors are hiding? Unfortunately, they are everywhere.
Foods
If you’re not eating fresh, whole foods, you’re probably consuming obesogens every day. These hormone-disrupting chemicals can be found in just about every grocery store aisle, thanks to high fructose corn syrup. As you know, this artificial sweetener can be found in everything from drinks and snack foods to breads and condiments. High fructose corn syrup, one of the main sources of Obesogens, is so sweet that it interferes with insulin levels and hunger levels.
This is what happens…..
-Obesogens make the liver resistant to insulin
-The pancreas start making more insulin
-Hunger increases and you eat more
-The excess insulin turns all that extra food into fat
Tap Water

Pesticides affect a lot more than just the insects they are designed to control. These powerful chemicals seep deep down into the soil and remain there for years. As they accumulate, they find their way into our faucets and show up in our drinking water. The main obesogen in tap water is called atrazine. It is a pesticide that is banned in Europe but not in the United States. Atrazine slows thyroid hormone metabolism. Another source for obesogens found in your faucets is called tributylin. This fungicide is used to paint the bottom of boats to prevent fungus growth. When ingested, it stimulates the production of fat cells.
Water Bottles and Cans
Bisphenol-A (BPA) has been shown to increase insulin resistance in animal studies and is most commonly found in the lining of cans and sports water bottles. BPA is a synthetic estrogen that is used to harden plastics. Even though it has been banned from some plastics, such as baby bottles, it is still present in many others.
Non-Stick Pans

Animal studies have shown that individuals who are exposed to Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) early in life have an increased risk of developing obesity later in life. This chemical is used to make items non-stick. Although this is found mainly in Teflon products, it is also used to create the lining inside of microwave popcorn bags and pizza boxes.
PFOA’s also interfere with thyroid glands. When the thyroid gland is not functioning properly, it cannot regulate the hormones that are responsible for controlling weight.
Shower Curtains
Phthalates, the chemicals found in shower curtains and air fresheners, can lower testosterone and slow down metabolism. This can cause you to gain weight and also reduce your muscle mass. Phthalates are also found in vinyl flooring and the shrink wrap used on meats at the grocery store.
Now that you know about obesogens, try some of these tips to avoid them:
1. Buy wild fish. Steer clear of canned fish such as tuna.
2. Use a filter on your tap to keep out the atrazine and other chemicals that accumulate in your water. Make sure it is a granular activated carbon filter.

3. Use aluminum water bottles. If you opt for plastic bottles, check to make sure it is BPA free. Most plastics that contain BPA have the number 3 or 7 on the bottom. Try to avoid these and stick to ones with the numbers 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6.
4. Eat fewer canned foods. Aside from the obesogens found in the lining, canned foods are high in sodium, preservatives and artificial ingredient. Stick with natural, fresh or frozen foods to lose weight and improve your health.
5. Throw out those non-stick pans. Opt for cast iron or metal cookware.
6. Don’t buy pre packaged meats. Purchase fresh cuts of meat straight from the butcher if possible. Be sure to purchase meats that produced without hormones and ask for brown paper wrap instead of plastic.
7. Don’t use air fresheners. To freshen the air in the room, open the windows. Create your own natural scents to infuse into the room. Boil some cinnamon sticks, make a homemade room spray with fresh squeezed citrus juice and lemon oil or use dried spices and herbs to make your own potpourri

13 SNACKS THAT CAUSE FAT

2012-06-15T13:49:00.003-07:00

The first thing that may strike you as strange in this photo is the Slim Fast drink mix. You may be wondering why this Slim Fast product is along with the other “bad snacks.” Well, if you look at the ingredients the very first ingredient in this product is sugar! In fact, this “weight loss drink” has 10g of sugar, just 2g of protein and is stuffed full of artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors and very questionable ingredients if you are interested in losing belly fat.
The next thing I would like to point out is the Weight Watchers chocolate chip soft cookies. Their first ingredient is enriched wheat flour, and the second ingredient is sugar, but this supposed “health product” also contains partially hydrogenated oils/trans fats which research has shown has all sorts of negative effects in the body, including increasing the risks for certain cancers.
Betty Crocker’s Fruit Roll-Up product is a hoot. Many parents across America are giving this product to their children thinking that because it has the word fruit in the name of the product it is healthy, but it’s not. This product contains 7g of sugar per roll, but even worse is that it contains partially hydrogenated oils, corn syrup and a lot of food dyes. You would be way better off providing fresh fruit to your child instead of one of these “belly fat bulgers.”
Hunt’s Sugar Free Gelatin may sound great because it is low in sugar, but it contains artificial sweeteners and hydrogenated oils (trans fats).
Ritz Crackers contain partially hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup and enriched flour which make them a very unhealthy product. Doritos Cool Ranch potato chips contain MSG, which is definitely not at the top of my list of ingredients to get a slim belly.
Special K “candy bars” contain sugar and partially hydrogenated oil as their first two ingredients. And later on down the label, they throw in high fructose corn syrup as a kicker. Stay away from this bar for sure. Not to mention that it has 3.5g of saturated fat. What is ironic is that the Snickers candy bar has almost the same ingredient profile as the Special K protein meal bar.
The Atkins Advantage chocolate peanut butter bar has almost 6g of saturated fat and 12g of fat overall, plus they pack 240 calories in this little bar that won’t satisfy your hunger for long.
Rolo chewy caramel candy contains both high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils (trans fats).
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups contain a whopping 13g of fat and 20g of sugar per package.
Snicker’s Marathon Energy Bar contains high fructose corn syrup.
Cool Ranch Doritos are not cool because they have MSG and partially hydrogenated soybean oil (trans fat.)
Each bag of peanut M&M’s contains 25g of sugar! Like most candies, these are not a good choice.
The Snickers candy bar contains partially hydrogenated soybean oil (trans fat) and 20g sugar.

2012-01-19T12:02:00.001-08:00

Health Update
Garlic: A Natural Medicine

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES

I love those old folklore books. Whether it is mythical, a mystical love story, or just plain horror, nothing can compare to the page-turning books from past generations.

I just finished reading Dracula (again). This time it got me thinking about one piece in the book. What is the deal with garlic? I know the smell of garlic can be strong, but does it REALLY ward off the undead? Why garlic, why not say, spinach?

Literal figuration and symbolic figuration can be different.   I remember analyzing this book and how Dracula symbolized the plague which ravaged the countryside in the 1800s. If this is the case, then I have the solution to my question! Let me explain.

Garlic has been used for thousands of years as a way to add flavor to food.   However, garlic is used in other interesting ways. During Roman times, soldiers chewed on garlic for strength. In Romania, they still use garlic to ward off “evil." Whatever the use, garlic is one of the healthiest and most nutritious spices in cooking.

If you are wondering what the plague was, this is all you need to know: it was a sickness which killed many people. Garlic was used to fight the plague before modern drugs like penicillin and antibiotics came around. People used garlic to cure sickness and return people to good health.   How? Well the answer: Garlic is one of nature’s antibiotics!

Allicin has been researched extensively as a way to ward off illnesses.   Researchers think allicin can be a safe and effective antibiotic due to its antimicrobial activity, which fights bacteria invading our body, which can lead to sickness.   Amazing! It also can control the growth of microorganisms and the spread of these microorganisms.

Maybe it’s just the smell which causes the bacteria to retreat! I doubt it!

Garlic also possesses antioxidant properties. As we all know, a result of our cells working overtime can be a buildup of free radicals.   Those free radicals wreak havoc in the body, leading to increased inflammation.   This can cause damage to cells and the walls in veins and arteries. Antioxidants found in garlic can limit the amount of free radicals, which can reduce inflammation caused by free radicals.

So what else can be said about garlic? Yes there is more!

Garlic has also been shown to help fight cancer. In China, garlic was shown to reduce gastric cancer among men who ate garlic regularly. It has been shown to block the binding of carcinogenic cells to DNA in cells. It can also break down carcinogenic genes. Some people theorize this is done through garlic’s ability to regulate cell proliferation or cell growth. Garlic has also been shown to inhibit the growth of transplantable tumor cells, and also inhibit the cancer cells which occur spontaneously.

Garlic can also help in the fight against heart disease.    One part of garlic can help our arteries and veins dilate making it easier for blood to flow. Polysulfides found in garlic are broken down and produce a gas - hydrogen sulfide - which helps vessels to open or dilate. Also, research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has proven garlic is effective at lowering total cholesterol, triglycerides, and increases HDL cholesterol.

One more thing: garlic can help in weight loss!   Another sulfur-containing cell in garlic can reduce inflammation in the body. 1,2-DT has been shown to reduce inflammation in the body.   Cells in the body, called preadipocytes, can become fully developed and turn into fat cells (adipose tissue).   This happens under specific conditions, usually when there is an increase in the inflammation response.   This compound may inhibit the inflammation response, therefore limiting the preadipocytes from becoming fat cells.

Garlic has been used for thousands of years as both a way to flavor our foods and to ward off evil.   However, you need to prepare garlic correctly in order to reap the benefits. Once garlic is cooked, most of the nutrients are destroyed from the excessive heat. So what is the best way to prepare garlic?

Chop or finely cut garlic to get the full health effects of garlic. Once the garlic is chopped, allow it plenty of time to sit before adding it. This will allow the nutrients to start working, and retain all the cancer fighting, free radical destroying, and evil warding nutrients that make garlic the perfect food to help you stay healthy, fit, and germ free!

FOOD N BEVERAGE N HEALTH

3 Simple Steps to Eat LOTS of Carbsand NEVER Store Them as Fat...

By Shaun Hadsall

These 3 steps reveal what you absolutely MUST STOP doing... and it will only take you 14 short days to wake up your dying fat loss hormones, "spark" your dead metabolism, and quickly burn off belly fat – WITHOUT Avoiding Carbs.

Step 1: STOP Using Low-Carb Diets

Step 2: STOP Carb-Based Fat "Spill-Over"

Step 3: STOP Eating Carbs at the WRONG Times

The 5 best foods to eat before bed (for a flat belly)

7 foods that HEAL your digestion (and bowel movements)

The Vitamin You May Have Never Heard Of… Vitamin K!

What is Vitamin K

Health

Blood

Bone

Cardiovascular System

Cell Growth

Central Nervous System

Gut Health

Biochemistry

Deficiency

Kiwi, I GET IT. Vitamin K IS Important – But what should I DO?

What Dose Is Best, Kiwi?

The type of bean to AVOID eating

The 5 best foods to eat before bed (for a flat belly)

Is "paleo" the healthiest human diet? (controversial)

Do cereal and bread cause heart disease?

5 Steps To Looking 10 Years Younger

By Steve & Becky Holman

These 5 steps reveal the things you absolutey MUST AVOID if you want to slow the aging process, reclaim your health, and achieve your ideal body.

Step 1: Forget Low-Fat Diets

Step 2: Stop Spinning: You're Just Spinning Your Wheels

Step 3: Stop Blaming Everything On How Old You Are

Step 4: Avoid Chronic Dehydration

Step 5: Work Out LESS (Yes, Less)

5 Steps To Looking 10 Years Younger

By Steve & Becky Holman

These 5 steps reveal the things you absolutey MUST AVOID if you want to slow the aging process, reclaim your health, and achieve your ideal body.

Step 1: Forget Low-Fat Diets

Step 2: Stop Spinning: You're Just Spinning Your Wheels

Step 3: Stop Blaming Everything On How Old You Are

Step 4: Avoid Chronic Dehydration

Step 5: Work Out LESS (Yes, Less)

CHOCOLATE AND YOUR METABOLISM?

4 HEALTH FOODS THAT CAUSE FAT AND CRAVINGS

14 CELLULITE SMOOTHING SUPERFOODS

14 CELLULITE-Smoothing Superfoods

What Is Cellulite?

Sneaky Trick #1: Eat Cellulite Smoothing Superfoods

Sneaky Trick #2: Take Out The Trash

4 CELLULITE SOLUTIONS EXPOSED

3 HOUSEHOLD ITEMS THAT CAUSE FLAB

13 SNACKS THAT CAUSE FAT

3 Simple Steps to Eat LOTS of Carbs
and NEVER Store Them as Fat...

These 3 steps reveal what you absolutely MUST STOP doing... and it will only take you 14 short days to wake up your dying fat loss hormones, "spark" your dead metabolism, and quickly burn off belly fat –
WITHOUT Avoiding Carbs.