Natural Weight Loss - Former Fat Guy

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Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Dog For Sale
Dog For Sale * Free to good home. * Excellent guard dog. * Owner cannot afford to feed him anymore, as there are no more thieves, murderers, or molesters left in the neighborhood for him to eat. * Most of them knew him as ‘Holy Shit‘

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Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Former Fat Guy - Weight Loss Blog: How To Build Muscle Fast

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Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Turbulence Training Author Interview

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Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

All About Turbulence Training With Craig Ballantyne | Former Fat Guy Blog

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Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Best Survivor Quote - Survivor Micronesia
I’m one of the biggest Survivor fans and this season’s Survivor Micronesia is no exception. I don’t watch TV, but rather download the episodes via my bitTorrent client and then watch them the next day or a few days later when I&#8217...
Montana Governor Is Against the Real ID
This just in from The Sentinal, Montana Governor is against the proposed Real ID, supposed to take affect in May. In this interview, the governor explains how the house was unanimously 150 against the new ID cards. The Real ID is supposedly supposed ...

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Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0600

St Patricks Day Means Eat Green
St Patrick’s day is hardly reason to think “get in shape” or “lose weight”, but the green holiday might be what it takes to get you eating healthier. The Former Fat Guy Rob Cooper presents 6 ways in which we can take up th...
Recipe: Super Green St. Patricks Day Soup | Former Fat Guy Blog

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Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Hoodia Diet Pills

Tue, 1 May 2007 17:20:22 -0600

Hoodia Gordonii is a succulent plant that grows widely is Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa. The San Bushmen, who live on the fringes of the desert, eat this plant to suppress hunger when they go on long hunting trips.

CSIR, the South African Research Institution, realized the importance of this plant and investigated it. They isolated a long molecule, P 57, that actually suppressed hunger. The patent was sold to a British company called Phytopharm. Phytopharm in turn teamed up with Pfizer to produce a synthetic pill containing P 57.

Phytopharm conducted clinical trials, first with rats and then with humans. They claim that the Hoodia powder, 400 mg, taken for 15 days reduced calorie intake by 1,000, compared to control group. As Pfizer could not produce synthetic P 57 economically, Phytopharm arranged for cultivation of the Hoodia plant in the Kalahari Desert, and set as its target to market the product by the year 2008. The plant takes five to seven years to be ready.

Read the entire article Hoodia Diet Pills

Harvey Diamond Fit For Life Interview

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:13:40 -0600

Harvey Diamond, Co-Author of Fit For Life

Date: 05 Sept 2005

Enjoy a live 1.5 hour online interview with Harvey Diamond as we discuss food combining, natural health, dairy products, how to be free from pain and his new book "Living Without Pain". Harvey discusses how he began food combining, how natural health, food combining and his attention to his lymph system has helped him survive his exposure to agent orange.

Living Without Pain by Harvey Diamond

From the best selling co-author of Fit For Life, Harvey Diamond

Harvey Diamond Living Without Pain

If you were strolling along the beach and happened to kick an old bottle from which out popped an honest-to-goodness Genie who told you that you had but a few short moments to ask for any two wishes to be granted in your life; what would they be? Wouldn't it be health and wealth? Aren't those the two 'biggies" that most people desire in their life? To have lots and lots of money and to be healthy enough to enjoy it? Truth be told, what good would a lot of money be if you were too sick to enjoy it? The fact is that health, as the old saying goes, is your greatest wealth. Surely you've heard people say things like, "When you have your health, you have everything." We all wish to live a life free of pain, ill health, and disease, which just goes without saying. But how many of us actually have the good fortune of doing so? When one looks at the actual statistics of who is living life in uninterrupted, pain-free good health and who is not, the numbers show that those who have some sort of regularly occurring health complaint far outweigh those who do not, and by a huge margin.

Read the rest of the article about living without pain and listen to the harvey diamond interview.

Tags: Harvey Diamond, Fit For Life, Lymph System, Food Combining, Natural Weight Loss, Natural Health

What Is The Hoodia Plant?

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:39:14 -0600

Hoodia is a prickly plant called a succulent, which closely resembles the cactus family. Bearing large odorous blooms, the hoodia plant has been used for ages by the San tribe of South Africa. The San people, also commonly known as bushmen, use hoodia by chewing on the root during long desert trips.

The appetite suppressant qualities of the hoodia plant were discovered by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, or CSIR, in 1996. The CSIR were performing a study of the natural foods eaten by the bushmen and happened to discover the amazing potential the hoodia plant offered regarding weight loss. Hoodia was first tested by being fed to animals, who lost weight after eating it.

In 1997, the Council was able to isolate the specific ingredient found in hoodia that caused the weight loss. They licensed the patent for this ingredient to the Phytopharm company, who named it P57. Currently Phytopharm is working to develop energy bars and drinks than contain hoodia.

These products are estimated to hit the market in 2008.

Currently the only real hoodia legally available is grown by the San people in South Africa, who recieve compensation from all sales of their hoodia plants. If you purchase hoodia that comes from anywhere else, it is not guaranteed to be authentic or effective, and may even be illegal or counterfeit.

Tip! The best thing in Hoodia Gordonii diet pills is that it returns zero side effects.(The only side effect in some cases would be drowsiness and good sleep at night.

Read the entire article What Is The Hoodia Plant?

Are There Any Hoodia Side Effects

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:56:51 -0700

You may have heard of hoodia, a hot new weight-loss product that is receiving a great deal of attention and acclaim. It is claimed that hoodia helps you lose weight by getting the message to your brain that you're not hungry.

Found in the Kalahari desert in South America, hoodia is a plant known as a succulent that resembles a cactus in appearance. It is a fairly thin, prickly plant that often features large blossoms that are peachy-pink in color. There are different species of hoodia, and the one that offers weight loss potential is hoodia gordonii.

There are no documented hoodia side effects such as racing pulse, nausea or shakiness found in other diet pills on the market. This may be because hoodia is a naturally occuring plant, not a pharmaceutical drug. Since there are no hoodia side effects, it is a popular choice for appetite suppression and weight loss.

Consumers should know that the only authentic hoodia available comes from the western cape of Africa. Although drug companies are currently studying ways to create a synthetic version of hoodia, no such version exists at this time.

Read the rest of this article Are There Any Hoodia Side Effects or this complete list of Hoodia Side Effects or Hoodia Weight Loss Articles section or finally, the complete Hoodia articles section.

Glycemic Index Of Foods

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:44:23 -0700

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a system of ranking the quality of carbohydrate in a food according to the immediate effect it has on blood glucose. Individual foods are compared to pure glucose, which has its Glycemic Index set at 100. For comparison, pearl barley has a value of 33, oranges are 49, and whole wheat bread is 71.

The Glycemic Index was conceived in 1979 by Dr. David Jenkins, together with Dr. Thomas Wolever and Dr. Alexandra Jenkins. The GI breakthrough was the outcome of research conducted at both Oxford University and at the University of Toronto to determine which foods would be best for people with diabetes.

Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Choosing low GI carbs - the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels - is the secret to long-term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss.

The following foods are grouped according to their rating on the glycemic index . The best carbohydrate choices are in the low-glycemic group within the index. Restock the refrigerator and pantry to emphasize low-glycemic foods. Ditch the refined breads and breakfast cereals, baked and mashed spuds, white rice and rice cakes, toaster waffles, tator tots and french fries.

The consumption of high-glycemic foods spikes insulin and reduces glucagon thus preventing the burning of body fat. Try to stay away from high-glycemic foods and stick to lower glycemic choices (see lists below) that will produce less insulin. Insulin stimulates your 30 billion fat cell receptors and deposits carbohydrate energy directly into their interiors, making you fatter and fatter. There is no other way to store fat. Every time you eat a meal, your blood sugar rises. Your goal is to consume the foods (low-glycemic), which will cause the least amount of insulin production.

Any high-glycemic foods should only be consumed in minimum quantities and combined with dietary proteins and fats in a meal. The only exception is a high-glycemic drink after exercise. But remember, even too much of the low-glycemic foods can make you fat.

Read about Low Glycemic Foods : see the chart

Read about Moderate Glycemic Foods : see the chart

Read about High Glycemic Foods

Two Ways To Restore Acid Alkaline Balance In Your Body

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:18:24 -0700

If your saliva is too acid you may wish to increase the alkalinity of your body. Ways to do this include:

1. Eat mostly alkaline foods. The general "rule of thumb" is to eat 20% acid foods and 80% alkaline foods. Avoid the "strongly acid" foods.

2. Supplement your diet with fresh fruit, raw plant foods, nuts, sprouts and vegetable juices. As a treatment for cancer, some doctors recommend one 8 oz glass per hour for every waking hour of the day. We could never eat the amount of nutrition we drink from fresh juices and/or some herbal formulas of alkaline foods prepared by some live whole food companies. There are also some Chinese Herbal drinks that are highly concentrated and very effective to help flush the toxins from the body. Two of these teas are part of the bonus package that I offer each month. They’re awesome and are a daily part of my life. Not only are they very effective at helping to nourish your cleansing system, they’re highly alkaline in nature.

"Imagine A Diet So Simple, It Makes You Feel Incredible In Just 3 Days..."

It Seems Incredible That Alkaline Foods Can Get You These Results -- With So Little Effort!”, but Discover How You CAN Do It Quickly, Easily, And In The Comfort Of Your Own Home...

Click here for information on the instantly downloadable e-book: Acid Alkaline Diet Simplified

Read more about Restore Acid Alkaline Balance

The PH or Alkalinity Of The Skin

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:15:39 -0700

It’s interesting to note that the skin is slightly acidic in it’s normal healthy state and needs to be in order to work as our first line of defense for our immune system. Also interesting to note is that most soaps are alkaline in nature and strip this acid mantle off our skin. When I found this out using some ph paper back in 1993 I believe it was, I quit using soap. I switched brands to a Sunrider product which is a soapless soap and is PH balanced for our skin. When I started using it, water started to bead off my skin again. Commercial laundry detergents are among the highest level of alkalinity and literally burn your skin. Traces are left in our clothes after washing and then we wear that all day long. No thanks. You haven’t met me in person, but trust me, I am known for my skin quality. Ask any of my ex girlfriends. For more information about switching to Sunrider skin care, contact me privately.

The Importance of Acid and Alkaline Balance for Health Virtually all degenerative diseases including cancer, heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, kidney and gall stones, and tooth decay are associated with excess acidity in the body. While the body has a homeostatic mechanism that maintains a constant pH 7.4 in the blood, this mechanism works by depositing and withdrawing acid and alkaline minerals from other locations including the bones, soft tissues, body fluids and saliva. Therefore, the pH of these other tissues can fluctuate greatly. The pH of saliva offers a window through which you can see the overall pH balance in your body. Cancer cannot exist in an alkaline environment. All forms of arthritis are associated with excess acidity. Acid in the body dissolves both teeth and bones. Whatever health situation you are faced with, you can monitor your progress toward a proper acid/alkaline balance by testing your saliva pH.

What are Acid and Alkaline? Water (H2O) ionizes into hydrogen (H+) and hydroxyl (OH-) ions. When these ions are in equal proportions, the pH is a neutral 7. When there are more H+ ions than OH- ions then the water is said to be acid. If OH- ions outnumber the H+ ions then the water is alkaline. The pH scale goes from 0 to 14 and is logarithmic, which means that each step is ten times the previous. In other words, a pH of 4.5 is 10 times more acid than 5.5, 100 times more acid than 6.5 and 1,000 times more acid than 7.5.

Distilled water is acidic. Do not drink it. I did for years and I saw the signs of mineral depletion, I just didn’t recognize the cause. Stop drinking Distilled water. Again I refer you to

Why I Now Say No to Distilled Water Only

"Imagine A Diet So Simple, It Makes You Feel Incredible In Just 3 Days..."

It Seems Incredible That Alkaline Foods Can Get You These Results -- With So Little Effort!”, but Discover How You CAN Do It Quickly, Easily, And In The Comfort Of Your Own Home...

Click here for information on the instantly downloadable e-book: Acid Alkaline Diet Simplified

What Is This Alkaline Acid Balance Thing?

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:12:49 -0700

Alkalize Or Die A very powerful statement that is not made lightly If You Are Concerned About Your Health Do the Saliva pH Test A simple test you can do to measure your susceptibility to cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, and many other degenerative diseases. Wait at least 2 hours after eating or drinking juices. Fill your mouth with saliva and then swallow it. Do this again to help ensure that the saliva is clean. Then the third time, put some saliva onto pH paper. The pH paper should turn blue. This indicates that your saliva is slightly alkaline at a healthy pH of 7.4. If it is not blue, compare the color with the chart that comes with the pH paper. If your saliva is acid (below pH of 7.0) wait two hours and repeat the test. You can use the pH paper to measure both the saliva and urine pH levels of your body. The pH papers are a powerful tool for monitoring your pH balance system. pH testing also provides us with a way to take a more proactive role in our health. We can detect and start to correct the pH imbalances in our systems before they manifest as symptoms of disease. The pH tests are easy and quick. All you need are pH papers and the instructions for interpreting your results.

When healthy, the pH of blood is 7.4, the pH of spinal fluid is 7.4, and the pH of saliva is 7.4. Thus the pH of saliva parallels the extra cellular fluid… pH test of saliva represents the most consistent and most definitive physical sign of the ionic calcium deficiency syndrome. The pH of the non-deficient and healthy person is in the 7.5 (dark blue) to 7.1 (blue) slightly alkaline range. The range from 6.5 (blue-green is weakly acidic to 4.5 (light yellow) which is strongly acidic represents states from mildly deficient to strongly deficient, respectively. Most children are dark blue, a pH of 7.5. Over half of adults are green-yellow, a pH of 6.5 or lower, reflecting the calcium deficiency of aging and lifestyle defects. Cancer patients are usually a bright yellow, a pH of 4.5, especially when terminal.

Avoiding Cholesterol In Foods Wont Lower Your Cholesterol

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:05:06 -0700

Avoiding Cholesterol in Foods Won't Lower Your Cholesterol

Tip! Eating out can be a test for your determination to lower cholesterol. The best method to pass this test is to eat mainly in restaurants that are serving low cholesterol dishes.

If you avoid all foods that contain cholesterol, will your high cholesterol return to normal?

It's not that simple. Your blood cholesterol level is influenced far more by how many calories and how much saturated and partially hydrogenated fat you eat, than by how much cholesterol is in your food. Cholesterol is found only in foods from animals, such as meat, fish, chicken, dairy products and eggs. It is not found in plants. More than 80 percent of the cholesterol in your body is made by your liver. Less than 20 percent comes from the food that you eat. When you eat more cholesterol, your liver makes less.

Your liver makes cholesterol from saturated fats, which are found in most foods but are concentrated in meat, poultry and whole-milk dairy products. The saturated fat is broken down by your liver into acetone units. If you are not taking in too many calories, your liver uses the acetone units for energy, but if you are taking in more calories than your body needs, your liver uses these same acetone units to manufacture cholesterol. That explains why eating two eggs a day does not raise blood cholesterol levels in the average American. They are already taking in so much cholesterol from meat, fish and chicken and diary products, that when they take in more, they absorb less.

Effective Ways To Lower Your Cholesterol. With our Cholesterol Lowering Toolkit, you can find out what you need to know.

Read the Cholesterol Article

Read more about Cholesterol Lowering Foods or the complete Low Cholesterol Articles

Hoodia Information - The Latest Weight Loss Wonder

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 14:25:42 -0700

Searches for hoodia information are going through the roof as major media attention is being focussed on an ancient plant from the Kalahari Desert in South Africa called Hoodia Gordonii that promises to help millions of people looking to shed some pounds finally achieve their dreams.

To be sure, the weight loss market is littered with products high on hype but short on substance. That's why there are still so many overweight people in spite of all the new fangled diet supplements, weight loss programs, and exercise schemes promising to burn off the blubber.

What makes hoodia gordonii differnet than the rest?

We will present you with some broad scope hoodia information so you know what the fuss is all about.

First, there are over a dozen types of hoodia plant species. Only one of these, called hoodia gordonii, contains a molecule in it that can kill one's appetite, thereby helping people consume less calories than they normally would.

Hoodia gordonii has been used for literally thousands of years by a primitive tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers called the Sans Bushmen.

Read more from the article Hoodia - The Latest Weight Loss Wonderor more from the Hoodia Articles section.

3 Shocking Myths About Sleep

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:22:05 -0700

The 3 Shocking MYTHS About Sleep That You Don't Know About - Which Are Depriving You of Your Life Energy.

MYTH #1 ) “If you sleep longer, you'll be more awake and have more energy in your life”

TRUTH: Sleeping Longer ROBS You of Energy and Damages your Sleeping System.

There are several reasons why sleeping longer damages your sleep system. What most people don't know is that there is a very important element of your inner sleep clock which is prior wakefulness. When you sleep longer you limit your prior wakefulness which puts stress on a number of other factors such us your melatonin hormone levels, your exposure to sunlight, and your body temperature rhythm. Getting longer sleep or "catching up on sleep" only weakens your sleep system, which in turn can even lower your immune system. The common belief that trying to sleep less makes you tired and low on energy is simply because people don't understand how the bio-temperature rhythms work (what you will learn soon).

MYTH #2) You need to “Catch Up on Sleep” if you missed some before.

TRUTH: Unless you...

Unless you go on a huge sleep deprivation marathon, you do not need to "catch up on sleep", if you downloaded the 2 free chapters of the powerful sleep eBook, you learned precisely why this is true. It is only during the first 3 - 4 hours of sleep that we experience most of State 3 and Stage 4 sleep. Sleeping longer than you usually do isn't physically beneficial to you in anyway, and puts your body temperature rhythm out of balance.

MYTH #3) “I feel so low on energy, I Must Get More Sleep”

TRUTH: More Sleep DOES NOT Provide You With more Energy!

You don't need MORE sleep, you need QUALITY sleep.

People think that sleep is a very basic thing. We don't really think about it do we? We sleep, we wake up, and we magically feel refreshed, don't we? In truth, sleep is actually quite a complex and fascinating system that most of us take for granted. Because most of us don't understand how our inner sleep system works, we aren't even aware of all the actions we're taking in our lives that are damaging our sleep systems and depriving us of energy. There is a difference between MORE sleep, and POWERFUL sleep. The only way to make your sleep more physically energizing is to learn about the inner science of sleep! Only once you learn how to optimize your sleeping system for maximum performance, can you try to reduce your sleep.

In this short report we only barely scratched the surface of these vitally important understandings. What we briefly talked about here is completely covered in rich detail in the first two chapters of the Powerful Sleep system, and for a limited time you can get those two chapters FREE right now (see details below).

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT IMPROVING YOUR SLEEP,
SEE THE E-BOOK:
POWERFUL SLEEP
SECRETS OF THE INNER SLEEP CLOCK.

Discover how to optimize your inner sleep clock For MAXIMUM energy and MINIMUM sleep...

Click here for information on the instantly downloadable e-book: www.powersleepsystem.com

About the Author

Kacper Postawski is an innovative sleep science researcher and the creator of the “Powerful Sleep - Secrets of the Inner Sleep Clock” system on www.powersleepsystem.com. He can show you how to reduce your sleep by up to 3 hours, create more time, and an abundance of energy in your body by sleeping LESS! Not more. He dispels the “8 hour sleep myth”, tells you what most people never realize about sleep, and what the drug companies DONT WANT YOU to know. Go to: http://www.powersleepsystem.com to find out more about Powerful Sleep.

Other Sleep information

High Cholesterol Symptoms - What To Look Out For

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:15:42 -0700

High Cholesterol Symptoms - What to Look Out For

Tip! It is known that the relationship to food is significant, but there is no doubt that genes also play a part. High cholesterol is also seen in connection with other diseases, such as reduced metabolism (due to thyroid hormone problems, for example), kidney diseases, diabetes and alcohol abuse.

Do you have a high cholesterol intake? Eating products with high cholesterol levels can result in some serious health hazards.

A growing problem in the world, high cholesterol levels can shorten your lifespan and result in a host of medical problems if not monitored. One of the deadliest aspects of this silent killer is the fact that high cholesterol symptoms are usually rare and undetectable until tragedy strikes.

For one, high cholesterol levels can lead to a risk of coronary disease. Coronary disease sometimes results in a symptom known as "Angina". Angina is a chest pain that is felt when afflicted with this disease, and has been accurately described by many as feeling a pressure or squeezing directly on their heart.

These high cholesterol symptoms can spread to the jaw, neck, or the arm. In addition to this painful symptom, people with coronary disease sometimes report nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, and heart palpitations. A stroke is another deadly factor associated with a high cholesterol level. There are symptoms that help identify a stroke, but most often, strokes happen with little to no warning.

Read more about High Cholesterol Symptoms

Lower Your High Cholesterol Naturally

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 19:21:52 -0700

Rob Cooper reviews 60 Day Prescription Free Cholesterol Cure

I've always believed that every condition know to man could be treated naturally with diet, exercise and with the proper application of knowledge and nutrition. When it comes to Lowering High Cholesterol Naturally, I feel no different.

My Own Cholesterol Levels

My sister and her husband are doctors. In fact, my sisters husband worked as a private consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva Switzerland for 6 years. One summer they were visiting and I had just had my cholesterol levels checked with my doctor.

I remember the moment exactly, when I read what my cholesterol report said because they both stopped what they were doing, turned and looked at me. They had me repeat the numbers and then they looked over the report themselves.

It was at that moment that I realized I had actually stunned my sister the "doctor" for the first time. I had fallen prey to the "little brother can't possible know best" syndrome, so they had never listened to me in the past.

I've been following a natural diet for a number of years and the work paid off not only with my weight , fitness level and health, but also for my cholesterol numbers.

Lower Your Cholesterol Without Drugs

In having a look online for a good way to inform people about Cholesterol and how to lower it naturally, I was lead to Frank Mangano after reading his book about natural high blood pressure reduction.

Frank began looking for a natural approach to lowering cholesterol for his mother. She was diagnosed with High Cholesterol and was afraid to begin Statin Drugs because of their terrible side effects. He dove into the research and the hard work paid off. What He gave his mother was a plan based on hard science that allowed her to lower her cholesterol without drugs. Her cholesterol dropped 40 points with his all-natural system. This kind of result normally leaves doctors slack-jawed at the amazing results.

Read more about Lower Your High Cholesterol Naturally

Hoodia And Weight Loss

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 16:44:21 -0700

Tip! With the right conditions hoodia can be one of the easiest plants to grow. But it must be grown in the desert.

San tribesmen of the Kalahari Desert in South Africa have one of the oldest primitive cultures in existence, maybe as old as 100,000 years. They are hunter-gatherers and go on long hunting expeditions. Given the harsh desert and scarcity of game, they chew on a succulent plant called Hoodia Gordonii to keep off hunger and thirst.

In 1937 a Dutch anthropologist recorded, this fact and in the 1960s CSIR, the South African research council, started a study on the plant. In 1997 CSIR took out a patent on a molecule of Hoodia, named P57, as an aid in weight-loss treatment. In 1998 they made an agreement with a British company, Phytopharm, to test and market the product.

Phytopharm carried out the usual clinical trails of P 57 and announced a very positive result in 2001. In a double-blind study volunteers were given 400mg of dried Hoodia per day. After 15 days they reduced their calorie intake by 1,000 per day. The control group did not show any appreciable reduction.

In the mid-brain hypothalamus there are nerve cells that detect glucose. When we eat, the glucose from food reaches these nerve cells, and they fire signals that make you feel full. The molecule in Hoodia Gordonii P 57 is 10,000 times as active as glucose in making these cells start the signal and make you feel full. This plant has proved to be a natural appetite suppressant, without the side effects of other chemicals that are being used for weight loss treatment.

Read more from the article Hoodia and Weight Loss or more from the Hoodia Articles section.

What Is Hoodia

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 16:40:39 -0700

Tip! Hoodia is no joke or scam. The plant has been featured on news shows such as 60 Minutes, the British Broadcasting Company, and ABC.

Hoodia gordonii, "Whoo De Ah", is the scientific name for a leafless, spiky succulent plant that grows throughout the semi-arid desert areas of Southern Africa primarily the Kalahari Desert. The local inhabitants (the San) have eaten Hoodia stems to defend against hunger and thirst when on long journeys or during times of drought, because it acts as an appetite suppressant.

After years of diligent research, science has isolated multiple compounds in this all-natural food that was responsible for dramatic weight loss. This trend has been widely reported, but this represents only one of several chemical compounds found in the Hoodia succulent. It is proven completely safe and it contains no stimulates that could contribute to any jittery feeling associated with weight loss pills and other fast weight loss diet products of the last ten years. It appears to be more health safe than other supplements.

The Hoodia plant is registered as a protected species to prevent Bio-Piracy but the African government has allowed the plant to be grown on a limited number of commercial farms in South Africa owned by private farmers.

In the wild, Hoodia takes five to six years to grow to maturity but with commercial farming techniques, the plant is now being grown to maturity in as little as two years in sustainable quantities. The Hoodia plant has become world renowned for its effects as an appetite suppressant and weight loss supplement.

In order to become eligible to export to the Hoodia to the USA and other nations, Hoodia farmers are required to procure anC.I.T.E.S. certificate which is issued by the African government on a per export-shipment basis.

Read more from the article What Is Hoodia or more from the Hoodia Articles section.

Hoodia Gordonii For Weight Loss

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 16:36:11 -0700

Tip! There are many kinds of hoodia plant. But only the hoodia gordonii species contains an active ingredient that helps suppress your appetite.

Have you heard about Hoodia Gordonii? It's marketed as an "amazing" new weight loss ingredient that will help you lose weight without feeling hungry. The many advertisements hyping the product claim that Hoodia contains a "miracle molecule called P57 that tricks the brain into thinking you've eaten, and makes you feel full." The claims do not stop there; in addition to losing weight, the ads claim you will feel better while taking this super weight loss ingredient, because Hoodia has "a feel-good, aphrodisiac quality." What exactly is Hoodia and does it really work? Let us take a closer look at this "miracle appetite suppressant."

What is Hoodia Gordonii?

Hoodia is a succulent that looks like a cactus. It has been described as a somewhat bitter-tasting cucumber that thrives in extremely hot, dry weather and takes 5-7 years to reach maturity. Hoodia grows in the Kalahari Desert region of South Africa, as well as the countries of Botswana, Namibia and Angola. It is said that for generations the San Bushmen, tribesmen native to the regions Hoodia grows, have removed the skin and spines of Hoodia prior to consumption as a way to curb their hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips.

In 1995 scientists isolated that one molecule in the plant that is responsible for the Hoodia appetite reducing effect. The molecule was named P57. The process to isolate the P57 compound was patented and the rights were sold to a British company called Phytopharm. In 1998 Phytopharm signed a licensing agreement with the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Together, these two companies set the goal to isolate P57 in order to market and sell it for commercial weight loss purposes in the form of diet pills and capsules. In 2003, after many years of research, and no marketable P57 diet product, Pfizer elected to end its Hoodia contract with Phytopharm. Why? The process of isolating the P57 compound was way too costly to produce as a commercial weight loss product.

Read more about Hoodia Weight Loss or more from this article Hoodia Gordonii For Weight Loss

Natural Weight Loss Supplements

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 16:31:25 -0700

When it comes to weight loss supplements, how do you know which ones to choose? I mean, come on, I see a dozen of them advertised on television any day of the week. Well, your first thought should be; what am I trying to accomplish? Are you simply searching for quality weight loss supplements to shed off some extra pounds, or are you also trying to tone up your figure? It is prudent to consult with a specialist who can help you figure out some sort of routine in order to get started. You certainly want to make sure that you're buying the right weight loss supplements for the job. Some of those so-called "miracle pills" can have horrible side effects. You want to stay away from the lame cures that simply pull all of the water off of your body, therefore creating the illusion that you lost weight. This is not healthy. You want to burn away real fat and get into good shape with a balanced diet and exercise. The array of weight loss supplements available today can help you do this successfully. As you've probably noticed, there are a variety of already prepared meals and bars at your convenience. You want to lose weight, but you need to make sure you're doing it the healthy way.

Before you run out and begin any weight loss program that claims to use natural weight loss herbs and methods, make sure you first check out what was formerly known as "Diet Supplements Revealed".

Diet Supplements Revealed

In Diet Supplements Revealed, the author, Will Brink reviews the claims and evidence for 40 of the most common compounds used in Over The Counter Diet Supplements. Each review is broken into precise, easy to read sections including:

what is it?
what is is supposed to do?
what does the research have to say?
what does the real world have to say?
and recommendations

Supplement reviews include L-Carnatine, Green Tea, DHEA, Cayenne, Chitosan, Chromium, CLA, Citrus Aurantium, Co-enzyme CoQ10, Digestive Enzymes, EFA's, 7 Keto, Ephedrine, Cafeinne, Pyruvate and many others...

There is an entire review on Hoodia, what is is, what it does and most importantly, answers the question "Does Hoodia Work?".

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Read more about Hoodia as well as the remainder of this article on Natural Weight Loss Supplements

Creatine - Not Just A Sports Nutrition Supplement

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:22:30 -0700

by Will Brink

Author of: Muscle Building Nutrition.com
Muscle Gaining Diet, Training routines by Charles Poliquin & Bodybuilding Supplement Review
Diet Supplements Revealed
Real World Fat Loss Diet & Weight Loss Supplement Review

Readers of the March 2003 issue of Life Extension magazine should recall the long list of potential medical, performance and anti-aging effects of creatine. The article outlined the substantial body of research that found creatine may help with diseases effecting the neuro muscular system, such as muscular dystrophy and may have therapeutic applications in aging populations, wasting syndromes, muscle atrophy, fatigue, myopathies, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and other mitochondrial cytopathies. Several studies have shown it may reduce cholesterol by up to 15% and has been used to correct certain inborn errors of metabolism, such as people born without the enzyme(s) responsible for making creatine.

The article also covered exactly what creatine is, how it works and how much is required to possibly treat the aforementioned pathologies. If you missed that article, refer to the March 2003 issue of Life Extension magazine, or view it at www.lef.org. In this article, we examine some additional properties of creatine, such as its effects on growth hormone release, homocysteine and chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as other important issues surrounding this supplement, such as its safety.

Although data is limited, some research suggests creatine can raise growth hormone equal to that of intense exercise. Growth hormone (GH) is known to play an essential role in the regulation of body fat levels, immunity, muscle mass, wound healing, bone mass and literally thousands of other functions both known and yet unknown. It is well established that GH levels steadily decline as we age and is partially responsible for the steady loss of muscle mass, loss of skin elasticity, immune dysfunction and many other physical changes that take place in the aging human body. Therefore, the possible effects of creatine on GH is worth exploring in aging populations.

One study found creatine could mimic the increased GH levels seen after intense exercise.1 In this comparative cross-sectional study, researchers gave six healthy male subjects 20 grams of creatine in a single dose at resting (non-exercising) conditions. The study found that all subjects showed a "significant" increase of GH in the blood during the six-hour period after creatine ingestion. However, the study also found "a large interindividual variability in the GH response." That is, there were wide differences among individuals in the levels of GH achieved from taking the creatine. For the majority of subjects the maximum GH concentration occurred between two and six hours after ingesting the creatine.

The researchers concluded "In resting conditions and at high dosages creatine enhances GH secretion, mimicking the response of strong exercise which also stimulates GH secretion." These researchers felt that the effects of creatine on GH could be viewed as one of creatine's anabolic properties with the lean mass and strength increases observed after creatine supplementation. Although creatine supplementation has been found to increase lean muscle mass and strength in many studies, the effects of creatine on those tissues via GH enhancement has yet to be elucidated.

Creatine may reduce homocysteine levels

Homocysteine has been recognized as an important independent risk factor of heart disease, more so than cholesterol levels according to some studies. Creatine biosynthesis has been postulated as a major effector of homocysteine concentrations,2 and oral creatine supplements may reduce levels of homocysteine. Many studies have found that methyl donors (such as trimethylglycine (TMG) reduce levels of homocysteine, which also reduces the risk of heart disease. Conversely, pathways that demand large amounts of methyl groups may hinder the body's ability to reduce homocysteine levels. The methylation of guanidinoacetate to form creatine consumes more methyl groups than all other methylation reactions combined in the human body.

Researchers have postulated that increasing or decreasing methyl demands on the body may increase or decrease homocysteine levels. In one study researchers fed rats either guanidinoacetate- or creatine-supplemented diets for two weeks.3 According to the researchers "plasma homocysteine was significantly increased (~50%) in rats maintained on guanidinoacetate-supplemented diets, whereas rats maintained on creatine-supplemented diets exhibited a significantly lower (~25%) plasma homocysteine level." These results suggest that homocysteine metabolism is sensitive to methylation demand imposed by physiological substrates such as creatine.

Creatine and chronic fatigue/fibromyalgia

Because of creatine's apparent abilities to improve the symptoms of other pathologies involving a lack of high energy compounds (e.g., congestive heart failure, etc.) as well as the aforementioned afflictions outlined in the introduction to this article, it has been suggested that creatine may help with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia (some researchers now posit that they are in fact the same syndrome). Although the causes of both pathologies is still being debated, a lack of high energy compounds (e.g. ATP) at the level of the mitochondria and general muscle weakness exists. For example, people with fibromyalgia have lower levels of creatine phosphate and ATP levels compared to controls.4 No direct studies exist at this time showing creatine supplementation improves the symptomology of either chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia.

Considering, however, the other data that finds that creatine supplementation increases creatine and ATP levels consistently in other pathologies where low levels of creatine and ATP are found, it stands to reason that people suffering from either syndrome may want to peruse the use of creatine. Another similar syndrome to chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, is Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome, which may also be potentially improved by the use of creatine supplements, though more research is clearly needed.

Creatine safety issues: fact or fiction?

After the first article in Life Extension magazine on the many potential medical and anti-aging uses of creatine, I received several letters and many e-mails that basically said "I would like to use creatine for the various reasons stated in the article, but I am worried about its safety." This fear over the safety of creatine was usually generated from some hysterical news report or poorly researched article. It's odd, but predictable that the media and conservative medical establishment have desperately tried to paint creatine as an inherently dangerous or "poorly researched" dietary supplement. The fact is, creatine may be the most extensively researched performance-enhancing supplement of all time, with a somewhat astounding safety record.

True to form, the "don't confuse us with the facts" media and anti-supplement conservative medical groups have had no problems ignoring the extensive safety data on creatine, or simply inventing safety worries where none exists. A perfect example of this was the news report that mentioned the deaths of three high school wrestlers who died after putting on rubber suits and riding a stationary bike in a sauna to lose weight. Amazingly, their deaths were linked to creatine by the media, rather than extreme dehydration! Even more amazingly, on further examination, it was found that two of the three wrestlers were not using creatine!

Creatine has been blamed for all sorts of effects, from muscle cramps to dehydration, to increased injuries in athletes. However, these effects have been looked at extensively by researchers without a single study reporting side effects among several groups taking creatine for various medical reasons over five years.5-8

In some, but not all people, creatine can raise a metabolic byproduct of creatine metabolism known as creatinine. Some people-including some medical professionals who should know better-have mistakenly stated that elevated levels of creatinine could damage the kidneys. Elevated creatinine is often a blood indicator, not a cause, of kidney dysfunction.

That's a very important distinction, and several short- and long-term studies have found creatine supplements have no ill effects on the kidney function of healthy people.9,10 Though it makes sense that people with pre-existing kidney dysfunction should avoid creatine supplements, it is reassuring to know that creatine supplements were found to have no ill effects on the kidney function of animals with pre-existing kidney failure, showing just how non toxic creatine appears to be for the kidneys.11 Bottom line, creatine safety has been extensively researched and is far safer than most over-the-counter (OTC) products, including aspirin.

Conclusion

Though additional research is warranted regarding the pathologies outlined in this article, creatine has a substantial body of research showing it is an effective, safe and worthwhile supplement in a wide range of pathologies and may be the next big find in anti-aging nutrients. Although the dose used in the studies was quite high, recent studies suggest lower doses are just as effective for increasing the overall creatine phosphate pool in the body. The dose of 2 to 3 grams per day appears adequate for healthy people to increase their tissue levels of creatine phosphate.

People with the pathologies mentioned in this article may benefit from higher intakes in the 5 to 10 gram per day range. People interested in more information regarding creatine, in particular the use of creatine and other supplements for athletes, should consider referring to my recent ebook Muscle Building Nutrition found at www.MuscleBuildingNutrition.com for additional information.

About the Author - William D. Brink

Will Brink is a columnist, contributing consultant, and writer for various health/fitness, medical, and bodybuilding publications. His articles relating to nutrition, supplements, weight loss, exercise and medicine can be found in such publications as Lets Live, Muscle Media 2000, MuscleMag International, The Life Extension Magazine, Muscle n Fitness, Inside Karate, Exercise For Men Only, Body International, Power, Oxygen, Penthouse, Women’s World and The Townsend Letter For Doctors. He is the author of Priming The Anabolic Environment and Weight Loss Nutrients Revealed. He is the Consulting Sports Nutrition Editor and a monthly columnist for Physical magazine and an Editor at Large for Power magazine. Will graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences, and is a consultant to major supplement, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies.

He has been co author of several studies relating to sports nutrition and health found in peer reviewed academic journals, as well as having commentary published in JAMA. He runs the highly popular web site Brink Zone which is strategically positioned to fulfill the needs and interests of people with diverse backgrounds and knowledge. The Brink Zone site has a following with many sports nutrition enthusiasts, athletes, fitness professionals, scientists, medical doctors, nutritionists, and interested lay people. William has been invited to lecture on the benefits of weight training and nutrition at conventions and symposiums around the U.S. and Canada, and has appeared on numerous radio and television programs.

William has worked with athletes ranging from professional bodybuilders, golfers, fitness contestants, to police and military personnel.

See Will's ebooks online here:

Muscle Building Nutrition http://musclebuildingnutrition.com
A complete guide bodybuilding supplements and eating to gain lean muscle

Diet Supplements Revealed http://aboutsupplements.com
A review of diet supplements and guide to eating for maximum fat loss

Free Creatine Report

The "Creatine Report" is a free and in depth report on creatine's usage in sports, health and anti-aging.

In this report you will learn what creatine is and how it works, and what it can do for you.

This excellent free report exposes the facts and fiction of creatine, and details it's effects on the brain, heart, the body's production of growth hormone, anti-aging effects, fatigue, muscle atrophy, Parkinson's disease, and much more!

You'll also learn how to use creatine properly, as well as topics such as purity, safety, and loading are fully explained...

...And of course, as with all Will Brink's writing, it's based on the actual studies with creatine and backed up with scientific references, not conjecture and pseudo science many self proclaimed "experts" rely on.

Click here for information on the instantly downloadable Creatine Report

Creatine Articles

Creatine Insulin Dilema | Creatine: Not Just a Sports Supplement Anymore
Do Creatine and Alcohol Mix?

Weight Gain & Muscle Building Articles

Read more Bodybuilding Articles

Weight Gain Myths

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:19:10 -0700

By Gary Mathews
Fitness Instructor for the Royal Australian Air Force and Author of Maximum Fitness

The vast majority of myths about weight gain are mostly passed down from "gym talk" and so-called experts who know nothing about the body's workings.

Myths that lead to wasted time, frustration and if are taken blindly as truth, can really set back your progress in the gym. Don't believe everything you hear in the gym when it comes to exercise and weight gain, do the research yourself.

Simple, basic principles apply to all weight and muscle gain such as progressive overload, variable frequency of reps and high intensity workouts. Lets take a look at some of the most common weight gain myths.

High repetitions burn fat while low repetitions build muscle.

Progressive overload is needed to make muscles bigger. Meaning that you need to perform more reps than you did for your last workout for that particular exercise. If you perform the same amount of reps at each workout nothing will change on you, also if the weight doesn’t changes on the bar nothing will change on you. You need to become stronger.

Definition has two characteristics, muscle size and a low incidence of body fat. To reduce body fat you will have to reduce your calories; the high repetition exercise will burn some calories, but wouldn't it be better to fast walk to burn these off? Better still; use the low reps to build muscle, which will elevate your metabolism and burn more calories (less fat).

Vegetarians can’t build muscle.

Yes they can! Strength training with supplementation of soy Protein Isolate has shown to increase solid bodyweight. Studies have shown that athletic performance is not impaired by following a meat free diet, and people strength training and consuming only soy protein isolate as a protein source were able to gain lean muscle mass.

[Rob's Note:] I agree. I was vegetarian for 12 years and vegan for two of those. I was able to put on over 40 pounds of lean muscle tissue on a plant based diet.

Strength Training will make you look masculine.

If it is not you’re intention to bulk up from strength training you won’t. Putting on muscle is a long hard slow process. Your strength-training regime coupled with quality food will determine how much you will bulk up. To bulk up you also require more food. Women don't produce enough testosterone to allow for muscular growth as large as men.

By working out you can eat what ever you want to.

Of course you can eat whatever you want, if you don't care how you want to look. Working out does not give you an open license to consume as many calories as you want. Although you will burn more calories if you workout than someone who doesn't, you still need to balance your energy intake with you energy expenditure.

If you take a week off you will lose most of your gains.

Taking one or two weeks off occasionally will not harm your training. By taking this time off every eight to ten weeks in between strength training cycles it has the habit of refreshing you and to heal those small niggling injuries. By having longer layoffs you do not actually lose muscle fibres, just volume through not training, any size loss will be quickly re-gained.

By eating more protein I can build bigger muscles.

Building muscle mass involves two things, progressive overload to stimulate muscles beyond their normal levels of resistance and eating more calories than you can burn off. With all the hype about high protein diets lately and because muscle is made of protein, it’s easy to believe that protein is the best fuel for building muscle, however muscles work on calories which should predominately be derived from carbohydrates.

If I'm not sore after a workout, I didn't work out hard enough.

Post workout soreness is not an indication of how good the exercise or strength training session was for you. The fitter you are at a certain activity, the less soreness you will experience after. As soon as you change an exercise, use a heavier weight or do a few more reps you place extra stress on that body part and this will cause soreness.

Resistance training doesn't burn fat.

Nothing could not be further from the truth. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue and has a role in increasing the metabolism. The faster metabolism we have the quicker we can burn fat. Cardio exercise enables us to burn calories whilst exercising but does little else for fat loss afterwards.

Weight training enables us to burn calories whilst exercising but also helps us to burn calories whilst at rest. Weight training encourages muscle growth and the more lean muscle mass we possess, the more fat we burn though an increased and elevated metabolism.

No pain no gain.

This is one myth that hangs on and on. Pain is your body signalling that something is wrong. If you feel real pain during a workout, stop your workout and rest. To develop muscle and increase endurance you may need to have a slight level of discomfort, but that's not actual pain.

Taking steroids will make me huge.

Not true, strength training and correct nutrition will grow muscle. Taking steroids without training will not make you muscular.

Most steroids allow faster muscle growth through greater recovery, while others help increase strength which allows for greater stress to be put onto a muscle. Without food to build the muscle or training to stimulate it nothing will happen. Most of the weight gain seen with the use of some steroids is due to water retention and is not actual muscle.

Strength training won’t work your heart.

Wrong!! Strength training with short rest periods will increase your heartbeat well over a hundred beats per minute. For example, performing a set of breathing squats and you can be guaranteed that your heart will be working overtime and that your entire cardiovascular system will be given a great overall body workout.

Any intensive weightlifting routine that lasts for 20 minutes or more is a great workout for your heart and the muscles involved.

I can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Wrong. Only a few gifted people with superb genetics can increase muscle size while not putting on body fat. But for the average hard gainer, they have to increase their muscle mass to its maximum potential and then cut down their body fat percentage to achieve the desired shape.

Gary Matthews is a trainer from "down under" who has been coaching clients from athletes to bodybuilders for two decades. You may visit his website at Maximum Fitness.

Articles by Gary Matthews

Weight Gain Principles
Workout Without a Gym
Weight Gain Myths
Are You Overtraining In The Gym?

Weight Gain & Muscle Building Articles

Read more Bodybuilding Articles

Weight Gain Principles

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:15:02 -0700

By Gary Mathews
Fitness Instructor for the Royal Australian Air Force and Author of Maximum Fitness

Stop wasting your time, money and effort for nothing. Please have a look at the facts presented in this outline of my weight gain principles and make your own decision. As you will see, my systems do work.

Hello, let me introduce myself. My name is Gary Matthews and I bring over 20 years of experience to the Health and Fitness Industry and to MaximumFitness.com.

My professional career began in the Royal Australian Air Force where I was employed as a Fitness Instructor. My duties consisted of training recruits in various disciplines including strength training and conditioning techniques for weight gain, weight loss and general fitness.

At this time I was very much influenced by the bodybuilders and the training systems of the time. Training five or six workouts a week was the norm, splitting upper and lower body workouts and sometimes working out twice a day.

Every set was taken to positive failure, then three or more forced reps and if that wasn't enough I would do a few negative reps. This sort of training would totally exhaust me and render me sore for days after every session.

This constant battering to my body always made me sick or injured. I would take time off and then go back to it again and all the time I gained nothing in size or strength. Can you imagine years and years of hard work all for nothing and I still see it going on around me now.

Traditional training techniques like this are ineffective and downright dangerous, having been passed down from previous training generations and unquestionably followed at all costs.

The only people making any progress on these systems are the so called 'bodybuilding stars' who have superb genetics (about 2% of the general population) and are taking massive amounts of steroids (very expensive and dangerous).

Please do not fall into the same trap, if you haven't made any gains for a long time now stop!! Stop wasting your time, money and effort for nothing. Please have a look at the facts presented in this outline of my weight gain principles and make your own decision. As you will see, my systems do work.

I have been helping people gain solid muscular bodyweight for years now using the same techniques I outline here.

Before I start on the actual training here are a few Scientific Guidelines for strength training that have always been around but are not followed by many training systems these days. As you will see I have based my programs on scientific principles not hearsay or gymlore passed on from trainer to trainer.

It's an unfortunate reality that throughout the years there has been a growth of training techniques without any scientific proof. As in Life, and in Training: The simplest is always the best.

Read the Weight Gain Principles

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Calorie Density For Muscular Immensity

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:07:44 -0700

Author: Tom Venuto

Author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle

The secret to packing on pounds of solid muscle mass is simple: For the most part, the types of foods you eat on a muscle-gaining program are the same ones you should eat all the time, whether you want to lose, gain or maintain - you just need to eat more of them. "Just eat more" is easier said than done, however. It seems like you're constantly shopping, cooking and eating. Sometimes preparing food and eating it can seem like a full time job! One way to make gaining weight and forcing down all that food less of a chore is to choose foods (or supplements) with a HIGHER CALORIE DENSITY. By doing so, you can get more calories in the same amount of food.

All proteins and all carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram and all fats have 9 calories per gram, but not all foods have the same number of calories per unit of volume. Let me explain:

Imagine for a moment, two measuring cups (the kind you have in your kitchen) and notice the amount of space in each container. Got it? Now visualize the two cups side by side; one filled with chopped cucumber and one filled with raisins. Each cup now contains exactly the same VOLUME of food, right? But did you know that the cup of raisins has 37 times more calories? That's right! The cup of cucumbers contains 14 calories, while the cup of raisins contains 520 calories. If cucumbers and raisins both have four calories per gram, then how could this be? The answer has to do with calorie density. The cucumbers have a lower calorie density because they have a higher fiber and water content. The calories in the raisins are more "concentrated."

And that's the secret to getting enough calories to gain weight: choose calorie-concentrated foods.

If you learn which foods are nutrition dense and calorie dense, you can use this information to help you gain lean weight more easily than ever before.

Fibrous carbohydrates and vegetables such as lettuce, asparagus, cucumber and broccoli have very low calorie densities because your body can't absorb the caloric content of fiber. That makes veggies an excellent choice when you want to lose body fat. Before competitions, bodybuilders usually reduce or remove high calorie simple sugars and starches from their diets and replace them with fibrous carbohydrates. (Goodbye bagels and pasta, hello broccoli and asparagus!)

On the other side of the coin, the low calorie density of most vegetables is the very reason that they don't help you gain weight. Think about it; you would have to eat a wheelbarrow full of lettuce, cucumbers or spinach before you consumed enough calories to make the scale budge at all! It's wise to always include vegetables in your diet (because they're good for you), but you won't get enough calories to gain weight from veggies alone; you have to eat lots of high density foods or you'll be fighting an uphill battle.

So now let's look at some "calorie-dense" foods that can help you pack on the pounds:

Read the rest of Gaining Muscle, by Tom Venuto, author of Burn the fat

Read more Bodybuilding Articles