Category Archives: Lifestyle

Life Hacks

Insulin – not the bad guy we thought???

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Hi & Welcome back!!

For years Insulin has been painted as the bad guy hormone – you know the one that takes blood sugar and then shunts it off to be stored as fat.

Thing is, this is only partially correct. The real issue for most of us in the Western world insulin resistance coupled with too many processed high GI carbs. In fact becoming more insulin senstive will help us lose fat, build muscle and have a more efficient metabolism.

Insulin Sensitive or Resistive??

Traditional Nutritionists & Dieticians, despite the mountains of research to the contrary,  all seem to believe that fat loss is as simple as subtracting X calories from your daily intake and Hey ! Presto! Instant 6 pack abs! Be nice if it was true and would fat loss a whole lot easier and Gyms & weight loss centres would rapidly be rolling out lean, athletic women & men.

Just imagine the world we would be living in if all it took was the application of some simple arithmitic applied to a total calorie count. <sigh> never going to happen.

Let’s not make any mistake here though – a pound of fat is still 3500 calories and to lose fat you still have to achieve some form of calorie deficit in order to do so. In fact no mater how hard you train you can’t outperform a bad diet – or one that overloads you with calories that you just don’t need.

But this is only a part of the overall strategy that we need to use to achieve our desired outcome –  a leaner body that LBN and has a revved up metabolism.

Part of this strategy is understanding the metabolic and hormonal effects of food and then using  these effects in a tactical plan to achieve our goals.

Insulin Sensitivity

The single most important hormone when it comes to body recomposition is – Insulin. Yep the ‘bad guy’. Y’see Insulin is the most anabolic(repair & growth) and anti-catabolic (tear down) hormone that we have.

Insulin improves amino acid uptake by muscle tissues initiating protein synthesis promoting growth & repair. It also acts to prevent amino acids (the building blocks of our bodies) whether from food or our hard earned muscle from being used as a reserve fuel source when calories are cut below what our body has become to view as the ‘norm.’

Trustworhty fat loss advice? I don't think so...

Insulin also has a ‘dark side – under the right conditions, it is also the most lipolytic (fat storing) hormone in the body, shuttling fatty acids and glucose to fat cells for fat storage.

A logical approach to fat loss is one that moves you to a low-carb diet that is used to reduce calories and at the same time minimise insulin release so you avoid fat storage. This is right on the money if you are overweight, have a low activity level and are likely insulin resistant (or well on the way to being so). This covers the majority of the population these days.

It is also the way to go if you are over 40, a Type II diabetic or suffering from Syndrome X. I agree except that I am NOT an advocate of low carbs, but an advocate of low processed carbs for fat loss.

However no hormone is completely bad and the above approach is an incomplete one. If you work out hard on a regular basis, create a calorie deficit whilst eating nutrient dense foods – then moderate amounts of insulin is a positive thing. Why?

Because  insulin helps your body to maintain muscle the leaner you get. So you can strip off fat and keep or build muscle. The key is the complete approach of training, diet and food types.

However if you are overweight, sick, obese, a sedentary worker on the slope to Type II then your diet should not be the same as for someone who is active, lean and nowhere near becoming a diabetic of any persuasion.

In utilising insulin’s positive side – one size does not fit all.

If your body is insulin sensitive then you can have a higher amount of carbs in your diet because you will get the anabolic effects of this hormone. Again my belief is that you should avoid as many processed carbs as possible, but if you have some and are Insulin sensitive the efects will less likely to go to fat storage.

All carbs but not much goodness here...

If your body is insulin resistant, then higher carbs will mean that suffer more of its’ lipolytic (fat storing) effects. Simply – high GI & processed carbs should be a muich smaller part of your diet if you are insulin resistant.

So if you want to recompose your body you need to look at ways to increase your insulin sensitvity and reduce your insulin resistance.  Becoming more Insulin ‘Sensitive’ as opposed to resistant should be a goal right up there with resistance training, metabloic conditioning and eating lots more protein.

So in addition to focussing on cuting out high GI processed carbs we need to looking at ways to improve our bodies ability to utise them & insulin more efficiently.

Some easy ways to improving your Insulin Sensitivity.

1. Avoid mixing  ‘White’ Carbs with HFCS

All carbs aren’t be bad. All grain based carbs require at least some processing before humans can eat them. White carbs (flour, pasta rice – even the ‘healthy’ brown varieties) by themselves are not fat inducing. But combining these starches with sugars – especially fructose, and particularly HFCS – is downright evil.

Google High Fructose Corn Syrup and you’ll see that many researchers are now condemning the use of this sweetener as the major cause behind the obesity epidemic in the Western world. Americans partake of over 60 pounds a year…

Millions of our Asian brothers & sisters eat one of the purest starches out there aa a dietary staple – rice. By pure low carb thinking they should be the fattest folk on Earth. They’re not and in fact it is only when the traditional high starch / low sugar ratio becomes high starch / high sugar do we see obesity & diabetes rates rise in Asian populations.

The number one cause of obesity in the USA - HFCS

Guess which form of sugar has the worst effect on ALL humans? Got it in one – fructose, particularly HFCS.

Fructose is metabolised & processed by our bodies differently from glucose. There are now a heap of studies that indicate that fructose, NOT glucose, is the main culprit in table sugar that causes insulin resistance.

In animal studies increased fructose intake produced insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, high insulin levels, high triglycerides, increases in whole body inflammation and hypertension.

So to up your insulin sensitivity and to lower your insulin resistance – start by cutting out high fructose corn syrup, fructose sweeteners, sugar, sodas, processed fruit juices, fruit smoothies, and dried fruit. Then make sure that if you are having ‘white’ carbs ou are not mixing them with fructose – so watch cakes & cookie, pasta sauces and more. read your labels!!

Remember – never, ever combine white carbs with HFCS.

You can still eat 1-4 pieces of whole fruit a day is permissible – its fructose effects are ameliorated by the fibre (slows down digestion) and the presence of vitamins, minerals & antioxidants mean that fruit has more good than bad.

2. Increase your Omega 3’s

The ratio of your fatty acids is important to your overall health. We all know this. Just like we all know that our intake of Omega 6 is way higher than our intake of Omega 3 because of our use of canola oils etc etc.

Omega 3’s have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and have a host of other beneficial health effects. Cut down on the polyunsaturated oils, increase the olive oil, eat cold water fish, grass fed beef, lamb & take a fish oil supplement.

3. Add some Spice

This is a natural way to improve your Insulin Sensitivity...

Cinnamon has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity when a couple of grams a day are added to your diet. Numerous studies have shown it improves glucose uptake by the cells.

Oh yeah – it has to be cinnamon powder – not pop tarts or cinnamon donuts…

4. Have some Green Tea

Metformin is a prescription glucose dispersal drug that is given to folk in the pre-curser and then the actual type II diabetes stages.  It is expensive, and in the 90’s a lot of bodybuilders were using it. Why – well the role of any glucose dispersal agent is to mimic the effect of insulin in insulin resistant folk.

The good news is that green tea is also a glucose dispersal agent. So drinking 3 -5 cups a day can actually help improve your insulin sensitivity. Even better green tea’s action shows a distinct inclination towards pushing carbs to muscle cells and not to fat cells.

Sounds about perfect to me – and you don’t need a prescription!

5. Ditch the trans fats

Along with HFCS, trans fats are just about the worst substances that you can be ingesting. They are simply devastatingly bad for your health.

A mountain of research has shown that in addition to all of their other health destroying effects, trans fats also inhibit glucose dispersal and promote insulin resistance. They also have been shown to support preferential fat storage around the belly.

Check your labels and if you see trans fats or hydrogenated oils on them, find something else to eat.

Where do you sit on the low carb continuum?

Look if you are 20 or more pounds (10 kilos) above your fighting weight then the low carb (remember low processed High GI carbs!) is the best way to lose fat. Just be aware that apart from very fibrous carbs (like broccoli or spinach) you’re likely already very insulin resistant so just about any carbs you eat will end up being stored as fat unless you are doing regular challenging workouts and following the diet advice from previous blog posts.

The Research shows that the best approach for folk in this grouping to improve their insulin sensitivity is for them to lose body fat through low-carb / higher protein eating.

The good news is that the leaner you get the more diet options you have available to you.

A natural Glucose Dispersal Agent

If your  insulin resistance level is high, then your carb intake should be low. If your insulin sensitivity is high, then your carb  intake can be higher. Logically if your resistance / sensitivity is in the midle then modest carbs is the way to go.

Since insulin resistance is closely correlated with body fat so the fatter you are the fewer carbs you have. So if your body fat is above 20% for a male & 25% for a female – no carbs for you!! Well low GI carbs anyway in modest quantities.

If you run between 12 to 20 (or 25)% then you can up your carbs, especially if you are regularly working out.

Les than 10% – eat clean, but pretty much whatever you want.

So insulin has benefits as well as drawbacks and once again the negatives are tied to excessive processed carbs and trnsfats…

Be well, see you again soon.

Fat Loss Myths – Taken Apart – Part 2!

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Welcome Back!!

Here is part 2 of our look at persistent but Oh so wrong Fat loss myths…

Myth: You should do very high reps to failure for fat burning…

Whilst there is a certain faux logic to this  idea it is plain wrong. Research shows that weight lifting / resistance training burns calories through muscle fibre recruitment. The more fibres recruited, the more energy you burn. So the key to cranking up your metabolism is to recruit as many muscle fibres as possible with each set.

You don't get results like these using 'Barbie' weights

Lifting light weights, even for 100 reps, does NOT recruit many muscle fibres. When you do high rep training you’re only working the smallest, weakest muscle fibres – these will have  little appreciable impact on boosting your metabolism.

By the same token lifting for maximum muscle fibre recruitment is brutally hard and not sustainable for most people long term. The answer is to use a mix of high weight low rep (3 – 6) training with the body builder rep range of moderate to heavy weight for 8 -12 reps. This way you recruit lots of muscle fibres but don’t drive yourself into the ground every time you train.

You can go hard, or you can go long. Going hard burns fat & build strength.

Myth: You don’t need to get stronger to get leaner.
This is really a follow on from the myth above – the stronger you are, the more muscle fibres you can recruit when you exercise. Stimulating as many muscle fibres as is sustainable with each set will ramp up the metabolic cost of your workouts. (Metabolic cost is a measure exercise scientists use to determine how many calories you’re burning up through exercise. It is also called TEA – Thermic Effect of Activity)

The higher the metabolic cost, the better for fat loss. The stronger you are the faster you can move and research shows that fast movement with heavy to moderate weights really gets the fat fires burning. Anyway – ever seen a fat sprinter?

Myth: All calories are equal – so eat less and you’ll lose weight…

A week of this or a week of Steak & salad - what would make you fatter??

This is correct all calories are equal – if you are looking at them as measurement of energy. (a calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 litre of water 1 degree centigrade)

However if you are looking at them as food source types then – all calories are NOT equal. What is going to put more fat around your middle – eating steak & salad for a week or eating the same number of calories but as Hot Dogs, Fries & Ice cream? No prizes for guessing the answer here…

This is the kind of claptrap that far too many doctors & dieticians & nutritionists put out there – despite the mountains of peer reviewed, long term studies that all show that a calorie is not just a calorie. The source of the calories is important especially from a metabolic viewpoint.

Carbs, Fats & proteins are the macronutrient groupings (some folk add water to this list and I have friend who is convinced that alcohol belongs here – it doesn’t) and they all have a different effect on your metabolism.

The Thermic Effect of Food – how many calories your body has to use to process food – is different for each macronutrient. For Fat it is 2%, for carbs (depending upon type – fibrous or not) it is 4 – 6% and for protein it is a whopping 30%. That’s like getting a 30% discount on the calorie value of each piece of protein you eat.

It is the nutrients in the food we eat, not the calories, that stimulates (or slows) our metabolism. When you cut calories you slow your metabolism down because it is getting less of the nutrients it needs. Things like amino acids, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids  and so on. In all likelihood if you are eating the typical Western diet then your body is already slow metabolically because this diet is calorie dense but nutrient sparse.

If you eat less your body preserves fat and begins to burn muscle for food. Result – less muscle which means a slower metabolism. You can avoid this by simply choosing your calorie sources better. Replace low-quality foods like as bread, pasta, and rice with nutrient-dense foods such as berries, green vegetables, eggs and protein like fish.

Myth: You must eliminate entire food groups to see results.

In a word Bull!

A common misconception is that certain food groups should be avoided in order to lose weight. This is wrong and usually relates to either fat or carbs. The truth is that there are ‘good’ & ‘bad’ fats & carbs and the only elimination of foods that you indulge in should be to remove the ‘bad’ types of each.

Processed, denatured carbs like flour, cakes, cookie, commercial fruit juices, sweets, etc should be taken out of your diet or at least severely cut back. Any food that contains Trans fats (look for ‘partially hydrogenated oil’ on the food labels) has to be taken out of your diet and frankly anything you can identify as having High Fructose Corn Syrup (a cheap sugar but one which is processed differently in your body and leads to belly fat) should not even get into your trolley at the supermarket.

Elimination of some foods is good, of entire food groups is BAD!!

Eliminating all fats is also a furphy as excess calories from ANY nutrient source can and will be stored as fat by your body. So cutting out all fats just stops your body getting access to needed fats like Omega 3 fatty acids. This in turn has a number of anti-health effects. In truth every food group has its own benefits for example, carbohydrates are your body’s preferred energy source and fruit & veges deliver vitamins, minerals antioxidants, phytonutrients and more besides – all important for your well being. Protein provides the building blocks for your body – and the amino acids that make up protein is vital for bodily repair. Fats is important for joint lubrication, hormone creation and use, hair, nail & skin health.

It is very necessary to eat all macronutrients in proper proportion to promote weight loss.

Myth: You need to work out hard each day to see results.
Nope – fat burning, muscle growth and bodily repair all take place after you work out. The post-exercise period is when the benefits of working out accrue. This takes time and your body needs a mix of stress from exercise and periods of recovery so it come back fitter 7 stronger for the next round of exercise. Working out intensely every day does nothing more than drive you into the ground, reduce your recovery ability and slows your metabolism.

Knocking yourself out by overtraining will set you back...

Even worse, overtraining leads to your body releasing even more fat-storing hormones as a stress response. Cortisol has its uses but too much of it is a bad thing indeed if you are looking for fat loss….Lastly, being overtrained zaps your motivation and makes you more susceptible to illness and injury.

So train 4 – 5 times a week, no more.

Myth: There is a Magic Product that delivers Quick & Easy Fat Loss

Weight loss scams have been around forever and show no signs of going away. The sad but simple truth is that a strategically sound mix of diet and exercise is the only proven way to change your body composition and recondition your metabolism so it stays that way.

If you watch either late night or early morning TV you will see ads for all sorts of Pills, Powders, Potions, Fasts, Cleansing liquids, exercise tapes and miracle delivering fat loss machines that will completely transform your body in just a few weeks!

I like the 8 minute Abs one in particular – an abdominal 6-pack in only 8 minutes per day. Wow sounds great then I thought why 8 minutes? Why not 6 or 9 minutes or even 3? Although I have to say for sheer audacity and flimflam dressed up as pseudo science the Shake Weight and Toning Shoes come up close seconds…

The underlying message is that you can get in shape by being lazy and that if you don’t get the results they promise then it is your fault. It also appears that the money-back guarantee they offer is a safe bet for them – less than 2% of people return these useless gadgets for their refund. Either they can’t be

bothered packing it up or they are too embarrassed – after all most folk know that these things don’t work.

The supplement industry is even worse. In most countries – particularly the US of A, supplement companies are not regulated and don’t have to prove their claims. This is completely opposite for the pharmaceutical com

These don't work...

panies who have to prove the claims they make ( and we know how trustworthy they have proved to be despite government oversight and regulation…)

Pretty much supplement companies can tell you that their products will enable you to lose weight, get stronger, improve your heart health, think more clearly, perform better, reverse aging, get that loving feeling more often and their products don’t actually have to deliver a thing.

By feeding off people’s fears and vanity, by exploiting consumers and weak laws many of these companies are no more than clever marketers.

Folks, there is no easy way to get the body of your dreams if your idea of easy is just swallowing a pill in between handfuls of fries.  There is no easy way to work out if your idea of working out is to lie down on some machine looking for the ride of your life…and in 5 minutes a day.

In today’s society where the emphasis is I want it NOW!, the truth is too damn simple and too damn hard for most folk to follow – Work out hard and eat right  just doesn’t sound snappy enough. Thing is it is still the closest thing to the magic pill and machine we’ve got.

See you next time…tell your friends about us!!

Sleep, Cortisol, Insulin Resistance & Fat Loss

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Hi & Welcome back!!

Today i want to look at how lack of sleep affects your fat loss.

It doesn’t matter who you are the suggested minimum amount of sleep for adults is 8 hours. (Teenagers need more as do babies & toddlers) Some adults need less some need more but the average requirement is for 8 hours.

Lack of sleep increases snacking...

However current research in Australia & the USA shows that as much as 37% of the adult population aged over 30  is getting 6 hours or less sleep on a regular basis. Not only is this no good for your overall health & energy levels but it is disasterous if you are trying to cut your body fat levels.
Research is showing that long term sleep loss is related to an increase in obesity and diabetes. In other words just as you can’t out-train a bad diet, you can’t reap the benefits of eating smart and exercising tactically if you don’t get enough sleep. A chronic lack of sleep wastes all of your other good fatloss focussed work.

Lack of sleep affects a number of metabolism influencing areas: your energy level, your resting metabolic rate, your appetite control and your insulin sensitivity. The research shows that even partial sleep deprivation can manipulate some of the key hormones that impact fat loss . In particular when key hormones are affected it predisposeyou to fat storage and obesity by causing insulin resistance.

A non-hormonal sleep loss efffect...

Not only can nsulin resistance  lead to Type 2 diabetes, but it has been proven to increase fat storage. Regular readers of this blog know that when you suffer from increased insulin resistance your body must produce extra insulin to rid your blood stream of glucose. The reason your body produces extra insulin is because the insulin receptors in your cells have become les sensitive to the effects of insulin requiring more to do the same job. In effect it creates an override and over storage situation. In extreme cases the situation becomes so bad that your body cannot produce suficient insulkin to clear glucose and you end up needing to start taking insulin medications. In any case you fat loss stops and fat gain is an almost certainty.

Sleep loss  increases both your appetite and your cravings for high GI carbs along with creating insulin resistance. Lack of sleep not only affects your insulin sensitivity but it also affects other hormones like  cortisol and ghrilin. This means that insufficinet sleep sees you battling an increase in appetite when your blood sugars are not in control.

Cortisol is a stress hormone that directly influences blood sugar levels and is associated with increases in  belly fat.  When cortisol levels rise, fat loss stops. Dead.  Some research has shown that even just 1 sleepless night can increase your cortisol levels.  A study has shown that 4 hours sleep results in a 37% cortisol rise above baseline.

Muscle is an important part of having an efficient, fat buning metabolism. At rest muscle is a voracious consumer of calories. The more muscle the higher your resting metabolic rate. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone – it breaks down muscle for fuel and by this action it also elevates blood glucose levles which results in insulin spikes and so the Merry Go Round turns leading to a slower metabolism and increased fat storage. In a sense muscle CAN turn into fat…

Not getting enough sleep can lead to this..

Ghrelin is another hormone that lack of sleep affects as is our old friend Leptin. Ghrelin basically makes you hungry, leptin tells your brain when you’ve eaten enough. Not getting enough sleep raises ghrelin levles so you get more hungry and lowers Leptin so you don’t stop eating when you should.

If you stay awake longer you also have more opportunity to eat more, and because your energy levles are lagging you tend to go for the quick sugar fix. Which leads to insulin spikes etc etc…

Studies have shown that people actually eat more on average when they get less sleep, and they eat less healthily.

So you’ve got to get more sleep, not just for your health, but for your fat loss and metabolism. If you know you lack sleep then you need to begin to taking saction to improve the amount of sleep that you are getting.

Don't drink this too close to Bed Time...

Try these: aim for a regular bedtime, avoid alcohol for at least several hours before bed, ditto for coffee or tea, have a low GI snack with some protein close to bed time, try to keep your bedroom cooler rather than hot, read fiction if you are bed reader not non-fiction,  make your to-do list in the early evening rather than late at night, exercise sometime during the day – just not close to bed time, have a bath or long hot shower and lastly avoid watching TV when lying in bed.

Sleep Tight!!

Strength Training & Metabolic Boosting

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Welcome back!!

A few posts ago I wrote about Interval training, particularly HIIT – high intensity interval training and why it is the best exercise protocol to use to lose fat – and it is.

Great for HIIT or 'normal' strength training...

Especially when you combine it with some form of resistance (ie strength) training. Thing is combining HIIT with strength training is VERY intense and can lead to burn out very quickly if you are properly familiar with how to use them correctly.

So what do you do if you can’y do HIIT everyday?

As you know if you have been a regular reader – you can’t out run or out lift a bad diet. But you can recondition your metabolism through a variety of means.

My choice is to keep eating the right way (low processed carbs, high protein, high fruit & vegetable intake) and to use strength training when I want either a break from HIIT or just as an alternative.

Resistance / Strength training, involves using weights, bands, kettlebells, body weight, weighted vests or other forms of resistance to force your body to move differently and work harder than it does in everyday life.

By working differently from our everyday activity and challenging our bodies at the same time we can increase our metabolic rate.

Going for a run, performing a HIIT session or doing a strength training workout and the way they affect your metabolic rate is quite different.Previously we have seen that HIIT (Interval) training has the greatest efffect on overal metabolism.

Remember it is how long for and by how much any activity boosts your metabolism that really has an impact on your ability to lose body fat when your diet is under control.

Let’s talk about the components of our metabolism:

First we have our resting metabolic rate, or RMR. This is the energy needed (counted in calories or kilojoules) to keep our bodies alive – our heart beating, our lungs breathing, etc.This is the ‘lying on the couch & not doing anything’ measurement.

Our RMR makes up about 60 to 80 percent of our total metabolic rate, so the more we can boost this the more fat we will be burning. To raise our RMR we need to recondition and boost our overall metabolism. Increasing physical activity, especially by using HIIT & strength training can directly change RMR.

Next there is the Thermic Effect of Activity, or TEA. Basically this is a measurement of how many calories are burnt by our bodies through movement. This includes walking, mowing the lawn, bringing in the groceries and so on. So your TEA is higher on the days you play touch football than the ones where you watch DVDs all day because it covers all of the activities that we engage in every day to live our lives. .

The more active you are, the more your total metabolic rate increases.

The easy way to view Metabolism

Third, we have the Thermic Effect of Food, or TEF. This is the amount of energy that your body expends to consume and digest food and then put the nuturients in the food to use to create more energy, repair the body etc. As you know you can increase your metabolism simply my eating more protein, more fibrous fruit & vegetables and less processed carbs & fat. Why? Because protein & fibrous fruit & vegetables can use up to 22% more energy to process than processed crap. As for fat – our bodies are the utimate fat storage devices so fat processing (&storage) requires virtually no energy at all.

So we can view our metabolism as the total number of calories (or kilojoules) our bodies use each day for each metabolic component.

This total energy expenditure  can be derived by using this simple formula: (TEE) = RMR + TEA + TEF.

Because we are all different the enrgy used by each metabolic component is different for each person, resulting in unique metabolic rates.

But why Strength Training?

Strength training increases our TEE by elevating the amount of calories expended in activity (TEA). The harder you strength train, the greater the amount of calories you burn through exercise. This in turn leads to the creation of more lean tissue (which is more metabolically active) which burns more calories at rest.

So strength training not only raises your TEA but also your RMR. Next to HIIT it is the best way to do this.

In turn, if you keep eating clean and also watch that your calorie / kilojoule intake does not exceed your TEE then you will lose body fat.

If you conduct your training session with intensity then they all – strength training , HIIT or running – will increase your energy expenditure both at the time of activity, and for a few hours afterwards. This elevation of your RMR that follows on in the hours after exercise is often called the ‘Afterburn’ and for fat loss it is essential. It can also only be gained by either using a HIIT protocol or through strength training.

By using multiple sets of a challenging weight, scientists have shown that the energy expended afterwards, known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) can be elevated for 24-36 hours.

Isn't this what we want to achieve?

Strength training can boost your metabolism, but it has to be more challenging than activities you do every day. two or three pound dumbells won’t make much of a difference if the groceries you carry or the child you hug weigh more than this. The key to an elevated metabolism is to challenge your existing strength boundaries.

Otherwise your body won’t  get the challenge it needs to build muscle, lose fat and look better in your clothes – or out of them….and that’s what we’re all looking for, isn’t it?

Vitamin B & Fat Loss

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Welcome back:

This week we’re going to look at three special B-Group Vitamins that compliment your fat-loss quest, while keeping you healthy and strong.

Losing body fat is a bit like fighting a war – you need the right strategy the right weapons and the right troops plus the will to overcome if you are going to win.

To win the war against excess body fat, the B-Group Vitamins should be amongst your best friends and a part of your arsenal. They’re a vital component of nutrition that enables your body to turn food into energy.

It is easier to work out and to exercise your will power when you are full of energy – without the B-group Vitamins your energy levels will be low and your ability to recondition your metabolism and to withstand temptation will fall. This in turn will make your fat-shedding efforts so much the harder…

There are three (3) main B vitamins that I want focus on. Individually they are important to your health – when used together they keep you strong, healthy, energised and compliment your fat loss efforts.

But first – What are B-Group vitamins exactly?

The B-Group Vitamins

The B-Group Vitamins are water-soluble vitamins. This simply means that they once they are processed by your body any excess is excreted in your urine.

Overdosing on B-Group is rarely an issue…

This also means that they are quickly depleted in situations of high sweat loss and activity. Because water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body in appreciable amounts and are used up and depleted rapidly, it’s important that you ensure that you are getting enough of them by eating foods that are rich in these vitamins or by taking a supplement to make sure that you have adequate levels in your system.

I recommend that you do both.

Drinking alcohol also increases the need for the B-Group Vitamins so after a heavy session of ‘glass raising’ taking a B supplement before hitting the sack is always a good idea. It’s even better if sleep is followed by another Vitamin B Group tab or 2 upon rising the next morning.

There are eight B-vitamins, which include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9), cyanocobalamin (B12), pantothenic acid and biotin.
These vitamins act as coenzymes and as catalysts in the chemical reactions that transfer energy from the food we eat to our body systems.

They are essential for the breakdown of the macronutrients(Carbs to glucose,

Hangover – alcohol increases your Vitamin B needs – a lot!!

proteins & fats to a number of elements essential for the repair and maintenance, growth, normal functioning of our nervous system and healthy hair, skin and nails. You need to be getting B-group Vitamins everyday – without them you’ll ail.

Several of these B-Group Vitamins are especially important to having a fast (ie fat burning) metabolism and by extension a leaner, fitter body.

Pyridoxine: Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 has three chemical forms (as pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine) and is the B-group Vitamin most necessary for proper protein metabolism. The coenzyme form of B6 is associated with more than 100 other enzymes which are critical for amino acid breakdown from protein foods and the conversion of certain amino acids from one type to another.

Amino acids as you know are essentially the body’s building blocks and are a necessary part of tissue repair, muscle growth, nerve sheaths, nails, hair etc etc.

B6 also helps your body to access and use the glycogen in your muscle cells for energy when you are moving and especially when you are working out. No glycogen = no movement.

If you’re not sleeping then your B-Group needs go up!!

Also the breakdown of glycogen plays an important part in the regulation of blood sugar levels (blood sugar is stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver but once these areas are full the excess is stored as body fat!).

Another important function of B6 is its ability to diminish the actions of hormones such as cortisol – the stress hormone. As we’ve previously explored on this blog when you’re under stress your body releases lots of cortisol which does a number of negative things primarily for our discussion – it promotes the storage of belly fat. It also promotes the breakdown & use of muscle tissue as fuel.

Great double whammy – you store more fat and lose muscle so your metabolism slows even further…

Adequate B6 levels are critical in times of stress (bad stress like job, money or relationship worries or even good stress like exercise) so your body does not store extra body fat and use precious muscle protein for energy.

Because B6 is so important for protein metabolism, it’s requirement depends on the

B-group helps you feel like this!!

amount of protein you consume on a daily basis. An intake of about 1.6 mg of B6 for every 100 g of protein is considered by the National Academy of Sciences to meet the needs of adults under normal conditions .

However, for athletes and people that exercise regularly (and often eat more protein), their vitamin B6 requirements will be higher given the greater need for energy and protein metabolism. Scientific studies have shown that exercise greatly depletes B6 levels in the body and needs to be kept in check through supplementation.

As you can see, when you’re an active person consuming more protein than the” Average Westerner”, your needs for vitamin B6 are increased, and it’s critical you get at least the minimum amount in each day.

Some of your best food sources of B6 include fortified cereals, potatoes, bananas, chickpeas and chicken (contains ~ 0.5-0.7 mg), but even if you are eating those foods you’d be wise to take a B-Group supplement.

Cobalamins: Vitamin B12.
What we call Vitamin B12 is actually a collection of compounds that are different molecules all containing the element cobalt. The most common form is the B12 vitamin known as cyanocobalamin.

The various forms of B12 work in the body to maintain normal brain and nervous system development and function, and play a role in influencing DNA synthesis and regulation.

B12 also plays an important role in the metabolism of fatty acids and creation of energy from foods containing fats.

You’ll hit the wall without enough B-Group Vitamins in your system… 

People with insufficient B12 in their diet suffer fatigue, depression, and can develop poor memory. In severe cases cracks may form in the corner of their mouth ( a condition known as angular cheilitis).

The cause of this tiredness and skin damage is related in part to B12’s role in red blood cell production which is necessary to carry oxygen and iron through the body. Because of this B12 is important in assisting the prevention of anaemia.

Athletes and hard exercisers may have low body B12 status, due to their increased metabolism and the raised demand for this vitamin to be used repair damaged blood cells and injured muscle tissue; and to carry more oxygen around in the blood while exercising.

This means that if you are working out regularly and hard then you will need more than the average daily allowance of ~2.4 mcg/day.

Vitamin B12 is only found in animal based foods so vegetarians – especially vegans – are

Good B6 Source – Chicken!!

at risk of developing the above mentioned symptoms of deficiency unless they supplement their dietary income.

The foods highest in B12 are shellfish (mussels, lobster), oily fish (trout, salmon, tuna), and organ meats (liver).

Biotin
Biotin is an essential cofactor for several key enzymes in the production of glucose (& glycogen) and the metabolism of fats and proteins. For example, in order for the liver to make glucose (through a process called gluconeogenesis), an enzyme essential to this process called pyruvate carboxylase requires biotin in order to function correctly. No biotin no liver produced glucose…

Biotin is also needed for the breakdown of the branch chain amino acids from protein (leucine, isoleucine and valine), and some fatty acids from fat-containing foods.

B-Group Vitamins help when you’re stressed…

People who exercise often have an increased need for biotin for several reasons:

• Increased metabolism resulting in the loss of this vitamin in urine or sweat
• Increased mitochondrial enzymes that require more biotin for cofactors
• Increased need for tissue repair and maintenance
• Increased food intake requiring biotin for metabolism

The richest source of Biotin is cooked eggs (Forget the ‘Rocky’ raw egg eating – raw egg whites bind biotin due to the protein avidin). Although the average daily allowance is set at least 30 mcg of biotin each day, there is no toxicity associated from higher intakes, especially in people who are active.

B-Group Vitamins = Good Health

As you can see, ideal intake of these B-Group Vitamins helps gives your body the energy

B-Group Vitamins help you look like this…

to exercise hard, so that you can burn more fat and build more lean muscle. If you’re constantly tired because your metabolism is sluggish, if you can’t create the right energy from the food you eat then you’ll be unable to rid your body of excess body fat or achieve a lean, strong physique. So, make sure that you get plenty of these simple but potent vitamins via eating unprocessed foods and topping up with a supplement.

If you do so then your body will lose fat, your metabolism will run better and your overall health will improve.

See you next week.

 

The Top Current Weight Loss Scams

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Firstly let’s be clear – you want to look for fat loss not weight loss. You can lose weight through water loss, muscle loss or even bone mass loss – none of which will do anything except make you into a smaller ‘skinny’ fat person with a lousy metabolism and a host of health problems.

Secondly let’s take a look at what passes as the latest & greatest solutions to being ‘overweight’… Some are new, some are old timers dressed up in new clothes…

Everyday there seems to be a new miracle cure or miracle machine available everytime you turn on the TV. Each one promises 6-pack abs, and the body of your dreams ( also notice how most of them miraculously seem to give you a tan, whiter teeth, and big hair…)

But it is not just TV – every newspaper or magazine you pass on the newsstand or open has more miracles waiting for you to try – Pills, secret herbal formulas, tibetan fruits, extracts from the South Sea islands, Nepalese diets or yet other machines.

Radio has it as well, and so does the internet – especially the health & Lifestyle sections of on-line news… we are bombarded by the patently untrue mesage that there is amagic bullet, pill, potion, herb, diet or machine that will transform our bodies with minimal effort and virtually overnight.

Scam machines have been around for long, long time...

Emotionally we go “Well it sounds plausible, those people look a lot better and they couldn’t advertisie it if it didn’t work could they…’ This drowns out the logical part of us that goes ‘Hang on – None of this stuff I’ve tried has worked in the past, people get paid for these ads, this just can’t be right – it all seems too good to be true’

Marketing is an art that uses advertising to excite the emotional part of us and shut down the logical part. They do this by appealing to our vanity, our wants & desires; by having celebrities endorsing the latest machine / potion / pill and by using incredibly good looking people as demonstrators.

The truth is that far too often we fall into the artful marketing trap and end up buying a machine that does not do as it promises or else has a restrction on how heavy you can be to use it (and this is always not a level that enable males in particular to use them); or with pills / potions or lotions that just don’t work. Even worse is the diet plans that wreck your metabolism even further by encouraging poor nutrition or is impossible for an adult with a job or a family to keep to..

yep - that'll work...

Then if we do lose weight on the miracle program we put it all back on in short order and usually add a few pounds more than when we started.

Worst of all we waste our hopes, our time and our money things that just don’t work. Remember the old marketing adage – ‘Sell the sizzle, not the steak.’In short we waste time, energy and most of all hope on these scams.

I have personally beeen caught out by these things many times over the years and I want to help you avoid making the same mistakes that many of us make by getting involved in these rip offs.

Here are some of the curent ones:

Scam#1: The you-beaut, fantastic, proven by thermal imaging amazing 6-pack machine / gadget / device

Everyone wants a flat stomach. Every male (and quite a few females) want 6-pack abs and every year there are at least 7 or 8 new machines put out on the market. Each one promises that it is / uses the latest tchnology and will transform your body in only minutes a day or week.
(to be fair some of them also – usually passed over or in the fine print – mention that you have to use the machine AND their special diet as well to achieve results)

Of course we know that to lose fat we have to:

  • Create a calorie deficit
  • Manipulate your hormones through diet, food choice, frequency of meals
  • Exercise
  • Recondition & fire up your metabolism through all of the above.

Not only can you NOT lose fat by sitting / lying/ twisting / jumping on the latest machine for 7 or 10 minutes a day (or what ever the latest claim is ), you CAN’T spot reduce. No machine short of the ones plastic surgeons use for liposuction can deliver spot reduction. Not a one.

Oh yeah and doing 100’s of crunches doen’t reduce your fat or weight either.

Fat loss results happen due to reductions in the fat carrried by your entire body. Physiologically you can’t just burn the fat from a selected area. (although there is some research out about BAT – brown adipose tissue, a type of body fat designed for quick burning – that may support spot reduction in very specific areas 9 upper back – and under very specific conditions – just wait until the marketing guys get their hands on that!!)

What they promise...

The models using the machines were already in shape and were hired for the ads because they were in shape and could use the machine without falling off!! They shure did not get into shape using the machine they are smiling about on TV.

None of us should fall for the fiction that by by rocking back and fort or by circling or twist stepping that we will end up looking like the models. We let hope (or despair) overrule commonsense.

Still literally millions of these useless devices / machines are sold every year. I have a friend who has a collection fo them – all were flavour of the month for about 2 weeks – all ended up in the basement, the closet or under the bed. Not a few have made appearences on EBay.

All failed and yet my friend like others just keeps falling for the marketing again. And again. (By machines & devices I include sliders, treaders, walkers, gliders, swings, bean, roll ups twisters, circlers etc etc)

My personal favourite is the one that ‘works’ your abs by giving you small electric shocks. Comedian Robin Williams has got it 100% correct when he says: ‘You’d be better off wrapping it around your head, turning it on and saying ‘I will not buy stupid s*it like this again!!”

Scam #2: Special Super Weight Loss diet plans.

This one is easy to spot – it either involves diet plans that totally cut out an entire food group or it is based on using an exotic fruit / vitamin, extract or juice.

Another scam easy to spot is those diets that require you to eat only 1 type of food for an extended period of time – no-carb, low-carb, no meat, no cheese, no fish, lemon juice only, high protein, watermelon, no fruit, fruit only, cabbage soup, chicken fruit, Israeli Army diets, food combining, lemon pepper, grapefruit diets banana diets, bean diets, French diets, Hollywood diets, Beach diets, fat diets – etc etc

Not for the long term & most are a scam...

A hallmark of these types of diets is their lack of nutritional balance, their rebound weight gain after you go of them and a further slowing of your metabolism.

These all have several things in common – they do work (for a short while) for weight loss, they wreck your fat metabolism and they are a waste of time. Any severe alteration to food ingestion and reduction in calories will result in some weight loss, even, in some cases, some fat loss – but most of them cause weight loss by fluid loss and as these are often poor in terms of protein you also lose lean tissue. Result – an even more compromised metablism and rapid weight gain.

It may be necessary to recondition your metabolism and refresh your food habits by using a short term more restrictive program (like Lose 20 in 30) but unless such programs are nutritionally balanced and based around better dietary choices they will not work.

Of course once your metabolism is reconditioned then you can move to a lifestyle program that ensures you stay lean & fit & healthy.

Scam #3:  The ‘Unbelievable Body Transformation with a side of Miracle results in a short period of time’ Products

It is possible to lose 30 pounds or more of fat in a month – but this requires a strategic and holistic program covering diet, hormone manipulation, food choices, feeding frequency metabolic reconditioning and not a small measure of discipline. Fat loss of this magnitude cannot be continued on and on either – mentally & physically you will need a rest. My point is that to lose fat rapidly requires a structured, strategic program that covers a lot of ground.

If you see a diet plan that tells you you are going to see rapid, overnight results – you know the type ‘lose 10 pounds in 3 days!! – just walk away. If you see an ad for the latest fat burning / blocking / destroying pills – walk away. Because they don’t work in nearly all cases and the few that do only work for a short time.

If people are not trying to recondition their metabolism and are taking the long view, then losing up to 4 pounds (2 kilos) a week is about the average healthy fat loss. Most people who are watching their food choices, eating less processed crap and moving more tend to lose fat at this rate. Nearly everyone loses more weight in their first few weeks than later on. This is because of a number of factors. The main factor is homeostasis – your body does not like change and tries to stay the way it was before you began to alter your habits. The other reason is that a lot of the initial weight loss (not fat loss) can be fluid that is freed up as your body adjusts to new food choices and calorie limits.

It is also true that less fat you have to lose the slower you’ll lose it – see homeostasis above…

The miracle results scams usually require you to go a liquid / shake only diet, buy their special calorie controlled diet food or use special pills or / patches. All in all just a way to part you from your money. Again the results of these types of programs tend to be short term and when the pills run out (if not before), the last shake has been taken then the weight comes back. With a vengeance.

(I should point out that there are some Doctor prescribed medicines that do indeed speed metabolism and assist in fat loss, but these are not the ones you see with celebrity endorsements or on TV. Nor are they the ones you can buy over the internet, proper medically supervised liquid only diets do exist and they are used in life threatening circumstances and are administered in medical facilities – not your kitchen.)

But real fat loss, lasting leanness comes from what; when; & how much you eat and how often and how much & often you move. That’s it. No magic potions, pills, patches, foods or bullets exist to do the job for you. None.

Save your money and your emotional well being.

Scam #4: ‘Diet Foods & Foods that cry out ‘Fat Free’!!

My favourite – ‘Fat Free’ they scream from the packaging as if all fat was the enemy (its not) and yet they fail to mention the amount of sugar they have put in to the products to replace the fat, or the amount of indigestable gums they have added to replace the mouth feel of food that has had the fat removed.

Nutritionally these foods are a disaster area and they can actually add to a tendency to put on fat. Most of these pre-packaged, processed ‘fat-free’ foods contain a wide array of additives, such as high fructose corn syrup, refined sugars, MSG, sodium and saturated fats. Yes fat.

You see current US law requires that fat content of greater than five grams be listed in one gram increments, less than five grams be listed in .5 gram increments, and lower than .5 grams as containing zero grams of fat. Thius means that if a product has .49 grams of (any including trans) fat, the label can list the fat content as zero. In the case of trans fats this amount (.49 grams) is way over the recommended daily allowance and could contribute to various adverse health effects.

Moreover most of these foods are low in protein, which as regular readers of this blog know is needed to stimulate your metabolism, maintain and build muscle tone.

In theory, I like the idea of pre-packaged meals to assist in weight loss. They make it easier to control portion sizes but the truth is that they too are examples more of the marketer’s art than of any real fat loss benefit. Plus they tend to be more expensive than real food.

Then there is the issue of dependence – what happens if someone stops using these foods and has not learnt about proper food choices? They return to old habits and the cycle begins again…

So if you’re thinking about using pre-packaged foods because of the convenience factor, just be sure to look at the ingredients and if you see a high amount of sugars and gums put them back on the shelf. After all, many pre-packaged diet foods are stuffed with additives that encourage rather detract from obesity.

Scam #5: Celebrity or fake doctor-endorsed diets.

Celebrities are paid big bucks to endorse products – famously many Hollywood types go to Japan and make millions by endorsing products that have not and never will use.

But they wouldn't use it if it didn't work...

It is not so different in the West. Celebrity endorsement works – people want to be ‘Like Mike,’ they want to be able to identify with their heros – whether from sports or entertainment.

Look use commonsense – if a celebrity is promoting a product the chances are they did not use it to get the way they look, or to gain the effect of the product they are promoting. (I think that Chuck Norris is one of the few who actually used a product they promoted – the body weight gym thing.) Even if the celebrity actually used the product does not mean that it is safe, effective or works – just that the celebrity involved has a bit more integrity than others…

Look don’t trust celebrity advice on weight loss. Particularly if you know they’re being paid to say what the company wants them to say. Just because an actor used to star in your favorite TV show, doesn’t mean they’re suitable to, or qualified to, give you cogent weight loss advice. Remember, most celebs, even the Bor D grade ones, have a whole behind-the-scenes team helping them get, look and stay slim.

Worse still are the Doctors for hire. In Australia we see few medicos endorsing weight loss products, but we do see an endless stream of nutritionists, dieticians and personal trainers doing so. This is not the case in other countries where you can add Doctors for Hire to the advertising mix.

In these cases it is usually some Doctor (often a Dentist, a Chiropractor, Doctor of Philosophy or from some non-medico type) you have never heard of touting some miracle pill / potion / device that is a breakthrough you’ve also never heard of. Just remember he is being paid for his time & endorsement. Many of these Docs for hire hail from fields of study that have as much to do with fat loss as a mechanic has to do with flower arranging.

Scam #6: Toning Shoes & Shake Weights

It seems that everyone has their own version of ‘toning shoes’ out now. Target & K Mart carry in-house brands, and many international footwear companies have their own versions. Does this proliferation mean that they work? Do the celebrity endorsements mean that these are one of the ‘secret’ tricks used by the celebs in question to stay in shape?

No – it just means that the idea behind them is logical enough that a whole lot of people are buying them.

By stimulating various muscle groups through an unstable platform, these shoes supposedly increase both muscle tone and weight loss. Unfortunately testing by various consumer groups have conclusively proven that this is not the case and that the shoes could in fact cause you injury.

Just because a celeb says they use them doesn’t make it true. And even if they do, it doesn’t mean that they work…

Just like Shake Weights.

Apparently there are hundreds of fit, chiselled, lean men & women who shake weights for 15 minutes a day to get in and stay in shape. Entire armies of closet weight shakers…

If you look at the weights involved and how they are supposed to used youn will see that they are closer in concept & performance to those Ab belts of the 70’s & 80’s. or take a look at your local bar tender – he is unlikely to show a musclar physique from all of those cocktails he has shaken and served…

Sorry – they don’t work – the idea that the vibration they provide stimulates your muscles enough to burn significant calories and stimulate muscle growth is laughable.

Stay away from them.

Scam #7: Performance enhancing hologram embedded braclets.

Seriously a piece of silicon rubber with a ‘hologram’ embedded in it is supposed to enhance your athletic ability and therfore assist in developing the body & sport’s perfomance of your dreams. And this piece of ‘technology’ only costs $60 (unless you go to EBay & buy from China where this fashion accessory will cost you about $2)

In Australia they have had to withdraw their claims and offer refunds...

I really don’t have to go any further with this one do I??

So there you have it – some of the top weight loss scams to avoid.

Be well, I’ll be back soon, and focussing on foods you can add to your diet to help you drop the fat..

5 Truths about Fat Loss

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Welcome back!!

Here are five truths about fat loss that you often do not get told by the ‘weight loss gurus’ out there:

1. Prepare to be uncomfortable – At least for the first while.

In order to ose fat you have to make changes and as we have seen inprevious posts your body doen’t like change very much. in fact it fights it!! Thsi means that if you are serious about fat loss and are using a real program you will feel uncomfortable for a little while while your body starts to accept and then utilse the changes you are making.

One of the easiest changes to make is to eat less. by this I mean try to eat less than you are normallycomfortable with.

Changes from a poor to a good diet can be a litle uncomfotable for a few days...

We all know that lose fat we have to create some form of calorie deficit on a regular basis and a simple way to do this is to eat less than what has become ‘normal’ for us.

The key to doing this succesfuly is to eat foods that promote a feeling of satiety – and this means lean proteins, fibrous carbs and good fats with a distinct lowering of processed carbs.
If you can do this on a regular basis, eating less will quickly become the new ‘eating normal’ for you.

2. This is a tough one, especially in this day of media overkill interms of how we should look & act – but compare yourself to yourself.

No two people’s shapes are the same, everyone has a different body shape so it makes no sense at all to say I don’t look like Brad Pitt (I don’t!) or Angelina Joie ( I definately don’t!!) as no=one does.

The photos we see on magazine covers of either celebrities, models or just ‘beautiful people’ are photshopped, airbrushed, and taken from expertly lit photo shoots done by professionals. No real person can look like that without the same technology and support (make-up, lighting, personal chefs etc etc) being available. Yet we tend to compare us to these images and almost EVERY picture you see a completely unrealistic illustration of a human body. And like it or not, no matter how hard we try we will never look like these images…

It will take a while to get to look like this - if ever. be your best, not the media's...

By all means use the mass media images as a means of inspiration but the ONLY person you should be comparing yourself to is yourself. Use the mirror and way your clothes fit to chart progress and focus on becoming the best that you can, not the bestt hat Photshop can produce…

3. Be in a hurry but be patient. At the same time.

Sounds crazy but what I mean is that there is NO evidence to back up the idea that the maximum ‘safe’ fat loss is a couple of pounds a week. This is an arbitary number that has gained widespread acceptance without any scientific backing.

It is possible to lose a lot of weight more quickly than this – but (notice I said weight and not fat) the usual drastic means often mean fluid loss, wrecked metabolisms and ending up a skinny fat person.

You can safely lose over 20 pound of fat in a month by using the right protocols – eating nutrient dense, calorie sparse foods; increasing your lean protein intake, exercising so you maintain muscle mass and increase your metabolic rate and use diet tricks that manipulate your hormones and enable you to successfully combat your body’s desire to maintain the status quo. These things usesd together will deliver a string fat loss.

So you you sould be in a hurry to get on the right program and begin to make the necessary changes so your metabolism becomes fitred up again.

Move it more...

You should be patient as even with a fat loss of 20 pounds in a month you are unlikely to see thaose 6-pack abs or get as lean as you want. This is where you keep at it and twatch the results come.

In my experience most 30 -day body recompositions for someone who is over 30 pounds overweight progress something like this:

First Week – Some cravings, your body is fighting back some soreness from unaccustomed exercise.

Second Week – The odd craving or 2 surfaces, your body is getting used to eating differently, you have dropped some size, exercise is not as challenging and you feel stronger.

Third Week – No cravings, visible changes, clothes fit better you are stringer & feel fitter & stronger, energy levels rise.

Fourth Week– Waist measurements are lower, your shape is diffeent- especially in the arms & legs and under the chin; the food is second nature, the exercise a habit and you are seein gthe results of a 20 pond fat loss and feeling great.

Feel fitter & stronger...

Again – this is generic – how your body and your mind react will be unique to you but in general if you follow a program like the ones outlined in previous blogs thisis what will happen.

4. Just because you are exercising more does not mean that you can eat more. Not yet.

Remeber you are trtying to fire up your metabolism and a proper program will enable you to eat the right fuel and not feel hungry. However there is a persistent myth that just because you exercise you can ‘reward’ yourself by eating lots more or even re-introducing some of the foods that got you fat in the first place.

Wrong – you cannot & should not. At least not until you are at your goal shape (again shape NOT weight). Once you are there you can switch to a maintenance program and frankly after 30 plus days of eating correctly you will not likely want to over eat or eat junk. (NB a good program allows for ‘Cheat days” where you eat what you want but again over time even on the cheat days you’ll find your desire for poor food much diminished.)

5. Lastly understand that your weight will flucuate over your fat loss journey.

So don’t weigh yourself every day – this is the quickest route to depression and falling off the leannes wagon there is.

Your goal is fat loss, part of this is increasing lean mass. Lean masss weighs more than fat so the scales could show you even gaining some weight in the early weeks. Add to this diferences in fluid intake & retention, Menses, the differing effects of different foods and your weight can alter as much as 6 or 7 pounds from day to day.

Get off the damn scales!!

Use the mirror, use your clothes and if you have to use the scales do it once a week at the same time and on the same day.

Stay the course and focus on the monthly trend.

I’ll be back soon!! Be well!!

The Top 20 Time-Tested Healthy Habits for a Longer Life

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Happy New Year!! I hope that you all had a great & safe new Year’s celebration.

Now the hangovers are done with and we are in the middle of resolution time I thought that I would share the following list with you…

So without further ado here are The Top 20 time-tested healthy habits to living longer that have survived for centuries…

1.     Eat fewer processed carbs, more plants, fruits and nuts.

2.      Have some lean protein with every meal.

Eat more of these with lean protein

3.      Put family first – Time with family is priceless and usually lowers stress levels and hence lowers cortisol which means les storage as belly fat.

4.       Take a walk. Move more we were not meant to sit all day or stay in the one spot. Have a stroll every 45 minutes – even if it is just for 5 minutes.

5.      Drink a glass of red wine daily. Reveratol etc etc – red still beats white for the good health properties.

6.      Reduce and manage stress by exercising, talking with a loved one or taking up a practise like Mediation, Tai Chi or Yoga. Bottomline stress kills so avoid it, reduce it or deal with it!

7.      Have a purpose find something that excites you when you wake up each morning.

8.      Spend more times outdoors – it will re-connect you with the world ourside your house & place of work.

9.      Be grateful – appreciate what you’ve got more than you rue what you do not.

10.  Have fun – do things that you enjoy, love life!

Move more, lift, push pull & play...

11.  Maintain a healthy body weight – recondition that etabolism, get leaner, eat better, avoid ingesting too much crap.

12.  Get regular exercise – push, pull. twist, run, walk, move weights, jump and play. Just move more. Remember we were designed to hunt, nit sit all day.

13.  Love and laugh – at the same time wherever possible (except when eating – messy…)

14.  Snack on nuts and low GI vegetables, low GI fruit and low fat cheese.

15.  Give something back. No esoteria here but paying things forward, giving when you whave wants seems to smooth the way…

16.  Eat 6 times a day – 3 ‘mains’ and 3 ‘snacks’

17. Eat a large breakfast with protein and good carbs.

18.  Eat a medium lunch –

19.  Eat a small dinner

20.  Drink plenty of water.

You can't get enough of this...

21.  Sleep when it’s dark.

22. Learn new things. It keeps you young, your brain working and lets you talk to others.

Well that was 22 but I couldn’t find anyhting about counting correctly when I researched this…

Next Post – we’re back into firing up your metabolism, getting leaner and some more hormone news…

Post Christmas – Recovery from Over Indulging…

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Hi – I hope that you all had a great Christmas day and Santa brought you what you wanted!!

Well Christmas dinner is over, done and dusted. And you’re feeling….well stuffed, over fed, pants too tight, got a good case of belly bloat going on and that furry tongue feeling that comes from either too much alcohol. too many sweet carbs or a mixture of both.

You mean there's more...

You know you should have followed the last post and eaten your Protein first but the honeyed veges looked too good, the egg nog was too plentiful and well you just let go and enjoyed youself. Another Christmas day come & gone and you feel a bit guilty and find part of your mind saying (again) never again..

Okay time to move past this, time to get back on track, tme to recognise that this was a temporary diversion and most of all time to repair some of the damage done.

So how to do this?

Firstly realise that letting go of your diet control once & a while is okay, just make sure that you climb back on the wagon.

Here’s how – your metabolism has been given a hiding, your digestive system has been stressed far beyond normal limits so you need to hit the ‘reset button’.

This little trick will do the what’s needed: Once Christmas day and the following one (Boxing Day here in Australia) are done then make a decision to stay away from all highly processed, high GI foods and focus on lean Protein, fresh fruit and fibrous vegetables. Add some healthy fats via nuts & avocado and you are well on the way to getting back on track.

You'll need lots of this...

This means waking up and having an omelette with some spanish onion and mushrooms in it and avoiding cereal & milk. It means grabbing an apple or a peach and some almonds for a snack, having big salads with olive oil dressing and chicken or turkey breast, it means avoiding breads, crackers or that the left over Christmas pudding, Pavlova or pie.

It means drinking a lot of water. A lot of water.

Eating like this will reduce the bloat, ease the stress on your digestive system and beat back those sugary carb cravings.

This works by allowing a number of things to happen – fewer carbs means your body has a chance to normalise & stabilise blood sugar levels after the havoc of the days just gone. Your pancreas gets a break and you insulin levels will drop also. Your body will release excess fluids (high sugary carbs creates water retention – and drinking extra water when eating lower carbs actually forces a situation where excess retained water is ‘let go’). High sugaery carbs also unleash the cravings monster and eating as described above will blunt these.

... and lots of these...

So December 27th or 28th get stuck into water and left over protein , veges and fruit. Pass on the potatoes, the bread and sweets, pie & cakes. Not only will you lose the bloat but you’ll feel better quicker and be back on track for a fit & lean 2011.

My best wishes for a Safe & Happy New Year – may 2011 be the year all your dreams come true!!

Try this Trick to Avoid Overeating on Christmas Day…

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Happy Festive Season to you & yours from me & mine!!

Look – we all know what is going to take place once the presents are opened, the hugs exchanged, and you and your family sit down for Christmas lunch – you’re going to eat too much, way too much.

If you’re like me, you vow every ear not to overindulge and every year you slip up. ( in my case it is particularly hard – Lynne is a gourmet class cook who loves to put on a huge spread for the family for Christmas and damn it she knows ALL my favourites!!)

The Calm Before the Storm...

The aromas of the Turkey, of the roast Pork, the leg of Lamb, the baked Ham; the sight of the salads, the roast vegetables, the fresh  prawns and sea food, then desserts – all of these combine to overwhelm even the best intentions and steeliest of wills.

So what to do?

How can we avoid eating until we are so full that we feel like the Michelin Man and need to have a lie down?

How can we avoid the latent guilt that comes up over the next few days and makes us feel bad about our lack of control?

It’s simple – apart from the most fanatical amongst us we really can’t… BUT there is one simple thing we can do that will give us at least a modicrum of control…

Eat your Protein foods first. (Hah!! You thought I was going to say use smaller plates, or drink a glass of water first, or chew on a chunk of cheese  – Nope – a very important part of Christmas is to celebrate and to let go – even if it is just a bit!)

Start off with the Ham or the Turkey, with the Pork or the Lamb or the Prawns – just eat your proteins first.

If you have been reading this blog for a little while  you’ll know that Protein foods not only fill you up faster, but they assist in the the secretion of the chemical messengers that let your brain know you are full.

In general it takes about 20 minutes from the time your stomach is full until your brain gets this message, but Protein has the ability to send get that message from your stomach to your brain much faster than other nutrients. Protein promotes feelings of satiety (feeling full & satisfied at the same time) better than any other food.

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Eating your Protein first will prevents over eating because it helps you realize you’re well-fed and not starving!! Even better, Protein will not elevate your blood sugar as dramatically as high GI ‘fast’ carbs. A rapid rise in blood sugar (almost an instant hyperglycemia experienced at just about every Christmas Dinner) can actually make you feel more hungry by stimulating the hormone Ghrelin which is the ‘feed me more’ appetite stimulating hormone. Protein shuts down this hormone – a good thing!

Even worse a sugar ‘high’ actually switches off your ‘stop eating you’re full’ mechanisms so you get shaky and start shovelling food in – usually faster and faster, without even really tasting it.

Instead, protein keeps your blood sugars within a normal range so you don’t go through the rollercoaster highs and lows that make you feel even less satisfied.

So Protein first, then eat the high fibre vegetables (think brocolli, green beans, asparaghus etc). These too will add your sense of satiety so you feel full & satisfied.

Then it is open slather – go for the high carb, low fibre fare but you’ll likely find that your servings will be smaller and you will need less to satisfy your taste for them.

There you have it – a simple plan for Christmas that will enable you eat well, feel full & satisfied, indulge without bloating and more importantly not upset the cook by eating like a monk!!

I hope that you & your families have a great Festive Season, no matter what your spiritual beliefs.

May your God go with you!

Enjoy!