5 Surprising Things That Burn Fat
Increase your fat-burning using these 5 simple tricks
Want to burn more fat? Who doesn't, right?
So here are 5 tips to help you do it...
TIP 1
Eliminate the Starch
Starches, such as rice, potatoes, some veggies, oats, etc. are often considered "health foods."
While they can be healthy, they can also pack on stomach fat big time!
Well... how does THAT work?
Simple: Timing is everything.
And we take a "weekly" approach to foods rather than a daily approach. This keeps your metabolism guessing. If your body cannot figure out what you're up to, fat burning is that much more powerful. And you can get by with eating starches... at least at specific times on specific days. It all depends on when you work out!
So it is a simple rule when it comes to starches. Only eat a starch in the meal following a workout! You will be replacing the glycogen that you burned working out instead of that glycogen getting converted to fat because your storehouse is already full. The body can only store approximately 300-500 calories of glycogen!
TIP 2
Can the PoP
This one is really hard for me. I've been hooked on diet-soda on and off for years. When I go to get into top shape I have to get rid of the diet-sodas... yes, DIET-sodas. Need I say "real" sodas too? They are loaded with sugar.
Why diet-sodas? A recent study revealed that people who drank diet-sodas actually increased body fat when compared to those who drank sugar-sodas. What the... ??
Yep. Your body cannot be fooled by aspartame and chemicals. Sorry, but that's the truth.
What you need to be drinking: A quart of pure water per 50 lbs of bodyweight a day.
I mix it with lemon and a bit of Stevia (an herbal sweetener) and make lemonade. It's awesome!
Or a nutrilite twist tube to get added vitamins and anti-oxidants.
TIP 3
Stay Hungry
Arnold's first movie was "Stay Hungry" (well, after "Pumping Iron" that is). You cannot rest on your butt and stay hungry. You cannot think you've "arrived" and stay hungry.
It takes a special person to be hungry... and an even greater one to stay that way.
I want you to stay hungry in two ways: In how you workout and literally... stay a bit hungry before you go to bed. Not "starving"... just a bit hungry.
For your workouts, I have a great solution. Get into the gym on a regular, consistent basis and let us help you melt body fat.
You see, progression -- "forced" progression -- is the best way to stay hungry. Progression is built into our training System.
As far as staying hungry at night? Check with your doctor and if he/she okays it take 500mg of potassium and 1000mg of magnesium/calcium a few hours prior to bed. This helps with the hunger pangs. Also, keep hard-boiled eggs in the fridge. If you get really hungry, eat one with half the yolk (toss the other half.) It keeps me full for an hour at least.
TIP 4
Cardio Clarity
Hours and hours of cardio a day is not the answer. However, you can do "light" cardio (i.e. brisk walking, or riding the bike at 60% of your max) just to burn off calories. That's okay... and personally I don't find it that boring if I'm watching a TV show. It does not interfere with my main fat loss exercise (weight training... YES!) And it burns off about 400 calories an hour.
What does work is early morning fasting cardio... but you only need 15-20 minutes when you are running on empty.
TIP 5
Get Raw At Night
Raw veggies with your last meal and as a snack will really help your fat burning going in the right direction. Keep an assortment of cut up veggies in the fridge for convenience. Give this a try. The fat loss is well worth it.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Fat Facts: Good Fats vs. Bad Fats
The right fats are actually good for you.
After so many years of being told otherwise, the idea that fat is good for you is hard to swallow, but true. Are you eating the right type of fat? There are good fats and bad fats to look for in your diet.
Fat Facts: What's Good About Fat?
Fat is the target of much scorn, yet it serves up health benefits you can't live without.
Fat supplies essential fatty acids (EFAs). "Your body is incapable of producing the EFAs, known as linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid, so it must derive them from food," explains Wahida Karmally DrPH, RD, professor of nutrition at Columbia University and director of nutrition at The Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.
In addition, fat ferries vitamins A, D, E, and K -- known as the fat-soluble vitamins -- into and around the body.
"Fat is also necessary for maintaining healthy skin, and it plays a central role in promoting proper eyesight and brain development in babies and children," Karmally tells WebMD.
For all the good it does, fat is often fingered as the culprit in the battle of the bulge. It's easy to understand why. At 9 calories per gram, any type of fat -- good or bad -- packs more than twice the calories of carbohydrate and protein.
Yet, it's a mistake to equate dietary fat with body fat. You can get fat eating carbs and protein, even if you eat little dietary fat.
"Excess calories from any source are what's responsible for weight gain, not fat per se," says Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, professor of nutrition at Tufts University and director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory. "In the scheme of things, total calorie intake matters the most."
Fat Facts: What's Bad About Fat?
There is a well-established link between fat intake and heart disease and stroke risk.
Diets rich in saturated fat and trans fat (both "bad" fats) raise blood cholesterol concentrations, contributing to clogged arteries that block the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart and brain.
But there's a caveat: Very low-fat diets -- 15% or 34 grams of fat in a 2,000-calorie diet -- may not reduce artery-clogging compounds in the bloodstream in everyone. Nor can most people maintain a very low-fat diet in the long run. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that we get 20% to 35% of our calories from fat. Most Americans get 34% or more.
When it comes to dietary fat, quantity and quality count.
Dietary Fat: What's Right for You?
When examining food labels for fat content, it pays to know your daily fat allowance to understand how a serving of that food fits into your diet.
"People tend to buy the same foods over and over, so it's worth it to read labels and find foods you like that are low in saturated and Trans fat," Lichtenstein says.
The Facts on Unsaturated Fats
Dietary fat is categorized as saturated or unsaturated. Unsaturated fats -- monounsaturated and polyunsaturated -- should be the dominant type of fat in a balanced diet, because they reduce the risk of clogged arteries.
While foods tend to contain a mixture of fats, monounsaturated fat is the primary fat found in:
• olive, canola, and sesame oils
• avocado
• nuts, such as almonds, cashews, and pistachios; peanuts and peanut butter
Polyunsaturated fat is prevalent in:
• corn, cottonseed, and safflower oils
• sunflower seeds and sunflower oil
• flaxseed and flaxseed oil
• soybeans and soybean oil
• tub margarine
• seafood
The Facts on Omega-3 Fats
When it comes to good-for-you fat, seafood stands out. Seafood harbors omega-3 fats called DHA (docosahexanoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentanoic acid), unsaturated fats considered central to a child's brain development and eyesight, and for heart health.
Omega-3 fats are linked to lower levels of blood triglycerides (fats), reduced risk of clots that block the flow of blood to the heart and brain, and a normal heart beat, among other benefits.
Seafood contains preformed omega-3 fats, the type the body prefers. Adults and children can make DHA and EPA from the essential fat alpha-linolenic acid, found in foods such as walnuts and flax and avocado. Fatty, cold-water fish, such as salmon, sardines, and tuna are rich in preformed omega-3s.
The Facts on Unhealthy Saturated Fat
When eaten to excess, saturated fat contributes to clogged arteries that block blood flow, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Saturated fat is worse than dietary cholesterol when it comes to raising blood cholesterol levels, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
Saturated fat is concentrated in fatty meats, and full-fat dairy foods including cheese, ice cream, and whole milk. Animal foods supply most saturated fat in our diet. But highly saturated vegetable fats such as coconut oil, palm, palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter are also unhealthy. They're widely used in packaged foods including milk chocolate, cookies, crackers, and snack chips.
There's no dietary requirement for saturated fat because your body produces all that it needs. Yet, there's no need to completely avoid foods with saturated fat in the name of good health. Foods such as meat, cheese, and milk pack a multitude of nutrients such as protein, vitamins, and minerals. Just try to keep saturated fat to less than 7% of all the fat you eat.
The Facts on Trans Fat: A Bad Fat in a League of Its Own
Like saturated fat, Trans fat contributes to clogged arteries. Even worse, it's been linked to certain cancers, including breast and colorectal, in population studies.
Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health have estimated that eliminating trans fats from the American diet could prevent about a quarter of a million heart attacks and related deaths every year.
Trace amounts of naturally-occurring trans fat are present in fatty meats and full-fat dairy foods. But, by far, most of the trans fat we eat is the end product of hydrogenation. Hydrogenation (the addition of hydrogen) converts oil into a firmer, tastier product with a longer shelf life. In the process, some of the unsaturated fat in the oil becomes saturated.
Partially hydrogenated fat -- trans fat -- is gradually being removed from most packaged foods. But it's still found in some stick margarine, shortening, fast food, cookies, crackers, granola bars, and microwave popcorn.
There is no dietary requirement for trans fat, although it's nearly impossible to completely avoid. It helps to read nutrition food labels, but there's a hitch.
"Even when the food label lists the trans fat content of a processed food as zero, a serving may contain up to nearly half a gram of trans fat by law," says Karmally.
Small amounts of some "trans-fat-free" foods can really add up. For example, a box of cookies labeled "0 trans fats" could actually have half a gram per serving. Thus four cookies could contain close to 2 grams of trans fat -- the upper limit suggested for many adults.
3 Easy Ways to Avoid Bad Fats
Here are three simple ways to avoid bad fats, including trans fat:
1. Avoid packaged foods when possible. Instead, choose whole foods, or foods you make at home. For example, you can make your own macaroni and cheese from scratch, or your own flavored rice mixes.
2. Eat lean sources of protein, low-fat dairy foods, whole grains, legumes -- such as garbanzo beans and black beans -- and fruits and vegetables.
3. Use healthy oils such as olive, canola, and sunflower oil, and small amounts of tub margarine for cooking and flavoring foods.
"It takes more than counting fat grams to protect your health," Lichtenstein says.
All this being said,there is a great new product that makes getting a balance of these goods fats into your daily diet in a very unique and easy manner. Omega Plus Oil is our recommendation: Available at Pro-Fitness Training for $12.99 a bottle
Omega Plus Oil
Product Description
Olivado is based at Kerikeri in New Zealand's beautiful Bay of Islands. The main business of Olivado involves avocados and olives; two very healthy, wonderful fruits. Their products are pressed at their own purpose-built plant, which is unique in the world in that it is able to produce high-quality, extra virgin, cold-pressed oil from both fruits using the same process. The plant is also the largest continuous process plant producing these types of oils in Australia.
Their Omega Plus Extra Virgin Oils combine what they do best - avocado oil and olive oil blended with flax seed oil. Olivado Omega Oil is selected from natural oils to produce an optimal blend of omega 9, omega 6, and omega 3 fatty acids. These latter two fatty acids are an essential source of necessary nutrients in our diet. Olivado Omega Oil is free of trans fatty acids, is low in saturated fatty acids, and contains no cholesterol. Other micro nutrients essential for good health and contained in this oil are Vitamin E, chlorophyll (the green color), lutein, and beta Sitosterol. This is the ideal nutritious oil for a balanced diet, in keeping with the Mediterranean lifestyle which is known to reduce the risk of diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke.
Pro-Fitness Training: Committed to Optimal Health
The right fats are actually good for you.
After so many years of being told otherwise, the idea that fat is good for you is hard to swallow, but true. Are you eating the right type of fat? There are good fats and bad fats to look for in your diet.
Fat Facts: What's Good About Fat?
Fat is the target of much scorn, yet it serves up health benefits you can't live without.
Fat supplies essential fatty acids (EFAs). "Your body is incapable of producing the EFAs, known as linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid, so it must derive them from food," explains Wahida Karmally DrPH, RD, professor of nutrition at Columbia University and director of nutrition at The Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.
In addition, fat ferries vitamins A, D, E, and K -- known as the fat-soluble vitamins -- into and around the body.
"Fat is also necessary for maintaining healthy skin, and it plays a central role in promoting proper eyesight and brain development in babies and children," Karmally tells WebMD.
For all the good it does, fat is often fingered as the culprit in the battle of the bulge. It's easy to understand why. At 9 calories per gram, any type of fat -- good or bad -- packs more than twice the calories of carbohydrate and protein.
Yet, it's a mistake to equate dietary fat with body fat. You can get fat eating carbs and protein, even if you eat little dietary fat.
"Excess calories from any source are what's responsible for weight gain, not fat per se," says Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, professor of nutrition at Tufts University and director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory. "In the scheme of things, total calorie intake matters the most."
Fat Facts: What's Bad About Fat?
There is a well-established link between fat intake and heart disease and stroke risk.
Diets rich in saturated fat and trans fat (both "bad" fats) raise blood cholesterol concentrations, contributing to clogged arteries that block the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart and brain.
But there's a caveat: Very low-fat diets -- 15% or 34 grams of fat in a 2,000-calorie diet -- may not reduce artery-clogging compounds in the bloodstream in everyone. Nor can most people maintain a very low-fat diet in the long run. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that we get 20% to 35% of our calories from fat. Most Americans get 34% or more.
When it comes to dietary fat, quantity and quality count.
Dietary Fat: What's Right for You?
When examining food labels for fat content, it pays to know your daily fat allowance to understand how a serving of that food fits into your diet.
"People tend to buy the same foods over and over, so it's worth it to read labels and find foods you like that are low in saturated and Trans fat," Lichtenstein says.
The Facts on Unsaturated Fats
Dietary fat is categorized as saturated or unsaturated. Unsaturated fats -- monounsaturated and polyunsaturated -- should be the dominant type of fat in a balanced diet, because they reduce the risk of clogged arteries.
While foods tend to contain a mixture of fats, monounsaturated fat is the primary fat found in:
• olive, canola, and sesame oils
• avocado
• nuts, such as almonds, cashews, and pistachios; peanuts and peanut butter
Polyunsaturated fat is prevalent in:
• corn, cottonseed, and safflower oils
• sunflower seeds and sunflower oil
• flaxseed and flaxseed oil
• soybeans and soybean oil
• tub margarine
• seafood
The Facts on Omega-3 Fats
When it comes to good-for-you fat, seafood stands out. Seafood harbors omega-3 fats called DHA (docosahexanoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentanoic acid), unsaturated fats considered central to a child's brain development and eyesight, and for heart health.
Omega-3 fats are linked to lower levels of blood triglycerides (fats), reduced risk of clots that block the flow of blood to the heart and brain, and a normal heart beat, among other benefits.
Seafood contains preformed omega-3 fats, the type the body prefers. Adults and children can make DHA and EPA from the essential fat alpha-linolenic acid, found in foods such as walnuts and flax and avocado. Fatty, cold-water fish, such as salmon, sardines, and tuna are rich in preformed omega-3s.
The Facts on Unhealthy Saturated Fat
When eaten to excess, saturated fat contributes to clogged arteries that block blood flow, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Saturated fat is worse than dietary cholesterol when it comes to raising blood cholesterol levels, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
Saturated fat is concentrated in fatty meats, and full-fat dairy foods including cheese, ice cream, and whole milk. Animal foods supply most saturated fat in our diet. But highly saturated vegetable fats such as coconut oil, palm, palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter are also unhealthy. They're widely used in packaged foods including milk chocolate, cookies, crackers, and snack chips.
There's no dietary requirement for saturated fat because your body produces all that it needs. Yet, there's no need to completely avoid foods with saturated fat in the name of good health. Foods such as meat, cheese, and milk pack a multitude of nutrients such as protein, vitamins, and minerals. Just try to keep saturated fat to less than 7% of all the fat you eat.
The Facts on Trans Fat: A Bad Fat in a League of Its Own
Like saturated fat, Trans fat contributes to clogged arteries. Even worse, it's been linked to certain cancers, including breast and colorectal, in population studies.
Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health have estimated that eliminating trans fats from the American diet could prevent about a quarter of a million heart attacks and related deaths every year.
Trace amounts of naturally-occurring trans fat are present in fatty meats and full-fat dairy foods. But, by far, most of the trans fat we eat is the end product of hydrogenation. Hydrogenation (the addition of hydrogen) converts oil into a firmer, tastier product with a longer shelf life. In the process, some of the unsaturated fat in the oil becomes saturated.
Partially hydrogenated fat -- trans fat -- is gradually being removed from most packaged foods. But it's still found in some stick margarine, shortening, fast food, cookies, crackers, granola bars, and microwave popcorn.
There is no dietary requirement for trans fat, although it's nearly impossible to completely avoid. It helps to read nutrition food labels, but there's a hitch.
"Even when the food label lists the trans fat content of a processed food as zero, a serving may contain up to nearly half a gram of trans fat by law," says Karmally.
Small amounts of some "trans-fat-free" foods can really add up. For example, a box of cookies labeled "0 trans fats" could actually have half a gram per serving. Thus four cookies could contain close to 2 grams of trans fat -- the upper limit suggested for many adults.
3 Easy Ways to Avoid Bad Fats
Here are three simple ways to avoid bad fats, including trans fat:
1. Avoid packaged foods when possible. Instead, choose whole foods, or foods you make at home. For example, you can make your own macaroni and cheese from scratch, or your own flavored rice mixes.
2. Eat lean sources of protein, low-fat dairy foods, whole grains, legumes -- such as garbanzo beans and black beans -- and fruits and vegetables.
3. Use healthy oils such as olive, canola, and sunflower oil, and small amounts of tub margarine for cooking and flavoring foods.
"It takes more than counting fat grams to protect your health," Lichtenstein says.
All this being said,there is a great new product that makes getting a balance of these goods fats into your daily diet in a very unique and easy manner. Omega Plus Oil is our recommendation: Available at Pro-Fitness Training for $12.99 a bottle
Omega Plus Oil
Product Description
Olivado is based at Kerikeri in New Zealand's beautiful Bay of Islands. The main business of Olivado involves avocados and olives; two very healthy, wonderful fruits. Their products are pressed at their own purpose-built plant, which is unique in the world in that it is able to produce high-quality, extra virgin, cold-pressed oil from both fruits using the same process. The plant is also the largest continuous process plant producing these types of oils in Australia.
Their Omega Plus Extra Virgin Oils combine what they do best - avocado oil and olive oil blended with flax seed oil. Olivado Omega Oil is selected from natural oils to produce an optimal blend of omega 9, omega 6, and omega 3 fatty acids. These latter two fatty acids are an essential source of necessary nutrients in our diet. Olivado Omega Oil is free of trans fatty acids, is low in saturated fatty acids, and contains no cholesterol. Other micro nutrients essential for good health and contained in this oil are Vitamin E, chlorophyll (the green color), lutein, and beta Sitosterol. This is the ideal nutritious oil for a balanced diet, in keeping with the Mediterranean lifestyle which is known to reduce the risk of diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke.
Pro-Fitness Training: Committed to Optimal Health
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Weight Training is NOT a program!
Weight Training is NOT a Program!
Yeah, you heard me. Weight training is not a fitness program. It's part of a program.
A Pro_Fitness Client, in my opinion, is an athlete. An athlete in today's world can't get it done just by adding resistance to a movement. You need more than that. You may be training for looks, but based on your lifestyle you need more than just resistance training to get the body to look right and fly right.
Even if you're training two hours per day, seven days per week, that's probably all the activity there is. Fourteen hours out of 168. About 8%. And let's face it, it's more like five hours a week really — closer to 3%. So you don"t have Time to work out?
The rest of the time? Well, you're probably sitting on your butt — in the car, at a desk, in a chair watching TV. We spend hours inactive, with slouched posture and shortened muscles. We need to fix that, and just adding weight and loading the structure isn't the key. We need a complete program.
You need to address seven areas:
1. Movement Preparation: More than just mobility, this is a process of undoing the damage that you do the other 23 hours of the day — freeing the hips, activating the glutes, developing range of motion, and working each joint as it was designed.
2. Prehabilitation: Quick, hands up if you've ever known anyone that has had a shoulder injury. That means that there are areas of "concern" or weakness in the body that we need to address up front. Throw in some YTWLs and some external rotator work as a resiliency tool.
3. Core Stability: Despite what some coaches are saying, the evidence is clear: You need to train the core for stability, and direct training activates the core more than indirect work. Spend a couple of minutes per workout on core stability.
4. Power: Every client should be power training. It's the quality we lose the fastest as we age, yet it's easy to keep. Make sure you have some explosive movements in your program — not necessarily with bars and dumbbells — maybe just some bodyweight stuff.
5. Resistance Training: 'Nuff said.
6. Energy System Development: Do your cardio, but remember to mix it up. Cardio doesn't mean "aerobics on the treadmill." Use dumbbells, sprints, and complexes as well as longer-duration cardio.
7. Regeneration and Recovery: You need to stretch and foam roll at the very least. If you can recover better and faster, then each training session can be harder... and your results better.
Yeah, you heard me. Weight training is not a fitness program. It's part of a program.
A Pro_Fitness Client, in my opinion, is an athlete. An athlete in today's world can't get it done just by adding resistance to a movement. You need more than that. You may be training for looks, but based on your lifestyle you need more than just resistance training to get the body to look right and fly right.
Even if you're training two hours per day, seven days per week, that's probably all the activity there is. Fourteen hours out of 168. About 8%. And let's face it, it's more like five hours a week really — closer to 3%. So you don"t have Time to work out?
The rest of the time? Well, you're probably sitting on your butt — in the car, at a desk, in a chair watching TV. We spend hours inactive, with slouched posture and shortened muscles. We need to fix that, and just adding weight and loading the structure isn't the key. We need a complete program.
You need to address seven areas:
1. Movement Preparation: More than just mobility, this is a process of undoing the damage that you do the other 23 hours of the day — freeing the hips, activating the glutes, developing range of motion, and working each joint as it was designed.
2. Prehabilitation: Quick, hands up if you've ever known anyone that has had a shoulder injury. That means that there are areas of "concern" or weakness in the body that we need to address up front. Throw in some YTWLs and some external rotator work as a resiliency tool.
3. Core Stability: Despite what some coaches are saying, the evidence is clear: You need to train the core for stability, and direct training activates the core more than indirect work. Spend a couple of minutes per workout on core stability.
4. Power: Every client should be power training. It's the quality we lose the fastest as we age, yet it's easy to keep. Make sure you have some explosive movements in your program — not necessarily with bars and dumbbells — maybe just some bodyweight stuff.
5. Resistance Training: 'Nuff said.
6. Energy System Development: Do your cardio, but remember to mix it up. Cardio doesn't mean "aerobics on the treadmill." Use dumbbells, sprints, and complexes as well as longer-duration cardio.
7. Regeneration and Recovery: You need to stretch and foam roll at the very least. If you can recover better and faster, then each training session can be harder... and your results better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
