Belly Fat Loser

Can swearing off donuts and cutting your calories back to 800 a day really help you lose weight and keep if off forever? Well, losing the deep fried, sugar coated fat rings is an excellent idea, but "going on a diet" is seldom a recipe for long term weight loss success. Check out this excellent guest post by author Matt Stone for the inside scoop......

If there is one prevailing myth in the health industry, it’s the cookie-cutter theory that reducing your calorie intake will not only help you to slim down – it will also improve your health.  While there might be a few exceptions, and there’s no question that fitness and bodybuilding competitors must cut calories to get in what they call “peak form” for shows, for the general public this simply isn’t the case.  When your average person takes a simple and “straightforward” approach to dieting by cutting back on calorie intake, the short-term result is weight loss, followed by eventual weight gain.

Obesity scholar Robert Pool, author of Fat: Fighting the Obesity Epidemic writes:

“There was just one problem with this straightforward approach to weight loss: it didn’t work.  When put on a diet, some patients would take off some weight – ten, twenty, perhaps even fifty or more pounds – but it wouldn’t stay off.  Almost inevitably the pounds would come back, often bringing some friends with them.”

With simply cutting back calories without any other changes, this is the rule not the exception.  But there are also many indications that this new, post-diet weight is distributed differently.  Your body, after calorie restriction, typically holds less lean body mass and a lot more fat.  And this isn’t just ordinary fat, but visceral or the dreaded “belly fat.”

Paul Campos, author of The Obesity Myth: Why America’s Obsession with Weight is Hazardous to Your Health
summed it up best in the following passage:

“…certain aspects of the medical literature are suggestive, in particular studies that indicate weight cycling (a.k.a. yo-yo dieting) is a major factor in the development of clogged arteries, congestive heart failure, hypertension, and other serious health problems.  Indeed, dieters as a group run up to double the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes when compared to ‘overweight’ people who do not diet.  This may be a result of the fact that dieting often leads to bingeing, which is extremely unhealthy, since it is driven by cravings for high-fat, high-sugar foods (indeed, the more often a person diets, the stronger these cravings become).  These foods, when consumed by people who have been depriving themselves of adequate caloric intake, are quickly metabolized into visceral body fat, which is far more dangerous to health than subcutaneous fat.  (Large people who do not diet tend to have high percentages of subcutaneous fat, but low percentages of visceral fat.  Also, physical activity burns visceral fat very quickly, which helps explain why, as we shall see, activity levels are far more important to health than weight.)”

To get an even clearer portrait of what changes the human body undergoes after you return to normal eating after a prolonged low-calorie diet, there’s no better example out there than the most thorough study ever conducted on calorie restriction.  This study was done back in the 1940’s at the University of Minnesota by the famous doctor Ancel Keys.  32 men endured a low calorie intake of just 1,700 calories per day for 24 weeks.  During the 24 weeks they of course lost tons of weight, both body fat and a considerable amount of lean body mass.

When the low calorie phase finally ended the men, who had become depressed, lethargic, neurotic, and otherwise destroyed by this insufficient amount of food (that is ironically more calories than many modern-day diet authors recommend), ate like ravenous beasts!  In the unrestricted group, daily calorie intakes were frequently seen well above the 5,000 calorie mark, with pronounced cravings for “ice cream and pastries” just as Campos points out in the quote mentioned earlier.

Even more interesting than that is what Keys revealed by carefully monitoring body composition and anthropometric measurements as the men regained all that lost weight and then some.

“…subjects…became concerned about their increasing sluggishness, general flabbiness, and the tendency of fat to accumulate in the abdomen and buttocks.”

That pretty much says it all, but the actual data is specific and quite telling.  At 12-weeks post diet, the upper arm, calf, and thigh had only recouped 45,46, and 54 percent of their lost size respectively.  The waist measurement, however, was already more than 100% restored!

By week 33 of refeeding the waist measurement was far higher than it was at the start of the study in all 32 subjects, and the average man in the study was 40% fatter than he was at the beginning of the experiment.  In other words, men who had no prior weight problem developed a weight problem from doing a torturous low-calorie diet, and then falling off of it, as anyone who doesn’t develop and eating disorder (exponentially more dangerous than being obese) in the process of dieting will almost invariably do.

This all takes place due to the increase in the activity of an enzyme in the cells surrounding the liver and abdomen called 11-Beta HSD.  When you try to starve yourself, it upregulates its activity, and what it does is suck up inactive cortisone in your bloodstream and convert it to cortisol in the fat cells themselves.  This leads to excess cortisol production in this specific target area, and the manufacture of body fat out of every extra calorie you consume – which you most likely will because this all coincides with ravenous hunger and astronomical increases in food cravings.

The moral of the story is simple.  If you have belly fat you’d like to get rid of, the first step is to stop panicking about it.  The more irrational you become about your little potbelly, the more likely you will be to do something irrational and counterproductive to get rid of it – like do a severe bout of calorie restriction against your better judgment and despite the fact that you failed with that approach a dozen times already.

Instead, a smart approach in which you focus far more on the QUALITY of your food instead of the quantity, while engaging in some fun, very vigorous activity that engages large groups of muscles together (many sports, dance, Olympic-style weightlifting moves, plyometrics, circuit training, etc.) on a regular basis, is a much better strategy.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that never denying yourself food when you are hungry, and staying as far away from a treadmill as possible, is an almost foolproof long-term strategy for better health and better body composition.  Eating a sane and not overly restricted nutritious whole foods diet to appetite, doing hard but short sessions of exercise that you enjoy and don’t have to motivate yourself to do against your will, and keeping it up for years in a sustainable way makes belly fat quite scarce in the vast majority of people.

Matt Stone is an independent health researcher and author of six books including 180 Degree Metabolism: The Smart Strategy for Fat Loss. Find out more about Stone’s pioneering and breakthrough research now at www.180metabolism.com

If you’ve crawled out from under the Geico rock any time in the last few months and expressed any interest in weight loss whatsoever, you couldn’t have failed to notice the popularity of HCG rapid weight loss programs. I actually heard about this stuff almost a year ago, although I couldn’t have imagined the extent that it’s popularity would grow. Here’s how I had the biggest shock I’ve had for quite some time.

A Huge Shock for Me-

I was going to a client’s house that I hadn’t seen for a while. Now, this guy is a lottery winner that doesn’t do all that much but play around with computers, take his kids to wherever it is they have to go, and work on his house. He can afford that luxury, since working like the rest of us is now an option for him.

This guy is not exactly the paragon of physical fitness. Far from it, actually. Although he has an exercise room in his somewhat palatial home, from the looks of him in the past I doubt he’d ever managed to find his way in there. He wasn’t just a few pounds overweight, he was clinically obese, running about 100lbs over his ideal weight, and not because he was built like Jay Cutler, either.

So, I was expecting more of the same on this visit. When he opened the door though, I about crapped my pants! He was skinnier than I am. Holy crap! I almost didn’t recognize him. Now people say that all the time as a point of emphasis, but it was really true. If I’d passed him walking down the street or seen him at the supermarket, I would really not have recognized him. The change was that dramatic.

Needless to say, I had to find out what he’d done, because I’d never seen anyone lose that much weight, that fast. I thought he must be doing something crazy or had had some sort of surgery. As I’d come to discover, that premonition was partially true. I was about to find out about HCG diets, and how they can lead to radical weight loss in a hurry. However, for all their effectiveness, and it (at least in his case) is considerable, the plan he was on required something that I still to this day think is a bit crazy.

Over the next 20 minutes, he detailed exactly what he’d been doing for the last 3 months. First of all, he asked whether I’d ever heard of HCG. Initially I thought he was talking about human growth hormone (HGH), and he was just a bit mixed up in his abbreviation. There wasn’t any mix up however. He knew exactly what he was talking about. He was on an HGC rapid weight loss program, and from the looks of him, it not only worked, it was revolutionary!

What The Heck is HCG and How Does It Work So Well, So Fast?
He talked about his doctor, some European guy with an accent, and how he’d hooked him up with this weight loss program that promised to help him lose weight, because like most people, he’d struggled to lose weight for years, and had never managed to get things under control. He said that HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin, I had to look it up) is a naturally occurring hormone that’s found in pregnant women. That’s something else I had to look up for verification, because I had trouble believing that a pregnant woman’s hormone, especially when taken by a man, could lead to such radical weight loss.

Do Real Medical Studies Back This Stuff Up?
First popularized for weight loss by leading British endocrinologist A.T.W. Simeons, HCG hasn’t seen the extensive study of some other weight loss protocols. What has been done however, has shown somewhat mixed results, and many studies have exhibited “poor methodology” according to the AMA. There’s no arguing with the results I saw from my client however, and thousands of others have seen similar results and are quite happy with them.
The Crazy Part About HGC
Now for the crazyness and why you lose weight on HCG. When I referred to crazy earlier, I was talking about the number of calories you eat while losing weight on HCG, or more correctly, don’t eat. You see, he was trying to get me to believe that he was only eating 500 calories a day. It sure took some convincing, but eventually he managed to get me to come around. I still think eating only 500 calories each day is a bit nuts, and I’d never do it. He assured me that he never felt the need to eat any more than that, although I’d have though you’d feel pangs of hunger all day long.

He and many others who have and are losing weight on HCG swear by such low daily caloric intakes though. In fact, that’s part of why these programs are so controversial. If you’ve investigated weight loss at all, you know that 500 calories is far too low by conventional standards. Typically, what happens when you subject your body to such treatment is that it starts to fight back. As you decrease your caloric intake, your body ramps down your basal metabolic rate to compensate.

Remember, the human animal has been around for some time; long before Wal-Mart and Safeway entered the picture. Back in the day, when you were feeling a bit famished, you couldn’t just trip down to the local A&P for a bag of whatever. No, back then you’d better start finding your food a heck of a long time before those hunger pangs started, because it may take you a few hours to find anything worth eating, and that would be on a good day!

To ensure our species’ survival, many different systems interacted, each helping the other to avoid a sure death at the hands of a cruel Mother Nature. One of the mechanisms that got more than it’s fair share of testing was your metabolism, or how your body turns food into energy (a very abbreviated explanation). It turns out that when your metabolism is slower, you burn fewer calories and require less food. Now, that’s just the ticket if you’ve been without food for the better part of a week, because ti helps keep you alive and kicking until that deer wanders by.

What worked out just perfectly for bear skin clad hunter gatherers just isn’t so hot in the time of Facebook, turbocharged Porsches, and 3D TV. The problem is that when we dramatically restrict our caloric intake, our body has no way of knowing that there’s a Safeway 2 blocks away. Instead, it thinks you’re still roaming the Great Plains, hoping to spot a buffalo, or even a small prairie dog you could use to get some welcome calories. To make sure that you don’t run out of fuel any sooner than absolutely necessary, your body turns down the flame a few notches.

So now, instead of creating a calorie deficit from your restricted calorie diet, you’re just about back to where you started. The explanation for HGC is that it keeps your metabolism from ratcheting back, and moreover, it predisposes your body to use fat for fuel more than it otherwise would. It actually forces your body to metabolize fat, instead of canalizing your lean muscle tissue, as would normally happen in such circumstances.

That’s why you lose so much weight while taking it. Another effect is that fat soluble nutrients unbind more easily in your bloodstream, which accounts for the sense of near euphoria many HGC dieters report. Of course that may just be because they’re finally losing the weight they’ve tried to chip away for so long.

If you’d like to try an HCG rapid weight loss program, it’s fairly radical, so make sure that you’ re big enough to really need it. People merely 20 – 30 lbs overweight need not apply. That would be like killing a squirrel with a .30-06; effective, but overkill for the job. Also, it’s not going to win any awards for the the cheapest diet program of the year, because it is fairly expensive, although I suppose you could argue that, because of the results many people get with this stuff, it is still a great value.

Try as I might, even after seeing the dramatic results first hand, I’m still having a problem getting past the 500 daily calorie thing. If you do try it, make sure your food is very nutritionally dense, and consider some supplements to give you what a 500 calorie diet leaves out. When eating such low calorie levels, you’re not eliminating the need to get all your essential vitamins, minerals, and other micro-nutrients. A chat with your health care provider wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

To discover whether you can use an HCG rapid weight loss program to help lose the fat you’ve been trying to get rid of for so long, click on the link below now to check out doctor recommended HCG Ultra Diet Drops. They are confident you’ll love this program and find it easy to lose weight. Actually, they know it’s like weight loss heroin; once you discover how easy it is, it will be tough to stop using it.
HCG Ultra Diet Drops

Full Disclosure: If you do end up using their program, I’ll get a few bucks for sending you their way. It’s how I keep the lights on and pay for the bandwidth costs here. I just thought you should know.

This is a chimp's brain, but yours can make all the difference between gaining weight and losing it. Your mind is a terrible thing to waste, especially when it plays such as big role in weight loss.

You’re not only what you eat, you are also what you think. Research is beginning to bear out the truth of the biblical psalm “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” What you dwell on will, over time, become your reality.

This means you have the ability to change your life by first getting a very clear mental image of what you want, and for those who want to be healthy and lose extra weight, this can be one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal. In medical studies, it has been shown that people who receive a placebo but believe they are receiving an effective medication are just as likely to experience healing as those who receive the real medication. You can use your mind’s strength and your body’s natural healing powers to reach your goals.

The first thing you need to cultivate is an attitude of gratitude. When you are grateful for what you already have, you create positive energy, just as constant complaining and dissatisfaction creates negative energy. The subconscious mind only deals in positives, so replace all your self-loathing with, “I am so grateful for my healthy body.”

Although it sounds simplistic, your subconscious mind will, over time, hear that and seek to make it true. As you repeat positive mantras like this to yourself in a regular basis, you will be surprised to find that they begin to manifest in your life. This is because your thoughts will turn into actions that lead you toward what you are grateful for – in this case, a healthy body.

There are a variety of ways you can begin this process. First, write out your goal to be healthy; be very specific about what you want your weight to be, how you want to feel, and what you want to be able to do with your healthy body. Next, turn each of these specifics into a positive mantra like the one above, but make it a statement in the present tense, such as “I am so grateful that I feel so much energy.” Repeat these mantras to yourself twice a day, and every time you catch yourself being negative, replace the negative thoughts with your new mantras. You can also use hypnosis and self-hypnosis techniques to reinforce these thoughts.

Your body is an amazing, healing, rejuvenating machine, and by telling it how grateful you are for its health and vitality, you literally become healthy and vital. Think of your mental abilities as if they were a vehicle. Your mental 150cc scooter is now replaced by a powerful, growling sports car. It’s a magic no one else can do for you, but one over which you have incredible power.

This has been a guest post by Lance Williams:

My name is Lance and I love learning and writing about anything really. I do everything from rock climbing to snowboarding to building websites.

Fried Chicken? No, No, No, you've got entirely the wrong idea. You're supposed to eat healthy. Thanksfully you can do that and still ahve some of the best tasting chicken anywhere. Check it out!

Face it, many of our best intentions for new year’s weight loss resolutions will be forgotten by the time we’re reaching for that second beer during the Superbowl. It’s sad, but that’s about as far as most people go, despite their best intentions. In some cases, it’s because the food that many people force themselves to eat when they’re trying to lose  weight tastes like garbage. Here is a recipe that will help you stick to your New Year’s promise, and actually enjoy your food!

Poached Chicken Breast and Peppers

This is is not only a taste treat, but it’s nutrition packed as well. The peppers help add some nice color, but they’re also an excellent source of nutrients, such as vitamin C. Poaching helps preserve the chicken’s micronutrient content, by keeping the heat low relative to other cooking methods, like baking or grilling. As an added bonus, poaching ensures your chicken will be tender, juicy, and flavor packed, too. To make it even better, it’s easy to prepare, even for kitchen novices.

The olive oil adds flavor, but it also adds some of those important, healthy fats to help balance out the dish’s nutrient profile.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts – skinless, boneless – free range is best for both taste and health
1-1/2 cup white wine – Riesling
¼ cup olive oil
4 cups water
4 cloves garlic – chopped
4 shallots – chopped
1ea green pepper – de-seeded
1ea red pepper – de-seeded

How to Prepare:

Pour the liquids, garlic, and shallots into an deep pan large enough to hold the 2 chicken breasts and keep them covered in the liquid..
Bring the liquids to a slow boil.
Add the chicken and peppers to the boiling mixture. Adjust the heat to keep it at a slow simmer, no higher.
Typically you’ll keep them on the heat for about 10 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and let them sit for another 10 minutes or so.
Remove the chickens and peppers, and serve.

There are plenty of healthy, easy meals you can prepare without having to attend a culinary academy or have a chef’s kitchen. They’ll help you lose fat, gain muscle, and eat great too!

Want abs like this for the new year? Yeah, me too! You're not going to get them with exercise alone, however. Definition like that around the midsection takes a combination of both diet and exercise. Doing 1,000 captian's chairs a week won't get you there.

Happy 2011! This is going to be a great one, and if you have picked this year as the one that you’re going to target those pounds, congratulations. You may be considering one of those prepared, delivered diet plan programs as one way to achieve your goal. Medifast is one of the most popular diet programs out there today. It’s been around since most of the others were but a gleam in someone’s eye. How does Medifast work? Or, maybe a more pertinent question “Does Medifast work?”

Great questions all. First of all, almost any sensible diet plan can work if you follow it religiously for long enough. The problem is that there are so many different diet plans out there that it is neigh on impossible to choose one and not have some sort of nagging doubt in your mind about whether or not it will really work long term.

In reality, you don’t need any of them, provided you have the time and discipline to cook balanced meals for yourself with whole, single ingredients. There’s no  problem with that strategy. The food can taste fantastic, and provided you keep your portions to a manageable size and eat 5 – 6 times a day, you’ll find the pounds dropping away just like you want.

Where there is a problem for many people is the aforementioned discipline. Take it from one who’s been there. It can be no easy task to go it on your own when it comes to cooking meals yourself and sticking to the plan for the long term. I’ve posted plenty of times about healthy food choices and healthy ingredients you can use to create delicious meals.

However, if finding your way around a kitchen is somewhat akin to navigating your way through the Amazon rain forest, or if your idea of free time is the 45 second break between one call from a client and the next, or loading the minivan for the next kid’s basketball practice, cooking your own meals may just be a pie in the sky luxury you only dream about.

In that case, a “done for you” diet system like Medifast may be just what the doctor ordered. After all, meal planning, cooking, and sit down meals may not be something that you’re likely to do every day, despite your best intentions. Developed by Dr. William Vitale, M.D in 1980, the Medifast is similar to many of the other diet programs out there, with one major exception. It has the tasty, nutritious meals like many of the others. In fact, it’s meals even taste better than many of the others. I’ve tasted meals from many of the other diet plans out there, and some of them are not really lacking in taste, but they don’t really taste right, either.

How does Medifast Work?
Like any other diet, Medifast works by restricting your daily caloric intake such that you burn more calories than you take in. It is the caloric deficit principle, which is the only way that you can really lose weight. Evey weight loss method is simply a way to make that happen. Medifast sends you prepackaged meals that conform to their diet plan, so that you don’t have to think about meal planning or spend too much time cooking.

First Of All – What I Don’t Like About Medifast-
So, what does the Medifat plan do that’s different than the others? It limits you to about 800 – 1,000 calories per day while others allow much more. Honestly, that is one of my biggest disagreements with the program. I’ve never been a fan of very low calorie diets for a couple of reasons. It is difficult to stay with them, for one thing.

The other is that cutting calories that far can help you lose weight, but it can also cause your basal metabolic rate to drop so that it make it more difficult for you to keep weight off long term. You have to take some measures to help ensure that doesn’t happen to you.

A carefully considered high intensity resistance training program can help keep that metabolic rate elevated, but be prepared to augment your Medifast diet plan with a post workout protein-carb smoothy to aid your recovery and give your body the extra protein you need to assist muscle growth and help you burn fat.

One note – While the daily calorie count is severely restricted at the beginning of the diet, to the aforementioned 800 – 1,000 calories, later in the diet you are allowed more calories. After between 2 and three weeks your caloric intake is increased.

What I Like About Medifast -
There are definitely some things I like about the Medifast program. For one thing, it works on the 6 meal a day schedule that I espouse. That’s great, because it does three important things. It helps you better absorb nutrients from your food. Eating small meals more frequently also helps you to stick to your diet, because at most, there are only a few hours from one meal to the next. It also helps you to stay feeling full and fulfilled, because you always have food in the ole’ tummy.

Speaking of feeling full, another thing I do like about the Medifast plan is that that the meals are high fiber. That makes you feel full while helping to keep the meal’s calorie counts low. It also helps your digestion process.

I like that Medifast is doctor developed and supervised.

I also like that it is proven effective in university studies, a step that many other diet programs neglect. In fact, in clinical efficacy studies on the Medifast diet conducted by Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center at Johns Hopkins University (naturally), men lost an average of 67.41 lbs. and women lost an average of 47.5 lbs. This occurred in only 16 weeks, which equates to a pretty impressive result, despite what we’ve been conditioned to expect by TV diet shows such as The Biggest Loser.

The researchers even went so far as to compare Medifast to the American Diabetic Association’s recommended diet, a very healthy diet about which I’ve posted before. On all counts, including weight loss, insulin required, serum triglycerides, and body fat percentage, the Medifast diet came out ahead. That’s saying something.

If your New Years resolution is to finally lose weight this year, whether it’s 20 lbs or 100, you might want to take a look at the Medifast program. They are letting me offer my readers a special discount for the January.

Click below to find out more, and have a Happy New Year:
Medifast – $50 off any purchase of $275 or more! Use Coupon Code: JAN31H good until 1-31-11

Is this egg thing the cure for everything that ails you, or the cause? Well.....

Are eggs good for you? Really, they’ve been much maligned throughout the years as a food that will do nothing but drive up your cholesterol numbers, but is it really true? Will eggs lead you to an early grave, or do they have a welcome place at the table if you’re trying to lose fat and gain muscle? After all, back in the day before $50 supplements, bodybuilders used to choke down raw eggs like candy.

First of all, I have to make an admission. I don’t eat eggs. Don’t like ‘em much, never have. That doesn’t mean however, that I can’t recognize when a food has solid potential as health oriented fare. Americans must love them, even if I don’t, because they eat about 28 million of the little white/brown orbs every day.

First, the plus side of egg eating. They are loaded with very high quality protein. Unfortunately, that’s the extent of what most people think of when it comes to listing off the positive attributes of those never-quite-made-it-to-be chickens.

Egg Whites Only Please, or Eat the Whole Damned Egg?
Do eggs have more to recommend them, or are they simply a high quality amino acid cocktail? After all, most health oriented individuals would simply eat the whites, or buy a carton of egg white and be done with it. Although you would definitely get great protein that way, you’d actually be tossing some of the most beneficial parts of the egg.

That’s right, the yolk is what feeds the chicks in a fertilized egg, and nourishes the embryo as it grows like a weed on it’s way to hatching. The great thing is that all those nutrients in the egg yolk ca support you too. What many people don’t know is that egg yolks are chock full of antioxidants, and that’s not nearly all.

In fact, that bright yellow blob in the middle is a rich source of minerals, such as phosphorus, zinc, calcium, and iron. It’s also loaded with important vitamins like thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid in addition to vitamins  A, D, E, and K . And, if you order now, you’ll also get essential fatty acids (EFAs)! Free range chickens have more of the EFAs in their eggs than those of most commercially raised fowl.

What About my Cholesterol Levels? Won’t They Go Up When I Eat Eggs?
Well, yes but the good news is that your good cholesterol (HDL) will go up faster than your bad kind (LDL). Not only that, but you body will compensate to a large extent for your diet. It makes cholesterol on its own, and it will simply make less if you eat more of it. That’s why you can have a diet rich in eggs, but a cholesterol of 160.

The Study Says….
To prove it, a 2008 study published in The European Journal of Nutrition  discovered that test subjects that ate a low calorie diet that included 2 eggs per day, lost both body fat and lowered their cholesterol levels. This, despite eating two of the supposed cholesterol level raising eggs each and every day for the duration of the study.

The experiment’s control group ate no eggs. Both groups lost between 7 and 9 lbs, but the egg eating group actually had their HDL levels stay the same, while their LDL levels dropped. The control group experienced no such reduction.

What it all means is that you should eat the whole egg. Yes, you’ll get more calories, but the nutrition you’ll get in return is more than worth it. After all, you need to get calories anyway, and it’s important that you get a solid nutrient profile in them when you do.

To maximize the nutrient content and minimize anything you really wouldn’t want to be eating, try organic, cage free eggs or eggs from free range hens. Hens that eat a natural diet have more nutritious eggs, and as I mentioned above, will give you more EFAs. Remember that you need those good fats to maximize fat burning, so the added calories you get from the yolks are offset this way as well.

The bottom line – Yes, eggs are good for you, just make sure you don’t eat them raw to prevent a bout of salmonella. That’s not a great way to spend a few days, and can cause serious problems in those with compromised immune systems. I know I forgot to discuss the minus side of eating eggs, but unless you go overboard, there really is only any upside. Some people are allergic to eggs, so if this describes you, just fill your diet with something else.

If you have any favorite egg recipes, please post a comment with them so we can all enjoy them.

Have recruits eaten too many of these over the years instead of healthy nutritios meals? So it would seem....

In recent months a new national security threat has been discussed among military leaders, politicians, and news agencies throughout the country; namely, the United States is too damn fat to fight. There was even a report by that title authored by a ton of ex-military brass on how overweight youth are undermining our national readiness.

Other authorities and media types have recently discussed how soldiers already in the service are operating at sub par levels, due to a weight problem. For some soldiers, sailors, and airmen it’s so serious that they’re forced out of the military altogether.

There are a variety of causes for the situation, but the fact remains that according to that report by the ex-military brass, there is a growing problem meeting recruiting goals because so many young Americans are simply too overweight to meet the recruiting standards.

Oh sure, these kids are probably great at using their thumbs to run a joystick and kill people on their XBOX 360 or PS3, but what about having the potential to do so in real life? Can they realistically expect to meet the physical demands of combat while lugging around an extra 30lbs of fat, in addition to the 60 pound combat load they’re expected to carry? Apparently not.

Is It Getting Worse?
First the good news, fewer people smoke in the military. Now for the bad news. In 2008, 4,555 military personnel were discharged for failing to meet weight standards, up from only 2,224 in 1998. In addition, a government report found that between 1995 to 2008, “the proportion of potential recruits who failed their physicals each year because they were overweight rose nearly 70 percent.”

What do the Hard Numbers Say?
Despite the dire reports emanating forth from the Pentagon, is it really as bad as the news media has been reporting? Well, although the aforementioned 4,555 military members were discharged for failing to meet weight standards in 2008, according to the Chief of the Army Demographics Office, only 87 Army soldiers left that year for failing their physical fitness test, and just 174 were dismissed for failing to get below the 26% body fat limit (men). Does that mean the Army is in great shape, but members of the Navy and Air Force are too used to riding, rather than walking?

According to the same report, the numbers for Army soldiers lay out like this:
Dismissed for Body Fat Percentage Violations
1989 – 2,084
1999 – 1,703
2009 -    247

That precipitous drop from 1999 to 2009 says to me that either a) the Army has become a group of physical fitness freaks or  b) they relaxed the body fat standards to allow more soldiers to serve at body fat levels that would have previously gotten them a free pass back home.

Actually, there could be another reason. Here is the formula the army uses to calculate soldier’s body fat levels and  determine whether or not they meet requirements:
% body fat = 86.010 x log10(abdomen – neck) – 70.041 x log10(height) + 36.76, and for females, the formula is % body fat = 163.205 x log10(waist + hip – neck) – 97.684 x log10(height) – 78.387 . Maybe the real reason is that the formula is so difficult to calculate, nobody bothers anymore.

Actually, as you’d expect, there’s actually a handy chart to help decide if soldiers are over the limit. If you carefully examined the formula, you can tell the charts vary according to height, so that the vertically challenged aren’t discriminated against.

You’d think that the army would have more rigorous body fat standards than the Air Force. After all, the flyboys seldom need to actually fight or flee, unless they’re herding around some high tech machinery that does much of the work for them (until the Gs start, that is).  That’s not true, though. The Army standards at recruitment for males 70 – 74.5in tall dictate that their body fat levels should not exceed 26% and must have dropped to 20% when they exit boot camp. The Air Force mandates the 20% level from the very beginning, however.

Is It Because We’re Too Fat From the Beginning These Days?
According to the“Are We Too Fat To Fight?” report released earlier this year, it may well be because so many Americans are fat from the moment they enter military service. They barely squeak under the 26% obesity standard (it’s 24% for those 17 – 20 years of age).  In fact, many more are denied the ability to serve because they are simply too fat.

A Solution to the Military Recruit Obesity Problem?
There might be a way out of the whole mess that doesn’t require the youngsters in America to actually get their propensity for junk food eating and disdain for physical activity under control. Maybe we need a separate classification for combat soldiers and those too overweight to engage in combat operations.

That’s the solution to the too overweight to recruit problem the military faces. The Dorrito eating video game crowd can still join the service, but they can only serve behind the lines. Perhaps their skills can be best employed as remotely piloted vehicle jockeys? If you’re slim and trim, kick ass and take names. If not, kick back in a chair and take out the bad guys with your thumb and forefinger, just like back home.

Seriously, we need to get this teen obesity thing under control, before the government comes in and does it for us, with their typical heavy handed, “we’re doing it for your own good to bolster national security and save the taxpayer money” approach.

Already laws are being passed throughout the land baning us from eating this or that in the name of protecting us from ourselves or raising taxes on something so we choose to avoid it.. I’m obviously more fitness conscious than the average American, and try to eat a very health conscious diet. However, that’s my choice to do so. I don’t want the government dictating that I must do so or offering financial dissuasion  (that we all have to pay for) for failure to, for whatever reason.

The fact is that we have become a more sedentary society in recent years, and despite all the information out there about nutrition, many people simply eat like crap. Parents fail to police what their kids eat, because, well, it’s faster to go through the drive through, and not have to clean up the kitchen. Plus, it’s a heck of a lot faster and easier after practice gets over at 6:00 to just blast through the Mikey Ds drive through with junior, than it is to wait until you get home at 6:30 to start a dinner that won’t be ready to eat until 7:00. I know, because I’ve done it myself.

I’m fortunate my kids would rather play sports and do stuff outside than to play video games and watch TV. Many people are not so lucky however, and with lives being so busy, it’s tougher today to put your foot down in the face of such practices than it was in the past.
That brings us to our current dilemma of Too Fat to Fight. Here are some of the findings from the report:

“an alarming 75 percent of all young Americans 17 to 24 years of age are unable to join the military because they failed to graduate from high school, have criminal records, or are physically unfit.
Being overweight or obese turns out to be the leading medical reason why applicants fail to qualify for military service. Today, otherwise excellent recruit prospects, some of them with generations of sterling military service in their family history, are being turned away because they are just too overweight. “

Not good, but what about this?:

“Over a ten-year period, the number of states with 40 percent or more of their young adults who were overweight or obese went from 1 to 39!”

The Army actually uses a more lenient standard of obesity than does the civilian National Institute of Health.

“Every year, the military discharges over 1,200 first-term enlistees before their contracts are up because of weight problems; the military must then recruit and train their replacements at a cost of $50,000 for each man or woman, thus spending more than $60 million a year.21 That figure pales in comparison, however, to the cost of treating the obesity-related problems of military personnel and their families under the military’s health care system, TRICARE, or the cost of treating obesity-related problems under the veterans’ health care system”

The report notes the National School Lunch Act of 1946 which states the following:
“It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress, as a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food, by assisting the States, through grants in aid and other means, in providing an adequate supply of food and other facilities for the establishment, maintenance, operation and expansion of nonprofit school lunch programs.”

If you’ve examined the stuff they serve in some of the nation’s schools these days, you’d conclude that the NSLA wasn’t quite being followed, especially the part about “ safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children”. That’s what the ex-gens decided as well, targeting the schools as the primary way we can improve the nation’s obesity problem. Unfortunately that only addresses a part of the day. What about the rest of the meals the kids scarf down?

Is it true thet Canola oil is closely related to the deadly mustard gas used to attck troops in WWI? Read on to discover the truth!

As many of us prepared to deep fry our turkeys for Thanksgiving the other day, the subject of  cooking oil naturally came to mind. Many people take it on faith that cooking oils are bad, and there is really no such thing as a healthy cooking oil. If you’re one of those folks, that’s too bad, because there actually some oils that are a valuable part of a healthy diet.  As we’ll see in a second, some oils are healthy when consumed if you don’t heat them to traditional cooking temperatures, such as avacado oil and virgin olive oil.

Some fats are essential, and these are not limited to only those you get from that helping of grilled salmon or the flax seed you sprinkled on top of your yogurt for breakfast this morning. Yes Beavis, there are oils that you can use for cooking without making your arteries look like the 405 at 4:30.

First of all, you should be aware that not all of the oils that have been traditionally thought of as healthy actually are. In fact they may not be something your should subject your body to unless you just can’t avoid it. One of the main problems encountered by most of the popular cooking oils out there is that they rapidly oxidize in the presence of heat and light. Since most of these are sold in clear containers, they are exposed to light even before you purchase them.

As a preventative measure, most cooking oil manufacturers use a process whereby they replace the air in the package with a volume of inert gas that prevents oxidization. They would not go to this added expense unless it was necessary. Storing your opened oil in the refrigerator is a great idea, because it cool and dark. Some oils will thicken or turn into a solid at refrigerator temperatures though. Just let them stand art room temperature for a while and you’ll be able to pour them again. If you have a wine cooler, this is even better, but keep them in the dark.

Once exposed to cooking heat, all bets are off! The oils oxidize even before you’re finished cooking, leading you to  consume unhealthy amounts of a substance that can cause inflammation inside your body. This is true of soybean, canola (rapeseed), and corn oils, which are the most popular vegetable based cooking oils.

Who Says Heating Oil is Bad for You?

Who says that heating oils can cause problems for you? Well, a 2001 study review by English PhD professor and expert in free radical biochemistry Martin Grootveld, et al. and published in the Journal Foodservice Research International, for one. The study review, entitled “The Health Effects of Oxidized, Heated Oils” pulls no punches in it analysis. It states that “Considerable evidence has accumulated over the past two decades that heated cooking oils, especially polyunsaturated oils, may pose several types of health risks to consumers…” and “Heat degrades polyunsaturated fatty acids to toxic compounds; saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids are resistant to heat-induced degradation.”

It goes on to say that “Several types of diseases may be related to the exposure of humans to food- or air-borne breakdown products of heated oils including atherosclerosis, the forerunner to cardiovascular disease; inflammatory joint disease, including rheumatoid arthritis; pathogenic conditions of the digestive tract; mutagenicity and genotoxicity, properties that often signal carcinogenesis; and teratogenicity, the property of chemicals that leads to the development of birth defects “ Ouch!

There have been plenty of Canola bashing sites and letters flying about the Internet in the last few years. As with may of the tings you’ve probably seen on the ‘net. There is some truth to most of it, but much of it should also be taken with a grain of salt (not too many grains though, excessive salt consumption isn’t good for you).

For example, one popular quote on Canola equates it to the mustard gas used on hapless soldiers in WWI. Is Canola oil just a half step away from dangerous mustard gas? Are you going to need a gas mask to keep from blistering your lungs whence you next venture into your kitchen?

Thankfully no. Mustard gas is not some bastardized Canola relative. Rather it is so named because of the smell, and is made by treating ethylene with sulfur dichloride, itself derived from hydrochloric acid. Although ethylene is actually an unsaturated hydrocarbon, it can be made form just about any plant, including the rapeseed used in the production of canola oil. Wikipedia says that “Ethylene is produced from essentially all parts of higher plants, including leaves, stems, roots, flowers, fruits, tubers, and seedlings “

A Problem With Many Healthy Cooking Oil Lists
The main problem with canola oil and many other supposedly “healthy” oils for cooking is what I alluded to earlier. They have a problem with heating. Canola is about 30% polyunsaturated, and when heated polyunsaturates turn into something the FDA says is healthy in no amounts, even traces. These are, of course, transfats., and there is a  reason the FDA doesn’t like them.

Many websites list healthy cooking oils and base it almost entirely on which have the highest level of unsaturated fats. This is wrong, as we’ve seen., especially concerning polyunsaturated oils. Look at the percentage of polyunsaturated fats in any oil you’re considering cooking with. Lower is better here.

NOTE:
Many food oils are exposed to high heat levels during processing, which destroys much of their food value and raises their toxicity levels from the start. Use only cold pressed oils whenever possible.

A Healthy Cooking Oil Alternative
Extra Virgin Coconut oil – Although virgin coconut oil is comprised chiefly of saturated fats, it is steadily gaining a great reputation as a healthy cooking oil. One of the primary advantages of coconut oil is that it doesn’t oxidize easily, even when subjected to cooking heat. Remember, that oxidization means the oil is breaking down into harmful compounds. So, despite the fact that virgin coconut oil is 92% saturated, it is actually one of the healthiest cooking alternatives.

Proportionately, the saturated fat in coconut oil contains a large amount of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) This group of fatty acids

As I noted earlier, many popular cooking oils will not only oxidize when heated to cooking temperatures, but even when stored at room temperature for even short periods of time. This includes popular oils such as Canola, which many people think, incorrectly, is one of the healthier oils.

Coconut oil in Research -
A 2009 randomized, double blind study by a Brazilian research team demonstrated that coconut oil in the diet actually reduced waist sizes compared to similar quantities of soybean oil. They also showed improved serum cholesterol ratios compared to the soybean oil group.

Remember that any oil adds a significant number of calories to your diet, and no matter what, it is calories in vs. calories out that dictate whether or not you lose weight. Keep the amount of total oil consumption relatively low, to avoid blowing up your diet’s caloric content.

I’ll examine more healthy cooking alternatives soon. What do you use to cook with?

Unfortunately, there are no 100% guarantees that you're going to lose weight by adding anything to your diet, and this includes fish oil or flax seed. You can be guaranteed however, that burning more calories than you eat will cause you to lose weight (hopefully fat, if you do it right)

There’s no question that the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids have been in the news frequently for the last couple of years. One big question that pops up is the question of where to get those Omega-3s; fish oil or flax seed?

For one thing, there’s no rule that says you can’t use both. Scandalous thought, I know, but if they’re both so healthy for you why not just use both and be done with it? That’s a great idea, especially since flax seeds give some benefits that fish oil cannot, but they have nothing to do with the actual Omega-3 content. What about that, anyway? Is there a difference between the Omega-3s you find in flax, vs the Omega-3 you find in a nice plate of salmon?

Well, if you’re getting your fish oil from a nice grilled slab of formerly swimming ocean creature, instead of a bottle, you’ve got a leg up because you’re also getting a ton of very complete protein to accompany your oil intake, and if you’re training hard, you need plenty of that.

Let’s look at taking fish oil as a supplement, vs sprinkling some golden flax seed meal in your yogurt and oatmeal every morning (which I do, and have for about 3 years now. Thank those product demonstrators at Costco). Is there a difference if you examine those routes to getting the Omega-3s your body needs to operate at peak health? As an added bonus, research has proven that Omega-3 fatty acids actually help your body burn fat more effectively, but is that true for all Omega-3s, or just some of them? Let’s take a quick look…..

All Omega-3s are NOT the Same
First of all, you should know that all Omega-3s are not created equal. For our purposes, there are 3 different Omega-3s that are present in either fish oil or flax seed, in varying quantities. These are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA),  eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Now if you snoozed through chem class, the mere sight of such scientific looking words might frighten you, but fear not. That’s why we use the 3 letter abbreviations.

ALA is the one found primarily in flax seeds, while fish oil contains mostly EPA (not the government agency) and DHA (not to be confused with DEA, another government agency). ALA is a short chain fatty acid, while the other two are long chain acids. That refers to the length of the carbon atom chain that makes up their respective fat molecules. The long chain acids have more carbon atoms. Their carbon atom score, in case you’re counting ALA – 18, EPA – 20, DHA – 22. I don’t really know how all this affects your carbon footprint, either, so forget about it.

ALA is broken down by the body into both EPA and DHA, so you might conclude that it would be better to take it, since that would be an easy way to get both of the others at one time. However, your body is notoriously inefficient in this process. Furthermore, just taking flax seed for the ALA does not cause an equal rise in your body’s levels of EPA and DHA. It makes a nice increase in EPA levels, but leaves DHA levels relatively flat. That’s too bad, because DHA is the one that most of the fat loss research has been centered upon.

What The Eggheads Say
In 2007, a study by Alison M Hill, Jonathan D Buckley, Karen J Murphy and Peter RC Howe at the Nutritional Physiology Research Centre and the Australian Technology Network Centre for Metabolic Fitness, University of South Australia revealed some interesting findings.

They found that combining fish-oil supplements with regular aerobic exercise improves body composition and cardiovascular disease risk factors vs. simply doing the exercise by itself. The increase was quite significant, and this study and one other were almost enough to create an oil supplement industry all by themselves, once the marketing types caught on to them. The other study to which I’m referring was conducted about the same time on the other side of the world, this one being up in Iceland.

The Aussie study found that “FO supplementation lowered triacylglycerols, increased HDL cholesterol, and improved endothelium-dependent arterial vasodilation “. About that  endothelium-dependent arterial vasodilation stuff; whatever, but it sure sounds impressive, doesn’t it? In any case, there are definitely overall health benefits associated with the fish oil. The study also discovered that “Evidence also suggests that n–3 FAs may have a favorable effect on metabolism “, which for the purposes of fat loss is quite important. This study was very carefully controlled, and used the latest in body composition measurement. Many studies have failed to do one or the other.

The study used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (that’s the good stuff) to assess changes in fat and lean mass in the test subjects. All their diets were energy adjusted so that the effects of the oil supplementation vs. a placebo could be isolated. One interesting thing about fat metabolization noted by the researchers was actually from another study. In a  2006 study by Davidson et al, results showed that “n–3 FAs (fatty acids) can effectively mediate a shift in fuel metabolism away from storage and toward oxidation “.

Other Cool Studies on Fat Loss With Fish Oil
What about the other study I referenced at the top of the section? It was done primarily at the Unit for Nutrition Research, Landspitali-University Hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland. That 2007 study was very interesting (for those of us who like that kind of stuff).

It looked at the effects of no oil vs. fish oil from a cod diet, a salmon diet, and fish oil DHA/EPA capsules, alone without the fish itself. As a control, the researchers used sunflower oil, just in case the results were due to oil supplementation in general. The study encompassed 324 European test subjects from 20 – 40 years of age. The group diet’s macronutrient composition was controlled to ensure any differences noted were from the experiment itself.

The results? According to the study’s authors “In young, overweight men, the inclusion of either lean or fatty fish, or fish oil as part of a hypoenergetic diet resulted in 1 kilogram more weight loss after 4 weeks than a similar diet without seafood or supplement of marine origin. The addition of seafood to a nutritionally balanced energy-restricted diet may boost weight loss.” Note the “may” here, just in case.

They also noted a decrease in blood triglycerides, although they found is was not significant after adjusting for weight loss. Also, note that the test subjects were on energy restricted diets for this study. They did not just magically lose weight due to inclusion of fish oil and fish oil containing foods.

DHA Does It
Both the two studies and some others have found that it is mostly DHA that is responsible for the bulk of the fat loss noted. Remember that that is the one that is not increased by taking ALA, the Omega-3 found in flax seed or it’s extract.

This Kills Your Body’s Conversion of ALA into DHA and EPA
Just a quick note, in case you get most of your Omega-3s from plant sources, such as flax seeds. Something that can severely hamper you body in converting short chain ALA into long chain DHA and EPA is getting too much Omega-6 acids vs Omega-3s. This is relatively easy to do, since most diets contain far more Omega-6 fatty acids in proportion to the Omega-3 variety. Take a look at your diet to see if it is happening to you.

What Flax Seed Can Provide That Slimy Creatures Can’t
There has to be some things that flax seed can do that fish oil can’t, even if the actual Omega-3s found in the flax may not be as beneficial to your fat burning efforts as those found in fish and fish oil, right?

Well, some have believed so heavily in flax seed benefits that they passed laws mandating people consume it. What kind of government would actually pass laws dictating what people eat? Oh, wait, various local, state and the federal governments do that in the U.S. all the time now, and this movement shows signs of doing nothing but growing. The laws about flax I’m referencing were actually passed by King Charlemagne about 1,300 years ago, but maybe that was only a start. If only he’d had McDonalds to kick around back then……..

Anyway, just what can flax do for you? Flax seed meal contains Lignans at quantities at least 75 times higher than any other readily available plant source. Lignans are phytoestrogens that have strong anti-oxidant properties. Anti-oxidants have been proven to fight cellular damage, and have numerous health benefits.

Linigans are thought to have benefits in reducing the incidence of BPH in men. BPH is a non cancerous prostate condition that affects many men over the age of 50. In women, studies have shown that diets rich in these compounds are a significant factor in breast cancer risk reduction. How do they work? Linigans may reduce breast cancer risk by binding to estrogen receptors in place of actual estrogen.

Flax seed meal also contains plenty of dietary fiber and are rich in protein.

Meal Only, Please
There are plenty of foods out there that contain flax seeds, but if they are in full form the seeds will not give most of the benefits that you’ll get from the flax seed meal. The seeds outer shell prevent the release of much of the goodness, so eat the ground, please.

Not So Fast
One more thing. All the research that shows accelerated fat burning with fish oil supplementation may have you convinced that you can add some fish oil to your diet and watch the pounds melt away, literally.

Don’t you believe it. While the results are significant, and there are definitely other health benefits o be had, you can’t expect miracles, although you probably want to. In most studies the fat loss is, indeed significant from the fish oil, but it still isn’t a very big decrease. You need to use fish oil as a supplement to your already good diet, not as a magical fix for a bad one. That just won’t work, except as a way to boost the supplement maker’s bottom lines.

Is tennis the key to discovery? Well it was the catalyst for my discovering powerful, new protein supplement.

If you’ve never heard of hemp protein or its benefits, that’s quite okay. I have been heavily involved in health and fitness for 25 years and though I knew most of the important things about diet and nutrition.

After all, I’ve talked constantly to everyone from bodybuilders to tennis players, Major League Baseball players, and top college and NFL football players about working out and nutrition for most of those years and rarely hear about anything anymore that really makes my ears perk up and gets me excited.

One of those rare moments came last night, after 3-1/2 hours of hard core tennis.  (That followed a few hours of helping my mother-in-law move furniture, so I’m really feeling things this morning). My wife and I were having a well deserved spot of Mexican with our friends we’d just finished playing tennis with. This couple is in their 40′s, and are both quite health conscious and athletic.

The conversation turned to diet, and the guy asked me what kind of protein I used. I responded that I typically used whey, because it was so bio-available. He asked it I’d ever heard of hemp protein. Now, the only kind of hemp products I’d heard about before were fabric, rope, and the stuff the kids smoke out on the hill past the high school. The concept of hemp based protein, especially in terms of a dietary supplement, was a new one to me. Now let me state right up front that hemp protein has nothing to do with pot, and you aren’t going to get a buzz from taking it.

He explained that he wasn’t sure exactly why hemp protein was so much better for you than whey protein, but it had something to do with digestibility problems people experienced with whey, and the nutrient balance of hemp. He indicated  that as he understood it, hemp protein gave your body things that whey simply could not, and  prevented some serious problems you can run into if you use too much whey. He was pretty emphatic that there was really something to this hemp protein stuff. He’s very into organic and whole foods, and typically knows of what he speaks, so I tend to listen.

Although he could tell me exactly what I wanted to know, it made me darn curious about exactly why hemp, and specifically organic hemp protein was so much better for you than whey protein. After all, if the professional and elite level college athletes I’ve been around use mostly whey protein , than surely that must be the best stuff to use, right? Well, not so fast! I did some more in depth checking, made a couple of calls, and dug up some more dirt. Here’s what I discovered………

Why Hemp Protein?
As you’ve no doubt deduced, hemp based protein is plant derived. Now, in most cases animal based protein sources

Field of Dreams? Well, maybe for some, but this is actually a field of industrial hemp for use in rope and fabric. Hemp is actually a tremendous source of protien supplement as well.

such as egg and whey, tromp all over plant based sources, in terms of amino acid balance and bio-availability. Before getting into whey vs. hemp, lets’ take a quick look at what makes hemp protein, and specifically 100% organic hemp, so good for you.

1)    It is a pure, natural food. It’s not loaded with the artificial flavors, colors and sweeteners, so your body is not stuck with trying to process a veritable chemistry set worth of dubious compounds.

2)    Hemp protein is a very complete protein source, with all 8 of the essential amino acids that your body needs, but can’t manufacture on its own, plus some others.

3)    It is very soluble and digestible. Unlike many other protein sources, it is very easy for your body to completely digest and extract all the nutrients from (see #4).

4)    The right kind of hemp is cold processed so the nutrients are active and not destroyed by heat during heat processing. This means that you actually get to take advantage of all  the enzymes that are so vital to your health. It allows all of the protein, enzymes, and micro-nutrients to easily pass through your intestinal wall so our body can use them. They are completely digested and do remain in the intestine (not healthy), or pass completely through it (a waste of your hard earned money).

5)    It is high in several protein nutrients that you need to maximize your body’s health, efficiency and metabolism. Basically, you need them to promote muscle gain and fat metabolism. One of these is globulin edistin, which is a simple protein. There a 7 classes of simple proteins and globulins are one of them.

Why does this matter? Edistin is a biologically active protein, meaning that it is transformed into other vital compounds. It is composed of long peptide-chains, and is a precursor for biological proteins essential for life. In fact, it is much high in this than any other plant source.

What does that mean, exactly? After some of this, and a little of that, they are transformed into hemoglobin for your blood, antibodies for a healthy immune system, enzymes for promoting vital reactions in the body, and hormones that your body needs to function.

Now, your body can actually make this globulin from any protein you eat, but it takes work. It is much easier to just obtain it from your diet, which eating hemp protein facilitates nicely.

The importance of edistin as related to protein syntiesis in the body was recognized as far back as the early 1920′s, when the first in-depth medical studies were done on it. The upshot of all this is that the high levels of edistin actually helps your body promote protein synthesis, which means that the combination is potent, indeed.

6)   Organic hemp protein is high in Omega-3s and has close to the optimum balance of Omega-3 / Omega-6 ratio of 3 to 1. Most foods tend to be higher in Omega-6, which means that your body needs plenty of the opposite to bring your diet back to the optimum ratio. Even better, much of the Omega-6 that it does contain is Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which is actually an Omega-6 fatty acid, but one of the most difficult for you to get in your diet, and valuable for your body.

One reason that it is important to get more Omega-3 than Omega-6 is because the Omega-6s cause inflammation, while Omega-3s help prevent it. GLA may be one of the few Omega-6s that actually does not exhibit this effect on your body, because it is converted into DGLA, which is an inflammation fighter.

7)    Hemp proteins can help bring your body back to a beneficial acid – alkaline balance which is essential for good health and easier muscle development. Increasing muscle mass is one of the best and easiest ways to increase your basal metabolic rate and  thus, burn more calories 24/7. Many weightlifters and bodybuillders reach plateaus, where all progress stops, not matter how hard they train. Many times this is due, at least in part, to the fact that their body’s PH balance is skewed toward the acidic, rather than the slightly alkaline balance necessary for maximum growth and optimum health.

Your normal PH balance is 7.35 to 7.45. Since completely neutral PH is 7, than means that your body’s natural, and optimal PH balance of slightly alkaline. Sadly it seems that many people’s balance tends to break the other way, and is at least slightly acidic.  Although many of the protein powders used by athletes and bodybuilders would pull the body toward the alkaline state, the heavy levels of artificial sweeteners and flavorings they contain actually serves to shift their effects on the body and cause it to enter more of an alkaline state. With organic hemp protein powder, you’ll have none of these effects.

What about hemp vs whey protein?

Popularity -
No doubt about it, whey is very popular out there. I have a 6 pound bag of it myself. However, maybe there is a better protein source for you if you want to maximize fat loss, athletic performance, and muscle gain.

Electric Protein??
First of all, if you do the research on hemp vs whey, you’ll find claims that hemp is more “electrically charged” than whey is. I couldn’t verify that either hemp or whey is actually more ionic than the other, outside of the sales letters and marketing materials for some of the supplements in question. The other question is whether that electric activity really makes a difference or not.

Cold vs. Heat Processing -
One claim you’ll find against whey is that because of the heat used in it’s processing, the nutrition is removed and your body is unable to extract anything from it.  According to that theory, that means that when you take it, much of the residue sits in your intestinal tract and basically rots, instead of passing through or into the body.

That theory sounds great, but you definitely get dietary protein from eggs and meat, both of which you cook before eating, and you surely get beneficial protein from those foods, even after cooking, right? The problem is that while they definitely supply your body with protein. those foods are harder for your body to digest and extract nutrients from than is pure supplemental protein.

I can’t verify the claims about the efficacy of cold processed supplements, but it is proven that excessive heat does denature protein, rendering  it far less nutritious  than if it cold processed. Although some of the whey protein supplements you’ll find on the market is actually cold processed, most of it is not.  On the other hand, 100% organic hemp protein is virtually all cold processed. If you’re trying to increase the bio-available protein in your diet, it makes perfect sense that using cold processed products would be better than hot processed ones.

Naturalness (is that even a word?) -
Organic hemp protein is free from chemicals, additives, and artificial ingredients, and commercially available whey protein products just can’t make such claims with a straight face. That means two important things; you need to take smaller portions of hemp, because part of the volume is not full things other than protein. Obviously it is healthier too, if for no other reason than your body isn’t trying to process all the artificial garbage in the whey supplements.

Digestibility and Absorption -
Hemp is soluble and easily digestible, while most whey is not as easy for your body to absorb.  That means you’re not getting all of the benefit you’re paying for. Wouldn’t it be nice to take just a small scoop, instead of the big one you typically need with the commercial whey powders out there?

Allergic to Whey Protein?
People who have milk allergies on any level are also going to be allergic to whey protein, because milk allergies are actually an immune response to whey protein in the milk. Note that this is not the same thing as lactose intolerance, which is a digestive problem with the sugars found in milk. Although this does happen to adults, only about 1% of the population has any level of milk allergy, so it relatively uncommon. If you are one of that 1% however, the relative rarity is small consolation.

Taste –
Well, there’s no question that most whey protein powders taste great! After all, you can get them in all manner of delicious flavors, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, banana, and more than a  few others I’m probably forgetting. On the other hand, hemp protein powder takes some, uh, getting used to. As someone who regularly eats a mixture of oatmeal and golden flax seed meal cut with nothing but a bit of fruit, I’m probably easier to please in that regard than many people. I can imagine though, that some folks will have trouble getting used to this stuff.

Whey Protein’s Achilles Heel?
Have you ever heard of myostatin? Maybe not, but you’ve probably seen those pictures of hugely muscled animals or seen stories of those little kids that are 3  times as strong as the others kids in their kindergarten class.

No, this canine doesn't have a propensity to press the heavy iron. Here's what happens to your friendly Fido when they have a myostatin deficiency.

The reason for this is that their bodies block or they have a deficiency of myostatin , which is a muscle growth inhibitor. If you keep myostatin levels down or block your body’s myostatin receptors, you get the kind of huge muscle growth that these people and animals exhibit. Obviously you want to regulate this or you’ll end up looking like a total freak, but inhibiting it too much will make it very difficult to increase your lean muscle mass.

Guess what? There is a relationship between whey protein and myostatin that is exactly what you would not want if you’re taking a protein supplement to help increase your lean muscle mass and burn fat. In 2007 a Finish research study conducted at the University of Jyväskylä discovered that myostatin decreased after heavy resistance exercise, but not when taking a whey protein supplement. That means that despite you taking it to promote lean muscle growth, whey protein is actually sabotaging your efforts because it increases the activity of a myostatin binding protein called FLRG. That alone is a reason to switch.

What Does it All Mean?

All the other things that hemp protein has going for it versus whey protein, coupled with my friend’s hearty endorsement, is enough for me to try the stuff. I’ll let you know how it works out. If you have any experience with organic hemp protein, please leave a comment and let me know about it.

Just take these magic acai berries and a colon clense and watch the weight just fall off! No, that was the crap people were pushing last year. Here are three great weight loss tips that science has actually proven to radically improve the success of any weight loss program.

Losing weight is certainly no easy task, although it may not have to be quite as difficult as you think. The key to successfully losing weight, as with so many other worthwhile endeavors,  is working smart, not just hard. There are some simple tips you can incorporate into your weight loss program that will really help you ramp up the effectiveness of what you’re doing.

With that in mind, here are some of the simplest tips I’ve ever found that are actually scientifically proven to radically increase your weight loss. Any time you can easily increase how well something works, it bears looking into, don’t you think? That rings especially true given the season into which we’re heading, which is well known as a time of eat now and  regret it later.

Easy Weight Loss Tip Numero Uno -
This is so simple, you’d think that there is no way it could work, except that it has actually been scientifically proven (safe and) effective in clinical research. Are you ready for this radical, new technique that magically eliminates all the calories from the most delicious foods (kidding about that last part)? Keep a food journal. That’s it.

Not only does science suggest that it is an effective weight loss strategy, the level of success goes beyond all rational expectations for something so simple. A 2008 study of 1,700 participants completed by Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research, and published in the August, 2008 edition of American Journal of Preventive Medicine revealed that participants who kept track of everything they ate and when they ate it actually lost significantly more weight than those who didn’t. Significantly, as in twice as much. In fact, the study’s lead author Jack Hollis, Ph.D said “The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost”. Sounds like a darn good reason to become a food journalist, if only for yourself.

Easy Weight Loss Tip Two -
Swear off your healthy diet habits once a week. I can eat crap one day a week and actually lose more weight? Rejoice, happy days are here again! There are several reasons for the success of this strategy. Increasing levels of the powerful hormone leptin is one of them. Decreasing your caloric intake for long periods causes a subsequent decrease in leptin, which signals your brain to eat more, because, like a good Italian mom, it thinks you’re just not eating enough. The once a week trip to the all you can eat pasta and pastry buffet is a great way to ensure that your leptin level is reset back to healthy, high levels.

Another reason this tip works is that it keeps your metabolic decrease at bay that happens when you radically cut your caloric intake. The “Sunday splurge” is a fantastic diet tactic to help ensure that your metabolism keeps hummin’ along at a brisk pace, letting your fat loss efforts do likewise.

Easy Weight Loss Tip Three -
Come back here to Belly-Fat-Loser often. No, really, it works! A study released this summer demonstrated that people who visit health and fitness / weight loss websites actually kept off more than double the weight that people who didn’t visit such websites.

The study, published in the July 27th issue of The Journal of Medical Internet Research, (can you believe there really is such a thing?) The study actually used a special website that had built-in features designed to help people stay motivated and track their progress (food journal, 21st century style?). It found that people who went online for weight loss an average of once a week or greater had an effective long term weight loss success rate of 3 times that of those who didn’t.

“Personal counseling is probably the Cadillac of weight loss and weight maintenance plans, but the availability of the Internet was a big part of the success here.“ said Madelyn Fernstrom of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Weight Management Center. She cited the Internet’s 24/7 availability a a big reason for the success. Basically, people could use the Internet as a surrogate for a personal weight loss counselor.

Let’s see, write it down, eat total crap once a week, and spend time on the net browsing health and fitness sites to keep you informed and motivated. That sounds like some pretty easy ways to help your weight loss program succeed, don’t you think? After all, you’re on the net right now, so you’ve got that one covered already.

Let me know how it works!

Hey, that's one sexy lookin' corn ear! It'd be great with butter and a grilled chicken burger. Unfortunately, it's probably most of what that chicken burger ate while it was alive and cluckin'.

We’ve all heard the phrase “You are what you eat.”. Many of us had this tidbit of nutritional advice drilled into our heads from an early age. Did you ever stop to think that this also applies to what you are eating as well?

It’s true. If the cows that supply your beef eat a steady diet of corn feed, they’ll have a much different nutritional profile that will cows that spent their lives leisurely dining on a luscious mix of different grasses out in the field. This difference is even more pronounced for chicken. You’ve heard about the life of your basic commercially produced chicken. They live in giant chicken apartments, all stacked up and a’ poopin on each other. Pretty disgusting, really!

In many cases, chickens are not really stacked up this way. They are allowed to roam freely throughout 10,000 – 15,000 square foot grow houses, with about 15,000 of their closest friends. Their job is to grow into the plump birds we enjoy at mealtime. Roasting chickens are bread primarily to grow as fast as possible, so they can make their way to market ASAP. This they do, growing from those cute, little yellow balls of fluff to a 4lb package of juicy delight in only about 6 weeks.

What Does Your Food Eat?

Of greater concern to you than their living conditions, is the diet of your average commercially farmed chicken. What does said bird enjoy at mealtime? Well, chicken feed, naturally! Commercial chicken feed is designed to fatten chickens for market, at the lowest possible cost, of course. Every dime they spend on feed is one less dime the farm has available to spend on overhead or more chickens. There is a fine balance between giving the chickens the proper nutrition so that they stay disease free and grow fast, and letting them dine on the avian equivalent of caviar and truffles.

Commercial chicken feed is roughly 70% corn, 20% soy, and 10% vitamins, minerals and fillers. That means that you’re really eating more corn and soy than you ever suspected, especially when you consider the beef that you eat too (more on that in a second). Remember, chicken feed at commercial chicken farms is designed to do one thing, get the bird to market size as fast as possible. They are not really concerned with the nutrition content of most birds when you grill  them up.

In addition, the eggs you buy at the supermarket are produced in a similar fashion. It’s all about production efficiency, with little thought given to the egg’s nutritional content. In fact, there is a huge variation between eggs, depending upon what the laying chicken’s diet. Chickens that eat a wide variety of nutritious foods, such as they would if left to roam about a large meadow, lay more nutritious eggs than the average eggs you’ll buy at your large food stores.

In nature, chickens eat just about anything; grasses, grains, seeds, grubs, bugs, and more. That means their eggs contain a wide variety of nutrients; more so than if they are fed a steady diet of commercial chicken feed. That means the eggs give you the nutrition you need to lose fat and gain muscle.

Should I Eat Egg Whites only?
No, eat the whole egg. The yolks are power packed with nutritional goodness you won’t want to miss. Not only that, but the nutrition in the yolk helps make the protein in the white more bio-available, so your body gets to use more of it, faster. Even though the yolks are high in fat, free range egg yolks are actually good for you fats that your body needs to function at peak efficiency, and especially to burn fat!

OMEGA-3s?
You’ve been bombarded in the news media for a few years now about the importance of omega-3 fatty acids, and it is true that these are very important to optimum health. Did you know that there are also Omega-6 fatty acids as well? It’s true, and it is important to keep the ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 in balance. In many foods, there is a much higher percentage of omega-6 than omega-3.

Were you aware that you can get these omega-3s in more than just salmon and other kinds of cold water fish? If you listen to the news, you’ll be completely oblivious to the fact that Salmon aren’t born with these vital fatty acids, they get them from their diet. That’s one reason that farmed fish isn’t nearly as nutritious as wild caught.

Wild caught fish, like free range fowl, eats wide variety of different things. Mainly the bigger eat smaller fish that eats even smaller ones. The food chain extends down  to the point where the smallest fish eat marine plants that are rich in omega-3s. Farmed fish eats commercial fish food that contains things like soy and cornmeal. Fish in nature doesn’t cultivate much corn as a food source, I would guess. I have a commercial fisherman friend who’ll go about the nutritional differences between farmed and wild caught fish for hours if you let him.

Lo and behold, it is the plant sources that originally deliver the omega-3 to the fish. One thing that few people are aware of is that grass fed  land meats also contain relatively large amounts of omega-3s, and their omega-3 to  omega-6 balance is much more favorable than with grain fed meats. That is another advantage to eating meats, whether it be pork, chicken, goat, or beef, that is grass fed and free range grazed. You’ll be getting your healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and at a better omega-3 / omega-6 balance .

So, it really makes a difference not only what you eat, but what your food eats too. Whether you’re eating eggs, drinking milk, or eating any of a number of different meats, the grass fed, free range grazed and wild fed varieties deliver high quality nutrition profiles to your body, where it counts. The nutrition is more bio-available as well, so you can eat less, and develop more. All in all, not only do the the more natural fed foods have better nutrition, they have fewer nutritional problem areas to worry about.

That means that be aware of what your food eats. You’ll live longer, burn fat faster, and build muscle quicker eating food that eats the good stuff, because that means you are too. In most cases they even taste better, to boot! Have you tried free range foods? What did you think?