Did you know that there’s a 99.9% chance that you eat some type of genetically modified foods everyday? 

GMO, stands for genetically modified organism.  It’s when an organism is created through the introduction, elimination or rearrangement of specific genes or DNA sequences using a recombinant DNA technique.  Basically it’s engineered food, that’s got traits that aren’t natural in nature.  It often means that these organisms are genetically altered to be resistant to harmful chemicals found in pesticides and herbicides. 

So what does this mean to you?  It means, that there is a strong likelihood that traces of harmful chemicals being utilized on these GM crops have infiltrated your body because almost every processed and packaged foods have at least one or more GM products in them. 

Keep reading to find out what GM products you may be eating and how it affects your health.  I’ll also show you how to avoid GM products to ensure that you keep consuming “real” natural foods that are beneficial to your health rather than harmful.

Check out your cupboard and take out a few boxes and cans of food and look at the ingredients on the labels.  You’ll probably see at least one or more of the genetically modified products listed below on the label:

Cornstarch, corn oil, canola oil, cotton seed / vegetable oil in processed foods like potato chips, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, papaya in fruit juices, some zucchini (yellow crooked neck and straight neck squash), all eggs, milk and meat in processed foods, milk powder, various frozen desserts with dairy, soy oil, soy protein, soy lecithin (used in all chocolate bars), tofu, soy beverages, and various other soy products. 

And these are just a few of the more common ones.  There are probably many more that you and I have no idea about.  It’s amazing that we all consume GM foods, but very few of us are aware of it.  And worse yet, there’s even fewer of us that know how it can negatively affect your body.

In the past, farmers have always cross bred through traditional breeding methods that rely on reproductive systems of plants and animal themselves.  But now scientists at huge seed companies like Monsanto are able to directly move genes from one species to another or from one kingdom to another.  This is a first.  It’s known as crossing the species barrier.  They are now able to take a specific gene from a fish and combine it into a plant.  Sounds like a storyline from the X-Files…but it’s true and the scary part is that we’re all affected by it.

This brings me to Monsanto, the largest and most powerful agrochemical company in America.  It’s also the largest seed company in the world and owns approximately 86% of all genetically modified seeds sown across the world.  It also happens to be the 5th largest pesticide company…and wouldn’t you know it…all of the Monsanto genetically modified seeds are either herbicide resistant, insect resistance or virus resistant.  This means that all of the products mentioned above have been genetically altered in such a way that deadly toxins can’t kill it, natural viruses can’t affect it and insects die if they eat it….but apparently it’s safe for us to consume it…???

Here’s an another eye opening fact.  Monsanto (5th largest pesticide company) has joined forces with Dow AgroSciences (4th largest pesticide company) and have developed what is known as the “Smart Stax” corn.  Each company contributed four patented genetically modified traits and has produced a corn that has six different insect resistant traits and two herbicide-tolerant traits.  They’ve cross bred different genetically modified corn plants that have different genetically modified traits - essentially “stacking” various different traits into one product.

It’s a little like building a lego building with various sizes, shapes and colors…only, we’re not talking about an inanimate object like lego here, we’re dealing with genes.  Look, don’t get me wrong, I’m all about advancing science, but combining genes and producing these super foods can have adverse effects on our health.

Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union and a leading expert on potential health risks of genetically modified foods says, “ Combining many GM traits together can give rise to unintended effects which could adversely affect health, such as creating new allergies or toxins or exacerbating existing allergies”

For instance, in 2001 a genetically modified corn known as StarLink that carried insecticide toxins, so it can be insect resistant, was approved for animal feed but not for human consumption because of possible food allergies.  And consequently, when Star Link accidentally contaminated the US food supply, it resulted in hundreds of people suffering from various allergic reactions.

Here are more studies and evidences of potential health hazards posed by these GM seeds:

“Death by multiple poisoning, glyphosate and Roundup (Monsanto)” - Ho MW and Cherry B. Science in Society 42, 14, 2009.

“Glyphosate-based herbicides are toxic and endocrine disruptors in human cell lines” - Gasnier C, Dumont C, Benachour N, Clair E, Chagnon M-C, and Séralini G-E.
Toxicology 2009, 262, 184-91.

In January 2009, the European Parliament approved a ban on glufosinate herbicide (a common toxic herbicide used on GM crops). 

So, knowing what happened in the past, it would make sense for us to deduce, that if one genetically modified insecticide toxin trait can cause food allergies (in humans), then six insecticidal toxins found in Smart Stax corn, would significantly increase the incidence of food allergies as well as posing higher risks for other potential health problems…right?

So why is GM seeds like Smart Stax being approved? 

Money. 

In fact, Monsanto and Dow are predicting that SmartStax will be the largest commercial launch of a single GM corn.  It’s expected to replace most of the existing GM corn varieties on the market today.  Since Monsanto is launching this new product from existing patented traits that they own, they can charge famers up to 42 percent more!  And the more they “stack” different patented genes onto it, the more they can charge!  And on top of all this, the USDA (which many of their executives read like the who’s who of former Monsanto executives) has given financial incentive by reducing the premium reduction in the cost of crop insurance for farmers growing SmartStax corn.

If all goes as planned, Smart Stax will be in everything we consume, and once again we as consumers won’t even know it. 

So if you can’t trust our government agencies that’s supposed to be protecting the interest of the common people and not the corporate conglomerates, who can we trust?  The answer is YOU the consumer!  You have the power to make or break a company…even as large as Monsanto.  A little knowledge can go a long way…so here’s a few simple tips to help you avoid buying GM foods to help protect your health and consumer rights. 

First, eliminate all processed foods, or at least minimize it as much as possible. Unfortunately, it’s pretty safe to assume that every time you consume processed or packaged foods, that you’re eating some genetically modified foods.  So, the best way to ensure that you aren’t putting any toxic pesticide or herbicide into your body, is not to eat any processed or packaged foods.

Second, buy from your local farmers as often as possible.  You may have to go out of your way a little and the price may be higher but it’s worth it.  Supporting your local farmers will help dictate the future of our food industry and protect our right to consume natural foods, free of harmful chemicals.

Third, try and go organic but be careful about the source and origins.  Read the label…even if it says organic. 
Here’s a little video clip of ABC I-team news about Whole Foods “So Called Organic” Foods. 

Sad, I know…this whole organic movement has large corporations seeing big dollar signs and have jumped on board the organic bandwagon, which has unfortunately tainted the term “organic”.  As the video suggests, it’s hard to trust the any stamp of approval, even the “USDA” Organic Certified.

But on a positive note, there are many trustworthy local farmers, both organic and conventional, that really do care about the foods that they provide.  They take pride in their work and products, and I think it’s worth the extra effort to find them in your area and support them by buying locally, both for your health and our future.

What do you think about the stronghold Monsanto and other conglomerates have on the global seed industry? 

Did you know that your were consuming genetically modified foods?

I’d love to know what you think about it.  Share your thoughts below. 

Winter can bring about an entire change in your lifestyle.  You get into hibernation mode: your activities decrease, eating habits change, even foods you crave changes.  And while trying to survive the winter blues by eating a little comfort food here and there may not seem so bad…it can become habitual real easily.

Bad calories are always bad, but combine that with lack of activity, increased consumption (of bad calories), gray skies, seasonal blues and frigid temperatures and you’ve got a perfect environment for cultivating poor unhealthy eating habits that can add inches to your waistline.  But like all habits, good or bad, it can be broken…it only takes 30 days to break and create a new habit.  So, here’s a few simple and easy tips you can immediately implement to help you turn poor eating habits into good habits so you can begin shedding those extra pounds of winter insulation today.

Sugar and fat…a tasty combination that can add up real quick.  A little bit of this after lunch and a little of that after dinner and before you know it, you’ve a bit more than a little “winter insulation” around your belly!  But that’s not all…you’ve also “programmed” your body to accept and store fat easier!  Your body is designed for survival, so when your body gets cold it needs to insulate itself and what better way to do so, than to feed your body empty calories that’s easily stored as fat. 

Remember, not all calories are created equal and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that not all calories are metabolized the same way either.  For instance, take a cup of decadent hot chocolate with whip cream drizzled with nuts and fudge.  My mouth is watering as I’m writing it…BUT it’s highly processed and super high in refined sugars (ie. high fructose corn syrup) and has trans fats (ie. hydrogenated soybean oil) that are all metabolized by your body differently than real unrefined whole foods.  These comfort foods and drinks quickly gets stored as fat, not to mention putting undue strain on your organs (ie. pancreas) as well as increasing bad cholesterol that can clog up your arteries causing heart disease.

So, getting your sweet fixin’ is okay on special occasions, but if those “occasions” become more frequent and start to resemble more of a habit…it’s time to break it!

Habit is unconscious when you’re doing it, but when you’re trying to break it and create a new one, you need to be conscious.  When you’re starting to create a new habit it’s important to keep in mind that it needs to be easy, doable and repeatable.  The easier it is to implement and keep up, the higher your success rate.  This is why I kept the following tips, simple and easy.  Try these tips out for 30 days and see how you do.  I think you’ll be quite surprised at how making just a few small and simple changes can add up to big differences in your life.

TIP 1: 
Never miss breakfast.  Always start off with a well balanced breakfast with plenty of protein in the meal. 

Most people make the mistake of eating calorie dense, highly processed foods like cereals and instant breakfast or carb dense foods like bagels or muffins and wash it all down with even more sugar like orange juice. 

Just as bad are those that skip breakfast all together and start the day off with a cup of coffee on an empty stomach and a dehydrated body. 

Psychologically, it’s vital that you start your day off right, and eating a well balanced healthy breakfast is key to doing that.  Studies have shown that when you start off the day eating healthy, you’re much more likely to stay that way throughout the day.  Whereas, when you start out the day eating poorly or skipping breakfast altogether, you’re much more likely to follow the bad habits throughout the day. 

So first thing in the morning, drink a large glass of water.  Your body’s hasn’t been hydrated for hours, it needs water…not coffee, not juice.  Coffee is a stimulant and will suppress hunger…which is not good when you need to eat breakfast.  Concentration of refined sugar found in juice will spike up your insulin, getting your body started down the wrong metabolic path.

When preparing your breakfast with proteins, eggs are probably the fastest and easiest food to make.  But if you’re not a fan of eggs, pick any other type of protein you like.  You can also get protein from nuts, (whole) grains, (organic) soy and (organic) dairy** products as well.  (**I’m not a big fan of dairy, but if you’re not lactose intolerant or have any dairy allergies, you can use dairy as well)

Here’s a couple of super quick and easy sample breakfast recipes:

Yogurt parfait
Mix 1 - 2 cup(s) of soy or plain yogurt (no added sugar) with one cup of frozen mixed berries and top if off with two tablespoon of chopped walnuts.

Scrambles eggs w/ veggies and a fruit salad
Mix 2 - 3 whole eggs, one cup of chopped up vegetables (you can use frozen veggies thawed overnight) in a frying pan (covered in olive oil or coconut oil) and add a touch of sea salt and pepper for taste. Scramble it all up for a few minutes and serve.  Add 2 cups of mixed fruits (seasonal fruits such as berries, kiwi, peaches) on the side.

Protein power shake
Mix 1 cup of soy milk (almond milk or regular milk), 1/2 cup of soy or plain yogurt, one small banana chopped up, one cup of frozen mixed berries and 1 scoop of whey protein.  (You can use any protein supplement of your choice)

**When using soy products, make sure that it’s organic and non-GMO.
**When using dairy products (ie. milk, yogurt, whey) try to stick to organic milk products.

TIP 2:
Eat 5 - 6 small meals and snacks throughout the day.  Preferably, consume your largest meal in the morning, medium size meal for lunch and a small size meal for dinner.  The more you can adhere to this kind of eating pattern the better off you are.  Try and finish eating by 8 or 9 pm…or give yourself 2 -3 hours before you go to bed.  Your calorie expenditure slows down significantly at night, especially when you’re sleeping, so much of late night calories get stored as fat.  Therefore, the less you consume in the evening (after 8 or 9 pm) the better. 

TIP 3:
When you get hungry in the middle of the day, between breakfast and lunch or between lunch and dinner,  drink a large glass of water first and wait to see if the hunger goes away.  Often times emotional hunger will subside after you drink water.  If you’re still hungry, have a healthy snack like a handful of nuts and a piece of fruit.  I recommend combining foods high in fiber like fruits and vegetables (ie. apple, pears, carrots and broccoli) along with foods that have some protein and fat content (ie. almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, avocados).  The combination of fiber and fat will satisfy your hunger and keep you full longer, while keeping your insulin level stable.

TIP 4:
Be conscious when you eat.  Eat slow and chew well.  Don’t multitask when you eat.  Be present and enjoy the food you’re having.  Eat slowly and pause for brief moments after every 2 - 3 bites of your meal.  With each bite chew at least 10 times, this will slow down your eating and enable your digestive enzymes to kick in, allowing for better digestion.

TIP 5:
Exercise.  This tip isn’t about eating, but a vital part of a healthy lifestyle nonetheless.  Try and get some kind of exercise on a daily basis 5 days a week.  It’s best to stick to an everyday routine, since it’s the easiest to remember and you’ll get in the habit of doing it quicker.  Repetition is the key to success and forming a good productive habit is one critical aspect of it.  Start with something simple and doable for you.  It may be as simple as walking to and from work or going for a walk/jog during lunch time.  Pick something that’s easy to keep up and stick to it until it becomes part of your daily habit.  Once it becomes a habit, you can think about doing a bit more and perhaps join a fitness class or participate in a fitness program.

Follow these 5 easy tips and kick start your way to a new healthy body and lifestyle.  Remember that ditching your old bad habits is all about implementing easy, doable good habits that you can continue for at least 30 days.  Once you make eating and being healthy a habit, you’ll burn off your winter fat storage and get your summer physique back just in time.  But even more importantly you’ll get a healthy body inside and out!

Do you tend to develop bad habits during the winter months?  If you do, how have you gone about breaking your bad habits?

I’d love to hear what do you think.  Share your thoughts below!

If your training for an upcoming 10 km and you’ve been told that you need to run, run and run some more for those distances or longer to build up your endurance…you’ve been told wrong.  Training for a 10 km or even a longer endurance event isn’t about just doing that activity for long periods of time.  It’s easy to think that way and it seems like the right thing to do, but what you don’t know may actually be hindering you from getting better faster.  There’s nothing worse than putting in hours of hard work and not seeing the results you expected.  If you want your results to reflect all the hard training you put in, than you better start training right.  I’ll show you the most common mistakes people make when training for these events and simple but effective training methods that you can easily implement into your training regimen to help you improve your performance.

First of all let me just start out by stating that this is NOT for the elite endurance athletes.  If you’re an elite level triathlete, marathoner or any other endurance athlete, this article will not apply.  Elite athletes are at a different level, when it comes to training and each of their training regimen is customized to fit their needs. 

However, if you’re a weekend warrior participating in endurance events for the enjoyment and challenge of it, as well as to improve you’re fitness level…read on because what I have to say may open your eyes about endurance training.

Usually when you have a goal of participating in an endurance event…let’s say a triathlon.  You’ll most likely try to swim, bike and run as much as possible to build up your endurance…right?  And although building up endurance plays a large part in improving your fitness level, most people don’t know that their power level plays an even larger role.  Power is a term often times associated with explosive sports like football, basketball and hockey, but power is a vital component of fitness for almost all sporting events including endurance events. 

Power is essentially your work capacity, or put a another way, your ability to perform work.  So, the more work you can do in a shorter amount of time the more powerful you are.  A good analogy is comparing motor vehicles with different engine sizes.  For instance, a truck with a V8 engine is more powerful than a car with a 4 cylinder engine and so the truck can haul heavier objects more quickly and get more done in a shorter amount of time than the car, which is limited to only being able to carry small objects. 

So as an endurance athlete, your goal is to be able to cover certain (long) distances in the shortest amount of time.  Now this is where the power comes…how long are you able to to sustain a certain speed before you burn out.  The more powerful of an athlete you are the more likely that you’ll be able to sustain a faster pace.  This is the difference between endurance and power.  If you have lots of endurance, you’ll be able to run or bike (or whatever your choice of event may be) for a long time, but you won’t be able shift gears to go faster, you’ll only be able to sustain a certain pace (usually pretty slow but steady) for very long periods of time. 

So the ultimate goal is to have a both power and endurance.  But for the average joe that’s participating in seasonal weekend type of endurance events, you’ll get more bang for your buck by training for power more than endurance.  Of course you have to put in some long easy to moderate training sessions to help build your endurance.  But if you’re a working professional with a job and other commitments, time is limited and realistically one or two long training sessions a week should suffice.  The rest of time should be spent on increasing your power levels. 

So the next obvious question is…how do you increase power?

The best and most efficient way to increase your power level is….interval training!  Not only does interval training help you burn fat, but it also helps you increase your power, which in turn makes you more fit and better suited to perform all sorts of sporting activities…including endurance events. 

There are many different types of interval training which vary in intensity, distance and time.  But the one common key to all interval training is intensity.  Your goal in interval training is to train at a certain intensity for a given workout session.  That’s essentially why the rest intervals are there to begin with.  The rest allows you to catch your breath and get a temporary recovery break, so you can sustain the same intensity.  By repeating it over and over, you’re enabling your body to train at a higher intensity, thereby improving your body’s ability to perform more work - which is power. 

Another important point to keep in mind is that power is directly associate with strength as well.  People often neglect the strength component when training for an endurance event.  Too many people associate strength training with body building and getting big and bulk.  But the truth of the matter is doing the right types of strength training will get you stronger, leaner and more powerful.  The best way to improve your strength to increase your power is by performing a series of functional exercises using challenging weights in a heart pumping circuit training format.  This type of training will force your body to produce hormones that’ll enhance your strength and burn fat while increasing your ability to do more work.

Here are some sample workout schedules divided up by distances.

Functional Strength Training - FST  
Moderate Intensity Interval Training (70- 85% max effort) - MIT  
High Intensity Interval training (85 - 100% max effort) - HIT  
Long Distance Training (55 - 70% max effort) - LDT
FST (am) / MIT (pm) - Spilt Days: FST in the morning and MIT in the afternoon

Shorter Distance Events: (ie. 10 km)
Mon:FST Tues:HIT Wed:HIT Thurs:FST Fri:HIT Sat:LDT Sun: Rest

Medium Distance Events: (ie. Half Marathons)
Mon:FST Tues:HIT Wed:LDT Thurs:FST (am) / MIT (pm)  Fri:HIT Sat:LDT Sun: Rest

Long Distance Events: (ie. Marathons)
Mon:FST (am) / MIT (pm)  Tues:LDT Wed:HIT Thurs:FST (am) / MIT (pm)  Fri:HIT Sat:LDT Sun: Rest

As the distance of your endurance event increases so does your training volume.  The split workout days are more for advanced level training, but it is recommended for those participating in longer endurance events.  The schedules can be changed up to fit your needs but in general try and include 1 -2 functional strength circuit training sessions a week (30 - 45 minutes a session), 3 - 4 interval training sessions a week (45 - 60 minutes a session @ moderate to high intensity)  and 1 - 2 long endurance training sessions a week (2 - 4 hours of easy - moderate effort) for a well rounded and effective training routine for your upcoming endurance events.   

If the information seems a bit overwhelming, or you aren’t quite sure of where to begin, you can check out my fitness program Maxworkouts.  It’s a comprehensive program that has everything I talked about in this article.  The entire program is based on increasing your power which in turn will make you lean, fit and strong.  The workouts are divided up into strength circuit training and interval cardio training sessions all programmed and scheduled for you so you don’t have to think about a thing.  All you have to do is follow the program. 

Are you training for an upcoming endurance event?  Have you been applying some of the training methods I mentioned in the article?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please post your comments below.

About 75 million U.S. adults experience some sort of chronic pain, with low-back pain among the most common complaints. 

Although you can get temporary symptomatic relief from medications like Tylenol, Motrin and Aleve, it’s by no means a permanent solution…and taking too many meds can cause other serious health complications. 

So what’s the best remedy for chronic low back pain?  Well, the solution comes from understanding how the problem first came about. 

Modern conveniences have made us increasingly more sedentary and less active.  This has contributed to our ever expanding waist line, as well as, all of the health problems associated with it.

Although being overweight definitely adds to the problem.  Surprisingly, it’s not the most common cause.
 
You may be surprised to find out what causes most low back pains and the shockingly simple solutions for it.

As your weight goes up, so does the stress on your body and just the shear pressure on your spinal joints is enough to cause irritation and inflammation causing pain and discomfort in your low back. 

The obvious solution is to reduce body weight…right?  Well surprisingly, even after losing weight many people still complain of low back pain.  That being the case…weight can’t be the only issue.

Besides, there are plenty of people that aren’t overweight or obese that still suffer from chronic low back pain.  Even people that are in good shape can have low back pain. 

So what’s the most common cause of low back pain?

Sitting.

Yep…you heard it right.  Just think about it. 

You sit at work, at school, in your car, on the bus, in the theater, at home, on the toilet…wherever you are there’s a strong likelihood that you’re sitting.  And it you’re not sitting you’re walking to get to your next destination so you can sit again.  It’s the most common position people spend their lives in. 

Now let’s think about our basic anatomy.  If you looked at the way we’re built…it’s not to sit, but rather to walk, run, jump and move from one place to the next.  We’re supposed to be moving…not sitting still. 

Our ancestors had to move so they could hunt and gather food to survive.  Motion is key to our survival and lack of motion is detrimental. 

Just look at our sedentary society.  We have become fat, sick and fully dependent on modern conveniences and modern medicine. 

We have become unfit to survive.

I know what you’re thinking…but what about the people that are fit and don’t lead a sedentary lifestyle.  Well, there’a a few reasons why being active and fit may not solve all of the problems.

Spending prolonged time in a seated position causes the following detrimental effects:

• It causes “creep” - a stretching of the ligaments and cartilages.  These soft tissue structures are supposed to keep your joints tight and in place.  As it gets stretched out, it weakens and deforms joints.
 
• It causes muscle amnesia of your posterior chain.  The muscles that make up your posterior chain are your glutes, hamstrings and low back.  This means that the opposing anterior chain muscles become short and overactive.  This causes muscle imbalance which alters biomechanics and can affect even the simplest movements like walking and running.
• It causes shortening of the hip flexor muscle (one of the anterior chain muscles).  The hip flexors are anchored onto your lumbar vertebrae (lower back bones), so when they’re shortened it pulls on the lower back causing the spine to extend (or arch).  This puts additional pressure on the vertebral joints and can cause pain and discomfort.
• The altered biomechanics get carried over to normal movements.  These movements further enhances the imbalance.  For instance when you’re running you further strengthen the anterior chain muscles (hip flexors and quads), which weakens the posterior chain muscles (glutes, hamstrings and lower back) even more - setting up a vicious cycle of muscle imbalance.

So here’s what you need to do.

First and foremost, minimize sitting and increase moving. 

If you’re working at a desk, you may want to take a break every hour and walk around the office or go to the break room for a quick stretch.  Just 5 minutes of movement will do your low back wonders.

If you don’t exercises regularly, you need to start.  Even though weight isn’t the number one reason that causes low back pain, being lighter, leaner and more fit will undoubtedly help.

If you already exercise than you need to fix the muscle imbalance. Here’s a short protocol you can begin with:

 
• Foam roll (you can use a PVC pipe) your quads and ITB.  Spend as long as you need on each leg.
 
• After foam rolling, stretch out your hip flexors, quads (thighs) and ITB.  Hold each stretch for 30 seconds and repeat 2 - 3 times each side.
• Strengthen your posterior chain muscles by doing the following exercises:
  • bridges on the floor
  • bridges on a swiss ball
  • one legged bridges on the floor
  • one legged bridges on a swiss ball
  • supine hamstring curl on a swiss ball
  • one legged supine hamstring curl on a swiss ball
  • one legged deadlifts (use light weights)
  • straight legged deadlifts (use light weights)
  • Perform 12 -15 reps for 2 - 3 sets each exercise
  • The most important thing to keep in mind is form and technique.

  
  You can do the stretches and various bridges on the floor (without using the swiss ball) at your office as well.  If you want, you can even bring and leave a foam roller at work so you can do it whenever you take a break.

  So there you have it.  Avoid sitting for longer then you need to.  Move as often as possible.  Include the stretches and exercises posted above as often as possible.

  If you haven’t gotten on a good fitness regimen, then definitely check out my Max Workouts program.  It’s a 90 day fully comprehensive workout program that’s designed to get the most out of your body’s own chemistry to help you burn fat, lose weight and build a lean body.

  The program is composed workouts with functional full body exercises so you can build a well balanced strong body with a strong core and avoid developing any muscle imbalance.

  If you’re a low back pain sufferer, what have you done to deal with it?

  Do you have any favorite stretches, exercises that you found particularly helpful for you?

  I’d love to find out what you think?  Share you thoughts below.

   

   

  ]]> Injury Management, Muscle Recovery 2010-02-25T05:00:42+00:00 http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/calorie-counters-beware-you-may-be-eating-more-than-you-think/ http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/calorie-counters-beware-you-may-be-eating-more-than-you-think/#When:05:00:26Z

  If you’ve been diligently counting calories in hopes of cutting down your caloric intake so you can lose weight…you may be in for a rude awakening!  Apparently all is not what it seems as indicated on the labels of packaged or canned foods. 

  According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, prepared foods may contain an average of 8% more calories than what’s stated on their package labels and restaurant meals may contain a whopping 18% more calories than they claim.

  And as far as the FDA is concerned, it’s completely fine. 

  So let’s say you’re on a 1200 calories per day diet.  8% is only about 100 calories a day.  But add that up and you’re looking an additional 3000 calories a month and 36000 calories a year.  Remember, there’s 3500 calories in 1 lb of fat.  At an extra 36000 calories per year…that’s about 10 extra pounds of fat!

  If you can’t trust the information on the label, what are you supposed to do? 

  The federal government is super stringent when it comes to regulating the net weight of packaged foods…I mean think about the added cost of shipping!  But when it comes to regulating the total calories in the package…they could careless.  In fact, the inaccuracy of the calories may be far worse than the study suggests. 

  And if you’re on a calorie restricted diet, you might as well forget about restaurants.  When it comes to regulating calorie claims in restaurants, the FDA has no hand in it.  Each state is responsible for their own work.  Well, you can just imagine the results of that situation.  Let’s just say that 20% is probably on the low side of inaccuracy. 

  That being said, majority of people that eat out aren’t overly concerned about caloric intake, so the lack of regulation isn’t a surprise.  And if you’re really trying to watch what you eat, you’ll either have to avoid going to restaurants or make sure that everything you order is plain, raw or broiled with sauce or dressing on the side.  It’s the cooking oils and sauces that really bump up the calories. 

  Lack of accurate calorie information in restaurant foods is forgivable, but inaccuracy in packaged food is definitely not.  And I don’t mean just for dieters…it’s the principle of the matter.  If you’re going to have labels on packages, you want it to be factual so you know what it is that your buying. 

  However, truth be told, if you’re reading the labels and checking for total calories…you’re going down the all too commonly failed path of yo-yo dieters. 

  Calorie counting is not the way to lose weight. 

  I know what you’re thinking…it’s ultimately calories in vs. calories out right?  Actually…NO.  And before you start getting all worked up about it, let me explain. 

  Not all calories are created equal.  The fact is, science is still uncovering new information on how your body truly metabolizes all the calories.  Research is finding that the affect food has on your body is much more powerful than ever imagined. 

  Food isn’t just calories…it’s much more than that.  Foods actually communicate with your cells and controls the vast network of biochemical processes that’s responsible for your metabolism. 

  Bottom line is…you need to be more concerned about what you eat more than how much you eat. 

  The secret to losing weight is to eat the foods that your body was meant to eat, not what the food industry pushes you to eat.  This means eliminating all processed, refined and genetically altered foods - which is great, since it completely eliminates the hassles of having to read any labels…ever again! 

  Does this mean absolutely no processed foods, no fast foods, no junk foods…at all? 

  I always say, everything in moderation…but ask yourself this question every time you have a junk food craving.  If you owned an Aston Martin, could you ever imagine putting into your beloved car, anything less than the best mechanical fluids there is to put into it?  Would you ever contemplate putting in regular gas and regular engine oil? 

  I didn’t think so.  So why would you treat your body any differently? 

  Anyway, to makes things a little easier…I’ve listed the worst types of foods that you should immediately and permanently avoid:

  • White flour products: breads, white rice, pasta, baked goods (pastries, muffins, cookies etc.)
  • All refined sugars (List of different names)
  • High fructose corn syrup / corn syrup
  • sucrose
  • glucose
  • maltose
  • dextrose
  • lactose
  • fructose
  • fruit concentrate
  • honey
  • maple syrup
  • natural cane sugar
  • brown sugar
  • dehydrated cane juice,
  • turbinado sugar etc.
  • All genetically modified foods (GMO) ie. soy lecithin (an active ingredient in chocolate bars), corn starch, canola oil
  • All Polyunsaturated oils: soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil and vegetable oil (This means, anything fried - donuts, fries, fried chicken, chicken wings, meatballs etc.)
  • Hydrogenated oils (trans fat - ie. hydrogenate soybean oil) - Anything that’s got preservatives in it, which is pretty much all packaged foods like crackers, biscuits, chips, even most cereals

  So here’s the deal…you don’t need to know any of the above mentioned items if you stick to eating unrefined natural whole foods.  It’s quite simple really, and it gets even simpler.  When you’re grocery shopping, you don’t have to go up and down aisles looking for products anymore.  Avoid the inner aisles all together and just stick to the outer areas, where all the natural whole foods are located. 

  If you’re unsure about what to buy and eat, here’s a quick break down.

  All whole foods can be broken down into three simple (macronutrients) categories: Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats.  The best way to eat is to try and have a little from each category. 

  This usually means some (lean) protein, a decent amount of carbs (complex - fruits and veggies) and some (healthy) fats.  The ratio of macronutrients will vary according to each individual and although there are plenty of diets and nutritional experts out there, that claim a certain ratio is better than others, it’s really not the case. 

  The truth is everyone is different and so each one of us has a ratio that works best for us, and that’s something that you’ll have to figure out yourself.
  Just keep in mind to include some foods from each category every time you eat and make sure that the foods are all unrefined whole foods.

  To help you out a little, here’s an abbreviated list of recommended foods categorized by macronutrients:

  • Lean protein: fish (wild salmon, tilapia, halibut, mackerel), shellfish (shrimps, scallops, clams, mussels), poultry**  (free range chicken and turkey), red meat**  (grass fed beef)   ** all poultry and meat should be free of hormones and antibiotics
  • Fruits: All type and varieties.  (Try and purchase organic when possible to minimize herbicides and pesticides exposure on the produce)
  • Vegetables:  All types and varieties.  (Limit your intake of starchy veggies such as peas, parsnip, corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, turnips)
  • Unrefined Whole Grains:  brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, millet (Be careful with gluten, since many people are allergic to it.  If you’re gluten sensitive, stick to gluten free whole grains)
  • Beans: black beans, kidney beans, lentil beans, navy beans, pinto beans, (organic) soy beans (Make sure all beans are cooked thoroughly to neutralize all harmful anti-nutrients)
  • Nuts and seeds: Almonds, walnuts, Brazilian nuts, hazelnuts, pecan, cashew (It’s best if you can get raw nuts.  It’s recommended that raw nuts be soaked for 24 hrs first and then dried to neutralize all harmful anti-nutrients)
  • Fats and oils:  Olive oil (extra virgin), coconut oil (extra virgin), grapeseed oil, almond oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil   (**A good dietary supplements are EFA’s ie. fish oils)

  Stick to eating balanced meals and snacks comprised of unrefined natural whole foods and you’ll never have to worry about counting calories ever again! 

  Eat for your health, not for your weight, and amazingly your body will respond by naturally sloughing off stubborn unwanted fat. 

  Are you skeptical of not having to count calories?

  Do you believe that diet is still all about calories in vs. calories out?

  What’s your take on eating unrefined natural whole foods and not having to ever worry about caloric intake?

  I’d love to hear what you think.  Please leave your thoughts below.

   

  ]]> Diet & Nutrition 2010-02-18T05:00:26+00:00 http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/are-your-shoes-causing-you-injuries/ http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/are-your-shoes-causing-you-injuries/#When:05:00:10Z

  Every few months all of the major footwear companies come out with their latest and greatest running shoes.  Some even have built-in computers that help you keep track of how much you ran! 

  Nowadays every possible technology you can think of is being implemented into the shoes…heck with all of the money being spent on R&D, you’d think they’d be able to make shoes with wings so you can fly! 

  Unfortunately, most of the new technologies are more about hype and marketing gimmick then anything that’s actually useful or beneficial. 

  In fact, the latest research done on runners wearing the latest technologically advanced shoes, is that it actually puts more stress on your leg joints including your hips, knees and ankles than walking in a pair of high heels!  Can you imagine that? 

  The truth is you don’t need to get caught up in the hype and pay hundreds of dollars for a pair of athletic shoes that may look nice, but can actually harm you.  There’s a much better solution that’ll save you a lot of money while improving your athletic performance and keep you injury free.  Check out the full story below. 

  Quoted from www.medicalnewstoday.com

  In a study published in the December 2009 issue of PM&R: The journal of injury, function and rehabilitation, researchers compared the effects on knee, hip and ankle joint motions of running barefoot versus running in modern running shoes. They concluded that running shoes exerted more stress on these joints compared to running barefoot or walking in high-heeled shoes

  .

  It’s quite interesting to note that the more we spend on achieving comfort the less it seems to be good for our bodies.  Ultimate comfort and luxury convenience is the pinnacle of our modern society and it’s also the down fall of human functionality.  It’s a sad irony, but true. 

  I think instinctively, humans are lazy.  We constantly try to find ways to do things faster, more efficiently and with less work.  And although that drive has accelerated human advancement, it’s come with a price…the loss of our basic human functional movements. 

  But not all is lost…yet!  In fact, getting your functionality back isn’t hard.  A great place to start is by getting rid of your expensive multi-colored logo flashing, gadget filled running shoes (or at least put them in your closet for the time being) and instead opt for a pair of simple flat shoes, with no frills but just a good fit. 

  In fact it doesn’t even have to be running shoes.  Any shoes that’s light, has thin flat soles and fits your feet well should do. 

  A good tip: The more it resembles being barefoot the better. 

  I wrote an article, not too long ago about the benefits of running barefoot.  The entire concept is based on the fact that we evolved by running barefooted, so our anatomy (bone and muscle) developed in such a way that we’re actually best suited to run barefooted.  And now a recent study by Dr. Casey Kerrigan, MD. (JKM Technologies LLC) further strengthens that point. 

  When you run without any support under your feet, you automatically change the way your run.  Since you don’t have the cushion under your heels anymore, it forces you to run on your forefoot…which is actually the way we’re supposed to run!  (Check out my video on how to run on your forefoot) 

  But don’t worry if you can’t do it, or you’re worried that it’s too extreme of a change to go from running with shoes to running barefoot.  The real important part is isn’t about running, but about starting to use your feet again. 

  Just by taking your shoes off and walking barefoot in your house, you’re already re-awakening your feet.  There are more than 100 intrinsic muscles, tendons and ligaments that support all 26 bones and 33 joints that make up your feet. 

  Even though your foot muscles are small, they play a vital role in maintaining proper postural alignment, body balance, body mechanics and even weight distribution.  And the 200,000 plus nerve endings located in your foot allows active stimulation of proprioception and acute awareness that enhance all human movements. 

  Many of the strongest power lifters in the world lift barefooted or with just a pair of thin flat soled shoes.  They feel it helps them generate more power and stability from being able to feel and grip the floor when they pull 700 lbs off the floor! 

  It’s just another point, that conscious movement is initiated from your feet and without it you’re functionality is altered.  Strengthen your feet and you’ll move better, prevent injuries, be stronger and enhance your overall fitness level.

  Here’s a few simple ways to help you strengthen your feet:

  • Take your shoes off as often as possible
  • Walk around your house without shoes
  • Workout** without shoes or with thin flat soled shoes
  • Run barefooted or with thin flat soled shoes as often as possible
  • Walk outside with thin soled shoes and be conscious of how you walk and what’s underneath your feet

  **If you workout without shoes or with a pair of thin soled shoes, makes sure to perform functional full body exercises so you can take complete advantage of strengthening your feet to increase your proprioception, balance, postural alignment and athletic performance. 

  Compare the way you feel when wearing thick soled shoes vs. thin soled shoes (or barefoot)? 

  Do you think comfort has any place in the world of functionality?

  P.S. If you’re unfamiliar with full body exercises, you can check out my Max Workouts program. It has over 40 full body functional exercises (all with pictures and detailed instructions) programmed into short, but high intensity workouts to help you maximize your calorie burning potential and get you strong, lean and fit.

  I’d love to hear what you think.  Share your thoughts and leave your comments below!

   

  ]]> Building Strength, Injury Management 2010-02-11T05:00:10+00:00 http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/WARNING-Artificial-Sweeteners-Can-Make-You-Fat/ http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/WARNING-Artificial-Sweeteners-Can-Make-You-Fat/#When:05:00:13Z

  Sugar is a HUGE conundrum for many, because it’s in pretty much everything you buy….and that’s especially the case for processed foods, pre-packaged foods and all fast foods. 

  Sugar is addictive…no doubt about it.  And it’s lethal combination of abundance and addiction that has resulted in our current health debacle where over 60% of the adults in the nation (US) are either overweight or obese. 

  At this rate some experts say that it can reach 75% by 2015.  That’s 3/4 of the entire nation! 

  This problem has spawned a MULTI-MILLION dollar industry of sugar alternatives as a solution to help curb sugar consumption in an effort to beat the overweight and obesity problem.

  Artificial sweeteners are 300 times sweeter than sugar, they don’t cause an insulin spike and have low (or no) calories. 

  Sounds good to me…all the pleasure without the guilt. 

  Although, there are some “minor” health like issues like headaches, migraines, seizures and even brain tumors, that’s been linked to active ingredients like aspartame in artificial sweeteners—it’s all good because it still helps you lose weight (I’m being very sarcastic here if you didn’t catch that). 

  Well, that is until recently… 

  Studies have now come out that indicate sweeteners aren’t as effective at helping you lose weight as initially thought.  In fact, now there’s evidence that they actually promote weight GAIN! 

  Don’t get left in the dark about this ...read the full story here and find out what you can do about it:

  The entire artificial sweetener industry is based on the fact that sugar causes weight gain and that by using sugar alternatives you’re better off than consuming real sugar. 

  That’s true to a point…but let’s face it, if you didn’t over consume sugar in the first place, none of this would be an issue. 

  The fact is, we need sugar to survive.

  The simplest form of sugar is glucose and it is one of the most vital sources of energy for our body. 

  Back in our caveman days, food wasn’t abundant and we certainly didn’t have access to readily available forms of sugars.  So, our body evolved to be able to efficiently breakdown foods like fruits and vegetables into glucose for energy use. 

  The mechanism for breaking down various forms of carbohydrates to glucose is efficient and effective and it’s all controlled by hormones.  These chemical messengers are triggered by your brain, organs and even peripheral tissues like fat.  And each hormone triggers a cascade of other processes creating a complex network of signals and actions…but somehow it all works together. 

  But now, instead of scarcity, we’re dealing with too much abundance.  Now sugar is available in refined and processed forms that needs little to no breaking down.  And it’s consumed in immense volumes!  This has completely shocked our system and wrecked havoc to it. 

  Our body wasn’t intended for over consumption of refined and processed sugars and the evolutionary mechanisms that metabolizes carbohydrates to convert it for energy use is now being used and abused.  Our current consuming behavior is essentially de-evolving our metabolic processes.  We’re now becoming less robust, more susceptible and definitely more reliant on processed foods, artificial chemicals and man made drugs. 

  The result is what you see today…an obese, sick society dependent on foods and drugs developed by engineers and chemists working for major conglomerates.

  So, it should come as no surprise that artificial sweeteners aren’t actually helpful for you, when it comes to losing weight. 

  Essentially, these sweeteners fool your brain into thinking it’s having sugar without causing the natural metabolic processes—in this case an insulin spike.  So when your brain is tricked, it never actually receives any feedback from your body that it got sugar (glucose).  This causes the hormones that trigger the sugar cravings to stop, to actually increase the signals, because it senses that your body is being deprived of it. 

  The enhanced sugar cravings ultimately become too strong and you eventually end up consuming more sugar than intended.  This means you consume more calories and produce an even higher insulin spike which equals more fat deposition and greater weight gain. 

  Your sugar cravings are there for a reason and it’s usually a symptom of something larger, that’s out of balance in your body.  It’s an indication that you’re metabolically off kilter…so you’re much better off fixing the source of the problem then just covering it up by eating sweets that have sugar alternatives

  But what about natural sugar alternatives like stevia and xylitol?

  Well, they’re definitely better than the artificial sweeteners.  These sweeteners come from real food sources and there hasn’t been any health effects associated with it.  That being said, majority of the big studies have been done on artificial sweeteners and not so much on these natural alternatives, so the jury is still out.  But, if you had to use a sweetener, I’d choose the natural sugar alternatives over the artificial ones any day!

  However, the best healthiest solution for you body is to simply avoid all processed foods with man made ingredients.  These foods have a ton of hidden sugars and countless other unhealthy ingredients.  And remember, these chemicals have to be metabolized by your body and if your body doesn’t recognize it, it’s going to throw a wrench into your system and cause further damage. 

  Instead, eat real whole foods.  Foods that our ancestors ate.  Foods that grow on trees and come from mother earth.  Foods that roam the natural pastures or swim in the wild seas.  Foods that your body will recognize so it knows exactly how to metabolize it. 

  By cutting out all processed foods and refined sugars your body will slowly regain it’s natural homeostasis and balance out your hormonal signals.  Your overwhelming cravings for sugar and your insatiable appetite will slowly dissipate. 

  Feeding what your body was meant to be fed, is the best way to a healthier you. 

  So the next time you’re at your local coffee shop getting your morning caffeine fix, think twice before you reach for the sweeteners.

  Sensible healthy eating composed of real whole foods combined with an effective workout program like Max Workouts, is your best “real” solution to permanent weight loss and a leaner, fitter you. 

  
  What real whole foods do you eat on a daily basis? 

  And what processed foods do you need to start eliminating on a regular basis?

  What do think about the ineffectiveness of sugar alternatives?  I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please leave your comments below!

  ]]> Fat Loss, Diet & Nutrition 2010-02-04T05:00:13+00:00 http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/the-proven-formula-to-losing-your-stomach-fat/ http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/the-proven-formula-to-losing-your-stomach-fat/#When:05:00:10Z

  Do you workout but your one problem area never seems to go away…your belly fat?  If you’ve been on a quest for a flat belly or even a six pack, it’s what you don’t know that may be sabotaging your efforts of budging that stubborn fat off your stomach.  The right information can be the difference between looking at your same old belly a few months from now or seeing a brand new you with flat abs you haven’t seen since your high school days.  Find out what’s keeping you from losing your gut.

  First and foremost if you’ve been doing various ab exercises in hopes of reducing fat surrounding your stomach…you need to stop.  I’m talking all traditional ab exercises like crunches, sit ups, side bends, weighted sit ups, bicycle sit ups, side crunches…anything that involves you doing some type of torso twisting or bending.  These ab exercises don’t do much other than wreck your posture and put unnecessary strain on your lower back.  Here’s the thing, flexing (bending) your spine isn’t what your ab muscles are supposed to do.  The real function of your ab muscles are to maintain midline stability.  Basically, your abs are there to protect your back from bending and twisting too much.  It may seem contradictory at first, (especially if you’re a fan of ab exercises) but if you look at the functional anatomy of your abdominal muscles and spine, it completely makes sense.  Here’s a quick overview.

  Individual joints in your spine actually doesn’t have a lot of mobility, in fact the joints are primarily made to bear axial loading (along a straight axis), rather than shearing and twisting.  So your spine can support heavy loads as long as it maintains neutral position which is it’s natural S curve.  Any deviation from that position can put significant strain on the individual joints in your spine.  It’s like the pillar of a house.  The pillar can support the weight of the house simply because it’s structure can disperse the weight evenly along the pillar.  But, once there’s a bend in the pillar, the weight can’t be evenly distributed anymore, and all of the weight gets put onto the small area where the bend occurred.  Eventually the pillar can’t sustain the weight and it collapses.  That’s essentially what happens when you injure your back.  Excessive flexion of your spine only weakens the neutral curve (or the S curve) of your spine, so you can’t bear as much weight.  So it makes sense to minimize excessive flexion of the spine. 

  Your abdominal muscles are attached to your spine, your ribs (both front and back), and your pelvis.  The muscle fibers run in all directions, up and down, diagonal, criss cross, and horizontal.  If your ab muscle were meant to flex (bend) your torso, don’t your think all of the fibers would just run up and down.  If you look at all other skeletal muscles, they all have one direction, which is why it’s meant to flex and extend.  Take a look at your bicep muscles, it runs up and down along your arm, so when you flex it, your elbow naturally bends.  However, when you flex your torso, you’re essentially only activating one of six different ab muscles.  In fact, the only way to activate all of your ab muscle at once is by bracing your stomach muscles like your about to get punched in the stomach.  And the result of that action is spinal stabilization.  It basically makes your spine more rigid, there by protecting it. 

  There are many ways to activate and strengthen your ab muscles, but none of them involve flexing (bending) your torso.  Here’s a good sample exercise you can try, that gets your abs activated.  Start on the floor in a plank position with both your elbows bent at 90 degrees.  The only body parts touching the floor should be your elbows, forearm, hands and your feet.  The torso should be in straight alignment without any slouch in your back or your butt up in the air.  The goal is to maintain this neutral position for 60 seconds.  Brace your abs, and lift one foot, one inch off the floor.  Hold it for 15 seconds.  Put it down and repeat with the other foot.  Once you bring that foot down.  Raise your arm off the floor and reach straight forward ahead of you. Extend you arm fully out in front of you along your head.  While in this position, don’t tilt your body, hold a straight plank position.  Hold that position for 15 seconds and bring it down and repeat with the other arm.  If you were able to hold a perfect plank position for 60 seconds, while each part of your limb was lifted off the floor, you abs are in functional shape.  Congratulations!  But it you were unable to hold that position, you have some work to do!  If you’re interested in learning more effective abdominal exercises my Max Workouts program has 12 challenging core stimulating exercises that effectively activates and strengthens your abs.  But having strong functional abs aren’t enough to get you a flat stomach. 

  In order to effectively get flat abs you have to burn the fat from your stomach.  The problem is you can’t target reduce fat.  That means when you burn off fat, you burn it off from your entire body.  But here’s the kicker, certain areas in your body are more resistant to fat burning for a specific reason…Insulin insensitivity.  And one of the most common areas effected by insulin insensitivity is your belly. 

  How can one little hormone keep fat stored in your belly and not let it go?  Normal functioning insulin actually helps you stay thin, by directing sugar and fat into areas of your body that need it, so your body can maintain a healthy balanced state.  But, when your insulin gets abused, it stops doing it’s job and causes havoc in your body.  And there lies the real problem of your stubborn belly fat.

  Your insulin spikes every time you eat, since food is broken down into sugar and enters your bloodstream.  However, depending on the type of food you eat, the level of insulin spike varies.  The more you consume sugar or foods that break down quickly into sugars like pasta, bread, rice and other starchy foods, the more your insulin has to work.  A repetitive constant demand for your insulin eventually causes it to loses it’s sensitivity and it stops working as it’s supposed to.  Bottom line…insulin insensitivity causes more sugar to be in the blood stream and increases fat storage.  And it just so happens that your belly has high numbers of fat receptors that accept fat deposited by insulin.  So it’s a double whammy.  Your poor diet causes your insulin to become insensitive which causes more calories to be consumed and more fat to be stored in your belly.  If you think one donut or one candy bar won’t effect you…think again!  Once you’re insulin insensitive, your body becomes even better at storing fat.  So much so, that even a small amount of sugar you consume gets stored as fat!

  Your only solution is to re-sensitize your insulin.  And there’s two ways to do that -  exercising at higher intensities and eating diet low in (refined) sugar.  Studies have shown that exercise helps increase insulin sensitivity for up to 24 hours after exercising.  However, they found that increasing the intensity of the exercise kept insulin sensitivity for up to 15 days afterwards.  It’s also essential that you clean up your diet, by eliminating any refined sugars as well as significantly limiting the intake of starchy foods.  Your best bet is to keep away from all foods that are processed, man-made, and/or packaged (and yes that includes fast foods!) which are heavy on simple carbohydrates (sugar and starches) and stick to (real foods) complex carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables and whole grains (ie. quinoa, brown rice).  Even though some fruits are higher in sugar, the fiber content in fruits help slow down the sugar entering your blood stream and helps reduce the insulin spike.  Along with complex carbohydrates, make sure to consume enough lean protein from natural sources (ie. cold water fish) and healthy fats (ie. olive oil).  Much like fiber, protein and fat help slow down the sugar uptake as well, helping insulin maintain healthy, steady blood sugar levels.

  So there you have it.  It may seem simple at first, but this information can really make a big difference if you apply it.  A combination of high intensity exercises and a well balanced diet (low in refined sugar and processed foods), along with functional ab strengthening exercises, will finally help you burn off the stubborn belly fat and get you the flat abs you’ve been working for.  If you want the formula for flat abs, check out my Max Workouts program.  The workouts are based on high intensity strength circuit training and cardio interval training to fully maximize your body’s calorie burning potential.  And since all of the workouts and exercises are systematically planned out, you don’t have to think about a thing.

  Now that know how your ab muscles work, would you still do sit ups?

  What are your thoughts on the insulin connection?

  I’d love to hear what you think, so please leave a comment below.

  ]]> Fat Loss, Diet & Nutrition, Exercises & Workouts 2010-01-21T05:00:10+00:00 http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/why-95-of-people-who-lose-weight-gain-it-back/ http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/why-95-of-people-who-lose-weight-gain-it-back/#When:05:00:01Z

  Losing weight isn’t the hard part, it’s maintaining your hard earned body that’s tricky.  Most people gain their weight back within 2 years of losing it all.  And the reasons aren’t what we initially thought.  Gaining your weight back and more, may have more to do with your body’s biological processes.  There is strong evidence which shows, once you lose the weight, your body does everything in it’s power to regain that weight back.  Your thinner body needs less calories to sustain itself, but your craving for food intensifies, making it increasingly difficult to maintain your hard earned lean body.  But not all is lost, where there’s a will there’s a way!  Find out what you can do to keep your weight off and maintain your lean body for the long term and avoid being the 90 - 95% of people that gain it all back.

  Paul Maclean, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado,  has been studying how your body functions after weight loss and what he’s discovered is quite startling. 
  Quoted from L.A.Times

  “There are strong physiological adaptations to weight loss that promote weight regain,” MacLean says.

  Your body is designed for survival, and so innately it functions to protect it from weight loss and starvation.  But what’s interesting is that once you’re overweight, your body assumes that state to be normal and it does everything it can to get it back to the previous “overweight” state once you’ve lost weight.  It’s part of the survival mechanism.  And here’s the kicker, scientists haven’t figured out how long it takes for your body to recognize your new weight as the normal state and hence stop all of the biological processes from sabotaging your efforts.  So you may be fighting your body’s urges for a long time. 

  Once you lose the weight your metabolism changes, since you need less calories per day.  Each pound you lose you require 8 calories less than before.  This difference in the energy required has been coined the term “energy gap” by Dr. James O. Hill (a professor from University of Colorado and director of Center for Human Nutrition).  This energy gap may be one of many reasons why your body tries to gain more calories back into your body.
  

  One way to fill the void (energy gap) is by changing your body’s appetite hormones.  Leptin, an appetite depressor hormone helps curb your appetite.  But, after weight loss, the level of leptin in your body is lowered, making it harder to curb your hunger.  Another hormone is ghrelin. It’s an appetite stimulant.  It makes you hungry, but subsides after you eat.  However, after weight loss the level of ghrelin in your body is elevated.  Even after you eat the level of ghrelin doesn’t do down as much as before.  This leads to lower satiety (satisfaction) levels and increases your chances of over eating.  Additionally, MacLean’s research suggests that even your fat stores in your stomach send signals to your brain to tell the body to regain the lost weight.

  It’s no wonder that people gain their weight back.  Your brain and body reprograms everything to try to restore the lost weight and it doesn’t seem to let down until it’s succeeded. 

  I know… it all seems doom and gloom, but before you raise you hands up in despair and give up.  There is a way!

  Amongst the estimated 5 - 10% of the successful people that lost weight and kept if off on a long term basis, there was one constant that really made a difference in helping them keep the weight off…EXERCISE.

  Rather than just trying to consume fewer calories by eating less, these people exercised more.  Scientists believe exercising helps control your body’s instinctive biological mechanism to regain the lost weight - such as re-sensitizing your appetite controlling hormones like leptin, ghrelin and insulin, so that it can help you keep the weight off.
  Quoted from L.A.Times

  “Everyone thinks exercise is about burning calories,” Fujioka says. “But you are actually returning the system to more like what it should be. Things start working again.”

  Another possible key in the fight to maintain your weight loss, is stabilizing your blood sugar levels.  Some scientists believe that it plays an important role in helping to reprogram your brain and body, so it can see your thinner and lighter body as the new norm.  This in turn helps your body’s biological processes return back to normal.  A key tip in stabilizing your blood sugar level is to eat low glycemic foods and foods with high fiber content along with lean protein and healthy fats.  Eating 5 - 6 smaller meals through out the day will also help keep your blood sugar level even.  Another important tip is to eliminate all processed foods, and replace it with real whole foods instead.  Processed foods have hidden sugars that’ll spike your insulin and trans fats that are very toxic to your body.  Just by eliminating processed foods and ready made foods (And yes, that means all fast foods as well!) you’ll have much better success keeping your blood sugar levels even.  Combining a well balanced eating plan consisting of real whole foods along with an effective, comprehensive workout program that you can easily follow is your best solution to beating the odds of regaining weight and be among the 5% of successful people that “figured it out” and kept their lean body for good. 

  If you’re tired of going through the same old yo-yo dieting process of losing weight and gaining it back, and this article really made sense to you.  Then it’s time you took action for good this time.  The Max Workouts program is based on strength circuit training and cardio interval training to maximize your body’s calorie burning potential and help re-sensitize your insulin so it can function optimally to stabilize your blood sugar levels.  The program is fully comprehensive, easy to follow and provides you with all the tools you need to successfully achieve a leaner, fitter and healthier you without any crash dieting, pills or gimmicky gadgets  

  Now that you know what you need to do to maintain your lean body and weight loss, how would change the way you approach your body transformation?

  And if you’ve already lost the weight but seem to be gaining some back, what do you need to do to get back on track and stop the weight gain?

  I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please post your comments below.

   

   

   

  ]]> Fat Loss, Diet & Nutrition, Exercises & Workouts 2010-01-14T05:00:01+00:00 http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/learn-how-your-body-fat-helps-you-burn-more-calories/ http://www.maxworkouts.com/index.php/blog/learn-how-your-body-fat-helps-you-burn-more-calories/#When:05:00:12Z

  What image comes into your head when you think of fat?  You may think of fat as an inanimate blob that just takes up unwanted real estate in your body.  But new research has shed light on this unpopular and otherwise inert substance and it can actually help you lose more fat!  Yep you read correctly…fat that burns fat.  Up to 300 - 500 calories a day!  Check out how. 

  Did you know that you’re born with two different types of fat?  White fat and brown fat.  Brown fat is hardly ever mentioned because until recently it was thought that brown fat disappeared during our infant stages and that only white fat stayed in our bodies.  White fat, is the blubbery mass of metabolic inactive matter that simply stores calories and makes you overweight.  But brown fat is completely different.  It is very metabolically active since it contains high numbers of energy producing organelles called mitochondria.  5 years ago Aaron Cypess, a research associate stumbled upon a fact, that has since been studied and is now known to be true - brown fat exists in adult humans.  This was a huge finding, considering the possible implications it has on the subject of weight loss. 

  Studies have found that brown fat plays an important role in metabolism.  In fact, the amount of brown fat available is a direct indication on whether that person is overweight or not.  Younger, skinnier individuals have more brown fat than older, overweight individuals. 

  For some reason, brown fat in adults are concentrated in the neck and chest region.  Why is it located there?  They don’t know…but, they do know that temperature plays a big role in activating brown fat.  It’s also more prevalent in women than men.  One theory is that the lack of muscle mass in females make them more susceptible to colder temperatures and as a result, more brown fat exists to make up for bodily heat loss.  Since both muscle and brown fat are metabolically active, they can burn energy to keep the core temperature warmer when exposed to cold temperatures. 

  Here are some studies done on brown fat and it’s relation to colder temperatures:
  Quoted from Popular Mechanics

  A team led by Sven Enerbäck, a medical geneticist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, found that when subjects spent 2 hours in a cold room wearing thin clothing and intermittently soaking their feet in ice water, their brown fat burned 15 times more energy than it did at room temperature. One subject had enough brown fat to lose 8 to 9 pounds per year.

  Dutch researchers found active brown fat in 23 out of 24 subjects when they were cold, but not when they were warm.

  Research at the University of Nottingham in England revealed brown fat activity was closely associated with seasonal decreases in daylight as well.

  Animal studies also suggest brown fat boosts weight loss. Last year, Stockholm University scientists found that mice that could not make brown fat gained weight 50 percent faster than mice that could.

  In a 2008 study, mice fed a high-fat diet and kept at room temperature ended up nearly four times heavier than mice fed the same diet and housed at 39 F.

  Researchers estimate that just 2 ounces of active brown fat could burn 300 to 500 calories a day. “You don’t need much to have a profound effect on your body’s metabolism,” Cypess says.

   

  So how do you activate brown fat without having to move to the North Pole. 

  Well, scientists have discovered a protein that’s only present in brown fat but not in white fat.  Interestingly, when they deactivated the protein, the brown fat cells converted into muscle cells.  Talk about “literally” turning your fat into muscle!  Scientist are now trying to figure out how this protein (amongst others) can be used to help obese people lose fat.  Their ultimate goal, is to make a pill that can activate brown fat and help increase one’s metabolism so they can lose weight.  Another Phen Phen in the making?  Hope not! 

  In the mean time though…why not take advantage of the one thing that activates it. 

  Cooler temperatures. 

  What the heck, it’s winter!  Take advantage of it.  Go out for a brisk walk, or taking up some outdoor activity, like ice skating, cross country skiing or snow shoeing!  But, if you’re not a fan of outdoor winter activities you can always do my Max Workouts Programs.  You don’t have to suffer in the cold to burn tons of calories.  In fact, by doing Max Workouts you can crank up your metabolism and burn fat for up to 48 hours after each workout.  So you can relax in the warm comfort of your own home while your body keeps burning the calories away.

  Now that you know about brown fat…what are thoughts on it? 
  Would you take a brown fat activating pill or would you stick to the time tested results of exercise and clean eating?
  I’d love to hear your thoughts, so post your comments below.

  ]]> Fat Loss 2010-01-07T05:00:12+00:00