Fat Burners Rules of "thumb"

Here are a few things to remember when taking fat burners (aka energy pills):

• Before starting to take any fat burners it is important to assess your individual tolerance by starting with a half of the suggested dose.  This will allow you to learn how strong the product is and whether you have any immediate, adverse side effects (headaches, jitters, nausea, etc).
• Because fat burners greatly speed up your metabolism you have to ensure you drink a lot of water while taking them, otherwise you will most likely experience severe dehydration, and associated discomfort (headaches, jitters, nausea, etc)
• To slowly build up resistance (or get used to) to some possible side effects is it necessary to be consistent, take as directed and don't skip days, and doses
• Make sure you don't take too many doses in a too short of a time ... usually doses supposed to be 6 hours apart unless stated otherwise on product label
• Remember: fat burners are not some magic pills that will make you loose fat on their own.  Eat a healthy diet and perform cardio every day for a minimum of 15-20 minutes to achieve results. The fat burning pills are mostly meant to give you that extra "pick-me-up" energy when you're feeling tired ("lazy"), the rest is up to you.
• To achieve good weight/fat loss results you have to know that the following items are the most important and mainly responsible for your success:
• 70% your diet - you are what you eat
• 20% you physical activity - the more you move the more you burn
• 10% motivation - this includes fat burners, coffee, and whatever else that gets your butt to the gym! :-)

Euro Training (a little humor)

I came across this "Euro Training" workout program.  I do not recommend it but it is funny to watch (turn up you volume)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMUKoQGouuM

Fat Loss 101

Fat Loss 101 - The basics

• Eat At Least Six Meals A Day!

If you have the time to, try to get in seven or eight. Your body simply won't be efficient if you eat three meals a day with what you consider "small snacks" in between. By eating small meals more frequently, your body's metabolism greatly speeds up. Remember what I said about your body being smart.

When you eat small meals more frequently, your body is saying, "I better use these calories now because I'll have another equal batch coming in about two hours." For people on-the-go this can be very hard. A good idea is to invest in a protein bar that is fairly low in carbs.

One of the best tasting bars that I ever tasted was Oh Yeah!. So what is a small meal? Take someone who is 180lbs for example. This person needs 180 grams of protein a day, 144 grams of carbs, and 16 grams of fat per day (or a similar ratio). Divided among six meals, this would equal 30 grams of protein, 24 grams of carbs, and about 3 grams of fat per meal.  Use your own numbers to figure out what you need!

• You Can Eat Carbs!

If your eating six meals a day, try to get all of your carbs in with the first three meals. This is something that I have found very effective. My third meal is around 3:30 PM. After this, I do not consume any carbs for the rest of the day. So, what kind of carbs can you eat? Stick to whole grains and brown carbs.

Brown rice, whole wheat cereals, oatmeal, and wheat bread are great choices. Stay away from any refined carbs. Refined carbs are the white ones such as white bread, white rice, and anything that contains sugar or flour. Refined carbs cause an "insulin spike."

While I cannot get into detail about insulin (it would take another entire article) the general rule is the more steady the insulin level, the greater the fat loss. Insulin spikes can cause your body to store more calories as fat. This is why white carbs and candy are not good choices for dieters. Sugarless foods are a decent substitute.

Most of these foods, such as sugarless syrup (a great choice for wheat pancakes or oatmeal), are made with sugar alcohols. These are considered on nutrition labels to be carbs, however they do not raise your insulin level. The basis for me believing this is because sugar-free items were made for those who have diabetes.

Having a stable amount of insulin in the body is the most important thing in their lives. Therefore if the sugar-free food is not harming them, then it is not raising our insulin levels to extreme heights either!

• Eat Protein!

Protein helps you grow. It is essential to your body. I mentioned earlier that it is important for you to try and retain as much muscle as possible. Protein is probably the most important factor in achieving this goal. When you train, your muscles are completely broken down and need to be rebuilt.

Protein is what rebuilds and replenishes your muscles. That's why a bag of chips is not a good choice for a post workout meal. Good sources of protein are chicken, lean red meat, eggs, and of course, protein powders.

My favorite protein powder is Gaspari Nutrition MyoFusion Protein (chocolate).  It is very inexpensive and tastes great when mixed with milk or even water. While protein and carbs are very important, fats must not be neglected. Fats are good for you, just stay away from too many saturated fats. A good tasting source of fats are peanuts, salmon, Omega3 caps.

• Drink Water!

You might be thinking, "Yeah, I drink 8 glasses of water a day I have this covered." WRONG! Yeah you can drink 8 glasses of water a day but it is more efficient to drink more. Your body is composed mostly of water and water is required for every cellular action in the body.

By drinking a lot of water, you constantly provide enough water for these cellular transactions. Water is also very important for keeping your system clean and your kidneys free of debris. It is probably the most effective supplement that I can recommend.

I like to drink at least a gallon of water a day, and that is considered a bear minimum for me. Big deal, I pee a lot. You have to decide how bad you want it.

• Eat In Ratios!

Most people will recommend 40/40/20, which means 40% of your calories coming from protein, 40% of your calories coming from carbohydrates, and 20% of your calories coming from fat. This is a very effective formula, however I have a relatively slow metabolism.

I tried the 40/40/20 approach, but saw much greater results with a 50/40/10 ratio. Basically, it's up to you and your individual body type. Trial and error are the best ways to find out the right equation. Try one for a few weeks and see what kind of results you get.

You can then tweak it from there. Just for your reference, one gram of protein contains four calories, one gram of carbs contains four calories, and one gram of fat contains nine calories. Do the math. You should eat no more than 10 times your body weight. For example if you weight 170lbs you should not be consuming more then 1700 calories per day.

• Cardio Time!

Ok how bad do you want this? I am currently doing cardio for 30 minutes every morning and 30 minutes every evening: 7 days a week.  All that is necessary for the average dieter is 30 minutes of cardio about 3-5 times a week. The most effective time to do cardio is in the morning on an empty stomach because your body's glycogen stores will be very low and you will inevitably burn more calories from stored fats than from anything else.  Also try not to eat for an hour after your morning cardio to maximize fat burning effect!

You should perform you cardio at anywhere from 75-85% of your Max heart rate. This is achieved by subtracting your age from 220 and then multiplying by .75-.85. This is your target heart rate for your cardio.

Also do not neglect weight training. Weight training is necessary 3 to 4 times a week. The more muscle you build, the more fat you burn. It's that simple.  If you want a certain body part developed more (say arms) concentrate on that body part and exercise it more often then others.

• Eat Breakfast!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day (you're "breaking" a "fast"). Overnight, your metabolism slows down and you obviously don't take in any nutrients. When you wake up from the 8 hours of sleep you should be getting, your body is begging for nutrients.

Make sure you provide it with a healthy source of proteins, fats, and carbs. This will help by giving your metabolism a jump start that will last well into the day.

• Conclusion

These are the basic cornerstones of fat loss. I hope to write more articles that get a lot more in depth than this one. There are many different supplements that are effective for losing weight and I wish to share which ones have provided the best results for me.

This is not a fool proof plan, but it is the only regimen that ever worked for me. How strict you are with your cardio and diet reflect how bad you want to see results. I also want to remind you not to rush anything. You can't lose fat overnight. It's just not possible.  Think of all the time it took your body to accumulate the current fat storage!

Aim for 1-2 pounds of fat loss a week. Buy some body-fat calipers so you can track your progress and make sure that the pounds you are losing are pounds of fat and not pounds of muscle. Bodyfat calipers are your best tool for dieting, not scales.  Stop weighing yourself for at least a month.  Hide that bathroom scale away.  It is the worst sabotage of your progress.

A scale does not accurately portray water weight. Muscle also weighs more than fat so if you lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously, you will see no change in the number on the scale. Good luck and train hard.

Bloating

Bloating is a very common symptom that people often experience after eating a meal.

The bloating is usually felt in the lower part of the abdomen and sometimes in the upper section.

Bloating usually feels as if there is pressure being applied from the inside and people often report that they can look up to six months pregnant. Bloating after eating is often different to the bloating experienced with menopause, pregnancy and PMS. Bloating after eating feels gassy and is usually relieved after passing wind or burping. This kind of bloating can be caused by certain foods. However, if it happens frequently, it can also indicate a digestive problem such as leaky gut syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, candida overgrowth, intestinal parasites, celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and general food allergies and intolerances. Apart from bloating after eating, a common symptom of all of these conditions is chronic tiredness. This is because your digestive system is responsible for the breakdown and absorption of nutrients from the food you eat. If there is a digestive problem, its easy to become nutrient deficient and this commonly causes chronic tiredness.

So, how do you know if you are bloating because of foods that you are eating, or because you have a digestive problem A person with a healthy digestive system will experience far less bloating, even with foods that commonly cause bloating. However, the list of foods below commonly causes bloating in many people.

1. Raffinose - a sugar found in beans, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, other vegetables and whole grains. Eaten raw, these foods cause more bloating than when they are cooked.

2. Lactose - a natural sugar found mainly in milk and milk products, such as cheese, cream, yogurt and ice cream. Lactose levels are much higher in milk and non-fat milk than in cheese and yogurt. Lactose is commonly associated with irritable bowel syndrome.

3. Fructose - a sugar found in fruits and honey. It's also used as a sweetener in some soft drinks, fruit drinks and processed foods. Fructose is also considered to be an important contributing factor to irritable bowel syndrome for many people.

4. Sorbitol - a sugar found naturally in fruits, including apples, pears, peaches, and prunes, and is also used as an artificial sweetener in many dietetic foods and sugar-free candy and gum.

5. Starches - most starches, including potatoes, corn, rice, bread, noodles and any products made from flour produce gas as they are broken down in the large intestine.

6. Wheat - in particular, wheat appears to be a major source of bloating and gas. Most people find that if they eliminate wheat and flour products, their bloating nearly always improves.

7. Soluble fiber - this type of fiber dissolves easily in water and takes on a soft, gel-like texture in the intestines. It's found in oat bran, beans, peas and most fruits.

8. Insoluble fiber - this type of fiber doesn't dissolve in water and passes unchanged through the intestines and therefore produces less gas than soluble fiber. It is found in wheat bran and most fruit and vegetable skins.

9. Legumes commonly cause bloating and gas due to their complex structure of starch and protein. Soaking and cooking legumes well helps to reduce bloating.

Angry? It might be something you ate

What we eat and how we feel is very related and important to know how it effects us.

Imagine that a calm, happy life could be served on a breakfast, lunch or dinner plate, even in a brown bag. According to some, it can be.

You won’t find it in a fast-food hamburger box or a vending machine. But more and more research shows there is a correlation between good food and good mood.

“It’s a fast-food nation, and we don’t always take the time to make the connection between what we eat and how we feel,” says Kristy Lewis, a naturopathic doctor at Pure Med Naturopathic Centre in Ottawa.

“We live in a society where people want to take a quick pill, whereas conscious nutrition is a lot of work.”

Aggression is a behavior that many food experts say can be altered by diet. What we eat can even affect our sense of right and wrong.

“Food is not just something that fills our stomach. It’s very active biologically and chemically, and it affects us,” says Jack Challem, Montreal-born author of The Food-Mood Solution. “Your body needs vitamins, protein and other nutrients to make the brain chemicals that help you think clearly, maintain a good mood and act in socially acceptable ways.

Among the foods that cause aggressive behavior, says Challem, are “junk fats” or trans fats.

“Sixty per cent of the brain is fat, so if you consume junk fats, you’re putting a high percentage of junk fats into your brain, and that impedes the way brain cells communicate with each other.”

While the science of food and mood is still evolving, foods linked to allergies are also on the list of suspect aggressor foods, says Lewis.

“Casein, which is found in dairy, and gluten in wheat are two culprits. According to some theories, some people get a toxic effect, creating a substance in the body that leads to aggression or the inability to control behavior.”

Manufactured chemicals like aspartame and monosodium glutamate (MSG) can also be temper igniters, Lewis says. She suggests nixing foods like instant soups and sauces that contain MSG, plus foods with artificial coloring and low-cal sweeteners.

Aggressive behavior can also be related to low blood sugar, so experts recommend eating more small meals of whole grains, protein and vegetables to keep levels in balance and avoiding refined carbohydrates such as bread, fruit juices and pastries that cause levels to yo-yo.

On the sunny side, some foods dissipate aggression.

“There is evidence that omega-3 fats help improve depression and aggression as well,” says Mona Moorhouse, clinical dietitian at the Royal Ottawa Hospital. Adding protein, high-fiber vegetables and B vitamins to your diet are also good mood bets.

Lewis says when diet is altered, improvements in aggression are tangible, often seen within two weeks.

To assess whether you have food-related aggressive feelings, she recommends keeping a journal. Jot down what you eat and when, and your patterns of aggression during your day.

Lewis also recommends supplements such as 5-HTP, which boosts the brain’s feel-good chemical serotonin, or GABA, which induces relaxation and inhibits overstimulating the brain.

If a good diet and supplementation still do nothing for your nefarious outbursts, you could check with your physician. You might be having trouble absorbing nutrients. Or perhaps it’s just time to take some anger management classes.

FOODS LINKED TO AGGRESSION

Sugar: While carbohydrates initially boost mood by activating serotonin, you’ll also crash quickly after consuming them, making you feel cranky.

Caffeine: While caffeine improves alertness in the short term, the crash that follows can make you irritable.

Alcohol: Alcohol weakens brain functions that normally restrain impulsive behaviors such as excessive aggression.

Wheat and milk: The main allergic response to wheat and casein in milk products is possible brain inflammation, which can cause hostility.

MSG and artificial sweeteners: Their ingredients can heighten reactions, including aggressive feelings.

FOODS THAT COMBAT AGGRESSION

Peanuts, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds, artichokes, spinach, turkey, soy, parmesan cheese, gelatin, mozzarella, peaches, red peppers, papaya, corn, sunflower seeds, lentils, carrots, turnip, squash, broccoli, oats, avocado, potatoes, bran, banana, kidney beans, peas, tomato juice.