Cardio: Low Intensity or High Intensity?

QUESTION: Should you be doing low-intensity cardio to maximize fat
loss or high-intensity cardio? Some contest trainers say lower
intensity is best for losing fat fast.

ANSWER: With low-intensity cardiovascular work, your body reaches
maximal adaptations usually after six to eight weeks – for life.
Therefore, it's better to move on to interval training if you want
very rapid results in fat loss.

Although aerobic gurus call for a single cardiovascular training
protocol for stimulating maximum weight loss, research suggests
otherwise. The notion that low-intensity cardiovascular work is
superior to high-intensity work was refuted by a study published in
the July 1994 issue of Metabolism in an article titled "Impact of
Exercise Intensity on Body Fatness and Skeletal Muscle Metabolism." As
the authors reported,

"The results of the present study show that for a given level of
energy expenditure, a high-intensity training program includes a
greater loss of subcutaneous fat compared with a training program of
moderate intensity."

Stick to 15-20 minute High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and
you're done for the day!

Spring Clean Your Life With Voluntary Simplicity

Voluntary simplicity is not about being cheap or doing without. It's not even about getting rid of your TV and cars and becoming vegan. It's about living in balance, about reducing stress and clutter, clearing your mind, streamlining your priorities, creating a truly sustainable lifestyle and – above all! – thinking for yourself. In summary, voluntary simplicity is about reducing your dependence on money and discovering and making time for what's truly important to you.

Although in the past decade the voluntary simplicity movement has taken on a green orientation, a green lifestyle is more a natural outgrowth of voluntary simplicity than a founding principle. In its most recent evolution, voluntary simplicity and the "triple bottom line" (people, planet, profit – with a fourth, "purpose" recently added) are even emerging as an important business model.

The three books which launched the voluntary simplicity movement of the 90's – Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich by Duane Elgin, Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, and Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach – all focused on the spiritual, emotional and financial benefits of simplicity.

While the actual target of today's version of voluntary simplicity is what's called "affluenza," or, simply put, addiction to consumerism – a life driven by the need to acquire more and more stuff – voluntary simplicity isn't about the right or wrong of a particular lifestyle.

Instead, it's about cultivating awareness, and taking a look at whether your lifestyle is meeting your needs. You learn how to question cultural assumptions, re-vision your priorities, and make your own informed choices about how you choose to spend your time and money. As one website puts it, it's about "nonconforming freely," thinking for yourself instead of being seduced by advertising and social pressure. And if you discover that acquiring stuff is what really makes you happy, then it's about doing just that.

In Your Money or Your Life, Dominguez and Robin painstakingly walk you through a complete re-orientation of your beliefs about time, money and what's possible in today's world.

This clear, step-by-step book shows you how to rethink assumptions about, for example, the necessity of commuting, or whether that daily morning latte is actually how you want to spend your hard-earned dollars. It's all based on analyzing your actual income (paycheck minus job-related expenses like clothes, transport, vital jump-starting lattes, easily prepared, takeout or microwave meals, weekly sessions with a shrink, stress-reducing classes and medications, insurance, and job-dictated living choices). And it's based on understanding time is money and money is time, and applying that understanding

Here's how to begin simplifying:

1. Learn how. There are tons of great resources, books, videos and web sites. This is one case when time spent really will produce remarkable financial results, beginning immediately.

2. Make time for things that matter. This involves more than getting rid of time wasters. To make time for what matters you have to have dug deeply enough into yourself to learn what really counts – for you! Once you've discovered what you really want, uncluttered by what your family taught you or what you've taken on by default just living an everyday life, then you can develop priorities that will unerringly help you make choices that lead to a better, more sustainable and more satisfying lifestyle.

3. Learn to say "no." Pause and think before taking on professional, social or financial obligations. Weigh them against your new values, and say no when it doesn't directly support your true goals.

4. Master money rather than vice versa. Face it, we're ruled by debt and financial obligation. Wouldn't it be a relief to be able to make decisions without worrying about financial consequences?

5. Have fun fooling the system. Believe it or not, once you've collected the information and understand your true bottom line, living simply can be great fun. You can get a huge rush from scoring something you really want cheaply, or creating a way to do the job you really want to do (no matter how little it pays) and still live comfortably and happily.

As you reduce the stress and clutter in your life, as your time to actually live and breathe deeply increases, you'll find yourself feeling happier and more bone-deep satisfied than you could possibly have imagined before you began this journey.

Will protein powders make me fat?

Protein powders will not make you fat however they will keep your muscle fibers optimized for protein synthesis, which means retaining water, retaining size, strength etc ... If you want to lose over all weight and size you have to stop giving our muscles what they need to be perfect.  Basically  we have to stop signalling our bodies to grow muscle... if we want to lose weight the only proteins we should be ingesting is from regular food sources.  Those proteins are not as bio available, and our bodies will be forced to use our own protein storage (muscles) hence catabolizing our size/weight ... you can go back to drinking the protein shakes when you achieve whatever size shape you're going for.

 

In short to lose weight (fat, muscle, water) one must follow:

 

- keto MINUS protein powders

 

And to gain, retain size and strength one must follow:

 

- keto + protein powders + slightly more carbs before weight training

Energy Utilization in a Human Body

There are four substances which humans can derive calories from: carbohydrate, protein, fats, and alcohol.

The body will tend to utilize a given fuel for energy in relation to its availability and concentration in the bloodstream. In general, the body can increase or decrease its use of glucose in direct proportion to the amount of dietary carbohydrate being consumed. This is an attempt to maintain body glycogen stores at a certain level. If carbohydrate consumption increases, carbohydrate use will go up and vice versa.

Protein is slightly less regulated. When protein intake goes up, protein oxidation will also go up to some degree. By the same token, if protein intake drops, the body will use less protein for fuel. This is an attempt to maintain body protein stores at constant levels.

In contrast, the amount of dietary fat being eaten does not significantly increase the amount of fat used for fuel by the body. Rather fat oxidation is determined indirectly: by alcohol and carbohydrate consumption. The consumption of alcohol will almost completely impair the body's use of fat for fuel.

Similarly the consumption of carbohydrate affects the amount of fat used by the body for fuel. A high carbohydrate diet decreases the use of fat for fuel and vice versa. Thus, the greatest rates of fat oxidation will occur under conditions when carbohydrates are restricted. As well, the level of muscle glycogen regulates how much fat is used by the muscle. Using exercise and/or carbohydrate restriction to lower muscle and liver glycogen levels increases fat utilization.

Keto (low carb) Dessert

Two of my favorite recipes, I forgot I had these! :-)
 
MOCK CHOCOLATE DANISH
(this is so versatile. You can leave out the cocoa, nuts, and protein powder and just add vanilla and it is still very good) My timing for my micro is different for this. I use 20 seconds to melt and 45 seconds to cook (actual time may vary per individual microwave, first few times you have to experiment to get the timing with your microwave just right)....you want it like custard not scrambled eggs! LOL)

• 2 ounces cream cheese (or a heaping table spoon)
• 1 whole egg
• 2 Splenda packets
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder (unsweetened)
  
• 3 tablespoons protein whey powder or ground almonds or both
  

How to Prepare:
Put cream cheese in microwave for 30 seconds. Then put in all the rest. Stir with a whisk until well blended. Put in microwave for 1 minute. This is like chocolate sponge pudding with thick custard in the middle!


STOVE TOP CUSTARD

• 5 eggs
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream (35% is best but it works with 10% as well)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

How to Prepare:
Mix together eggs, heavy cream and nutmeg. Melt butter in small pan of stove top. Pour egg mixture into hot butter- stir till done. Sprinkle with a little more nutmeg. I like mine with a few teaspoons of milk- like a hot cereal. Yields 1 serving.

This makes a rich, warm, sweet mock custard that is heavenly. Does NOT taste like eggs! :-)

Ketosis 101

Please note we're not here to debate the merits of Ketogenic vs non-Ketogenic diets here, so please don't send me mail of disagreement. For me personally, being in Ketosis is my ideal state and keeps my body lean and at its best. The Ketosis we're talking about here is what Dr. Atkins refers to as "Benign Dietary Ketosis" (or BDK), and should never be confused with Acidosis - a dangerous state for diabetics and those in advanced starvation where acetone builds in the blood and tissues. People will sometimes tell you that producing ketones is dangerous for the body. This is simply misinformation. They're confusing ketosis (the state from a Ketogenic diet) with ketoacidosis (or acidosis) which occurs in uncontrolled diabetes and/or starvation.

Questions about ketones, ketosis, KetoStix, and its implications and misconceptions have always been one of the most common queries I receive from people. 

I'll try and clear up some of those mysteries here.

What is Ketosis?

When the body is in the fat burning state - where it has no carbohydrate to burn and is breaking down body fat for fuel, the body is in a state of ketosis-lipolysis (ketosis for short) This is the only metabolic pathway for fat breakdown (lipolysis) Therefore, there is no lipolysis without ketosis, and no ketosis without lipolysis. The two terms are biologically linked and, therefore, it is appropriate that they be linguistically linked.

So in layman terms being in ketosis simply means that you're burning your fat stores and using them as the source of fuel they were meant to be.

What are Ketones?

Ketones are incompletely burned carbon fragments. The very fact that they are less efficient as fuel is what makes them give you that 'metabolic advantage.' Some of the calories burned are not used to their full capacity... hence the person can eat more calories when in ketosis than when not, and still lose the same amount of weight.  But lets not think of this as some magic pass to simply eat more; there are rules to achieving and maintaining a state of ketosis.

Keto-acids are very short in structure (only four carbons long). This is important because in that form they are able to penetrate cells and feed them when there is no glucose present. The fat stores (yes those areas under your skin you want to get rid of) accumulate fat as very long fatty acids. They're ordinarily difficult to break down because they're so long.

When the body must use its fat stores for energy (our goal to lose weight), these fat cells begin to release the long fatty acids into the blood stream.

To be used as fuel, particularly by the brain, all fatty acids go to the liver first where they are literally cut into two carbon fragments (keto-acids)

They are then utilized (burned) by many tissues, including the brain. The brain operates just as well on a diet of keto-acids as it does on glucose. What's left (the incompletely burned fragments) are called ketones, and they are what spill into the urine to be swept from the body.

How do I get my body into Ketosis?

You need to understand the basics of nutrients, and how to read a nutrition label.

1g of fat = 9 calories
1g of carb = 4 calories
1g of protein = 4 calories

In Keto-diet you really need to only pay attention to one thing to reach ketosis, and that is the amount of "net carbs" per day. Net carbs refers to any carb that is not fiber.
Fiber is not digested by the stomach and passed through to the intestines and then the colon. Therefore, to get your net carbs for a food, you subtract the fiber number from the total carbohydrates number on your foods label.
You need to pay a bit of attention to your protein intake. As a general rule through most keto diets, you should aim to get .8g of protein per lb of body weight in your diet. To get this number, multiply your body weight by 0.8.
Regardless of what you've been told by the media and the "food industry propaganda machine", fat will make up the rest of your nutrients (YES FAT!). Depending on what your caloric goals are going to be, the rest of the calories will be just fat!

What are KetoStix?

You'll hear them referred to as KetoStix (the original brand name), Urine Test Strips, Reagent Strips, Ketone Testing Strips, and Lipolysis Test Strips.

Depending on the plan you follow and whether you are new to this way of life, or an old timer from the 70's, you'll be referring to them as one name or another if your plan calls for being in Ketosis.

While they are in no way necessary to the keto-diet, most of us (followers) feel more secure with a way to test to know if we are in ketosis at any given time and at what level (yes there are color levels like in karate or kung-fu! lol). The test strips provide a quick and private way to determine that. Simply dip the reagent end of the strip into a urine specimen (collected in a clean cup) and remove immediately. Or alternatively, (the method most of us prefer) - wet reagent area of the strip by passing through the urine stream. Tap edge of strip to remove excess liquid and check color within 10-15 seconds against the color chart provided on all test strip brands' bottles.

A beige or cream color indicates NO KETOSIS detected. Any shade of pink/purple indicates some level of ketones in the urine. Some people get very hung up on the fact that their friend's/husband's/daughter's etc strip shows a darker color all the time, etc. We are all different. Some of us lose better (and feel better) at lighter or darker levels. You'll soon learn what feels right for you.

What if your sticks don't "turn"?

A negative result does not always mean you're not in ketosis. If you're keeping your carbs below a certain level (different for different people, but the 20 to 40 carbs per day range is a safe bet), you're probably in ketosis. Some people use their ketones more efficiently, and indeed make fewer of them, hence their lack of "spill" into the urine.

Keep in mind, though, that it's possible to keep your actual carb count low (say at around 30 grams), and still side-step ketosis. The culprits? Most often it's from eating foods that contain even a small amount of "High Fructose Corn Syrup" (HFCS), which can cause a strong insulin spike and halt fat burning. HFCS is far more destructive to your health and your weight loss than regular sugar.

You might also be a person who reacts to aspartame intake with an insulin release. The Atkins Center reports up to 25% of people have such a reaction to aspartame (NutraSweet.)

An appreciable amount of trans fats in the diet can also halt weight loss and fat breakdown. Why? Because trans fats are artificial fats that the body fails to recognize as "real", and attempts simply to store them, taking an "I'll deal with it some other time" approach.

Which ones and where?

There are a number of KetoStix brands to chose from. The original - Ketostix by Bayer - is the most common and the easiest to find in most pharmacies. If you don't see them, ask. Also, it can't hurt to price-shop. I've seen them anywhere from $9.99 to $24.99 in different stores. Many of the online low-carb and health/drug stores carry test strips as well. Some of these are "off-brands" and private label. There's Uriscan and Atkins label. It doesn't matter which you use, but I've found it's best to pick a brand and stick with it because they color slightly different and it can get confusing if you're brand-switching. Also remember, these are marketed ostensibly for diabetics to check for ketones where there should be none, so please ignore the paper inserts in the box if you're using the sticks for detecting ketosis caused by a low carbohydrate (ketogenic) diet.

Resources

• "Ketogenic Diet" e-book by Lyle McDonald: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=57b4764e429d66d7d6baebe61b361f7ce04e75f6e8ebb871
• http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=136206003317 (the guy sounds a little angry at the world of "wobbling fatties" but he does have great info there)
  
• http://www.google.ca/#q=ketosis+101
  

20 storey building...

I came across this old article titled: "Spiderman arrested after
climbing 20-storey building without ropes"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-503238/Spiderman-arrested-climbing-20-storey-building-ropes.html

which inspired me to do the same ... well, kind of :-) There are 7
floors in the building I currently work in so during lunch time I
decided to "climb" (without ropes! lol) the staircase 3 times all the
way from the bottom to the top floor as a means of seeing if I could,
AND as my mid day, wake-up exercise ... guess how long it took me to
complete the whole "set" :-)