Insulin DIRECTLY affects your weight, health, and shape.  It’s a pain in the butt to describe and define every part of the process (I know because I was tested on it weekly until I got it!)

So here’s a quick and dirty introduction to insulin…

THE BASICS

Sugar is very sharp.  And when it bounces around in your bloodstream it can cause a lot of small cuts and scrapes.  Platelets stick to the cuts and that is when you start to get blockages in your arteries.

Insulin is a storage hormone released by your pancreas.  Your body wants to protect itself from all of the sharp little sugar crystals bouncing around so it unleashes the insulin.

The insulin then “sweeps up” all of the sugar and shoves it wherever there is any storage room.  If your muscles and liver can’t store any more sugar, your liver converts all of the extra into triglycerides and sends it to fat cells for storage.  (Like kicking all of the dirty laundry behind your door – pretty soon the pile gets HUGE!)

A LITTLE MORE…

Insulin really delivers nutrients to all cells, but we’re going to look at liver, muscle, and fat cells.  When everything is working right, cell receptors use insulin as a sort of “key” to unlock gateways in cell membranes.  With those gates open, nutrients can be stored and used in the cell, it also eliminates extra sugar from your bloodstream.

What happens when you follow the Standard American Diet (SAD) and eat too many grains and processed carbs?  You produce too much insulin over time.

Remember when I said that there was only a little bit of storage room for sugar in your muscles and liver?  Most people can only store 400grams.  When that is “topped off,” any glucose in your blood that isn’t being used immediately (during a fitness bootcamp, for example) is converted into fat and stored.

With high insulin levels, your fat cells not only store extra glucose, they also store all of the fat you ate at your last meal.  And here’s the kicker – HIGH INSULIN IS A SIGNAL FOR FAT CELLS TO HOLD ONTO FAT AND NOT RELEASE IT.

If you keep producing too much insulin, the pattern continues and you gain fat.  A LOT of fat.

Then it happens:  your cells start to become insulin resistant.  (Especially if you don’t exercise)  Insulin is a “key” to open gateways in cell membranes.  But when you are insulin resistant, the KEY DOESN’T FIT!

Someone who doesn’t exercise never calls on their glycogen stores, so they constantly have a full tank of liver and muscle glycogen.  With the lack of exercise their cells are very bad at burning and “restocking” energy from food, so all carbs and fats go directly to the liver to be turned into fat.  Do not pass Go, Do not collect $200.

Soon, even fat cells resist more storage.  And when that happens, you have no more defense against the havoc carbs will wreak on your body.

That is when diabetes, heart attacks, blindness, amputations, and other health disasters happen.

To burn stored glycogen and fat, the best thing to do is EXERCISE.  Dietary changes alone won’t work at this point:  The genes responsible for the “locks” in your cell membranes turn themselves off to protect against the insulin in your bloodstream.

When your liver becomes insulin resistant, your situation gets even worse.  If glucose isn’t absorbed by your liver, some cells in your liver sends out a signal that they REALLY wants glucose.  Then, other cells in your liver dump EVEN MORE sugar into your bloodstream, even though there’s already too much!

And when the “double dose” of blood sugar bounces off insulin resistant cells and gets stored as fat.  Unless your fat cells are FULL, then you start in on glucose toxicity – sugar poisoning.

AND A BIT OF GOOD NEWS!

When you control your insulin levels with a low-carb diet and frequent exercise, these “locks” actually become INSULIN SENSITIVE.  And then you are MORE effective at absorbing nutrients transported by insulin.  Awesome!

PLUS – Controlling insulin tells your genes to make more receptor sites, making you even more effective at absorbing nutrients!

BACK TO THE BAD NEWS: SOME CONSEQUENCES OF INSULIN RESISTANCE

Fat cells get bigger and fatter.  This means YOU get bigger and fatter.

Fat cells can’t release energy to be used as fuel, because the insulin keeps the fat locked up.

Glucose (sugar) stays in your blood longer where it can cut up your blood vessels and randomly bind with important protein molecules, rendering them useless for your body processes.  This results in increased inflammation, circulatory problems, and nerve damage.

Your pancreas works to produce more and more insulin – until it gets exhausted and shuts down.  Then you’re DEPENDENT on insulin injections for the rest of your life.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY

There isn’t a “one day” cure for insulin resistance.  The very first thing you need to do is cut out flour and sugar.

This means no bread, no english muffins, no waffles, no pancakes, no buns, nothing that has any flour.  I don’t care if it says “100% whole wheat” on it.  It will still break down into 100% whole blood sugar.  Don’t eat it.

Cutting out modern carbohydrates like grains and sugar will help you control insulin and help you lose fat – both of which will improve insulin sensitivity (good thing).  Learn more about carb cravings in this post: Sugar Cravings Taking Over Your Brain!

The second thing to do is start a structured exercise program – NOT random acts of aerobics.  Here is a VERY simple metabolism boosting workout you can do almost anywhere: 10 Minute Workout

Do you ever get sugar cravings?

Like…. BAD sugar cravings?

I know a girl who would pour chocolate syrup into a can of cherry pie filling and eat it while she watched TV.

She was on a low-fat, low-protein, high carbohydrate diet, and somehow managed to fit this nutritional monstrosity into her eating plan.  (But anyone who thinks that cherry pie filling and chocolate syrup can be on a fat loss diet is obviously lacking in common sense)

Why do most of us get sugar cravings?

There are 2 main PHYSICAL reasons  (there are many emotional reasons too, check out this post for some info: Emotional Eating)

Sugar Craving Takeover Number 1: You Replaced Protein With Carbs

The first reason is because we EAT carbohydrate .

If you eat carbs from any grains or processed foods, you’re very likely hypoglycemic, and when your blood sugar drops your body will do anything to make you get it back up.  So it sends out “craving signals” to make you knock your friends over as you dash for the candy machine.

And if you’re not getting enough protein in your diet, your brain is DESPERATE for seratonin and endorphins.  These are brain chemicals that let you feel enjoyment, happiness, contentment, euphoria, and enhance pleasure.  (They are made out of protein, so if you’ve ever been happy in your life, you owe a “thank you” to protein)

So when you are hypoglycemic as a result of eating carbs earlier in the day, and you haven’t eaten enough protein, your brain can’t produce endorphins.

But a sugar rush will trigger an adrenaline surge that will raise your endorphins for a while.  But when they drop (inevitably), you’ll be like a junkie looking for your next sugar hit.

Sugar Craving Takeover Number 2: Lack Of Quality Protein Causing Depression

If you aren’t getting enough good quality protein (think animal meats and their byproducts) you are at severe risk for seratonin depletion.

And in case you missed all of the pharmaceutical commercials on TV, seratonin depletion is a fancy way of saying DEPRESSION.

This is because low-quality protein sources lack an amino acid called tryptophan.  Tryptophan metabolizes into seratonin, so if your diet is lacking in tryptophan, your brain is lacking in happiness.

And here’s a problem: Most of the best sources of tryptophan are being ruined by industrial agriculture.

Seriously now, feeding corn and other grains (instead of grasses) to our livestock cuts the amount of tryptophan in their meat by about75%.  So the foods that should be keeping us happy are deficient because of grain, factory farming, and other unnatural farming methods.

Want to hear something interesting?  There’s a correlation between diminishing tryptophan in livestock and rising depression for the past 100 years.

And here’s the kicker: eating grains produces the same low-tryptophan levels in us that it does in animals.

“What does this have to do with sugar cravings, Luke?  Get on with it!”

Ok… when you eat sugar you trigger a flood of insulin in your body.  Insulin is a storage hormone and as it is released, it “shoves” proteins, fats, and sugars into your cells for storage.  And the only thing that isn’t affected by insulin is… tryptophan!!

Once insulin has hustled everything else out of the way, there’s no competition for tryptophan, and it can cross the blood-brain barrier.

Soooo, when you eat sugar, trigger insulin, and clear the path, your seratonin-starved brain gets a taste of tryptophan.

That’s why when you feel depressed you crave sweets, starches, and comfort foods.  (Take this Emotional Eating Quiz to see what I mean)

Want to stop these sugar-controlled mood swings?

The easiest way is to eat a diet with plenty of healthy fats, protein, fruits, and vegetables.

Stay tuned to this site for more about nutrition, health, happiness, and fitness!

How much thought do you put into what you eat?

If you want to get into great shape then you’ll be interested to know that 80% of your fitness results are attributed to your diet.

In our fast-paced society, eating is often done with little or no thought as to what exactly it is being ingested. Excess body fat is a direct outcome of this hurried, poor nutrition. Even if you have the best intentions with your diet, you are likely frustrated and fed up with extra pounds.

I don’t blame you for being confused about what you should eat. The media surely doesn’t help. One day the talking heads want you to give up all fats. The next day carbs are the culprit, and then acai berries become the holy grail of weight loss.

The food manufacturers increase confusion by printing misleading labels and bogus health claims.

Sometimes it seems like the whole system is set up to confuse and frustrate us into buying the latest and greatest packaged food.

The bottom line is that your physique is largely a result of what you eat, so the foods that you put into your body should be carefully selected.

It’s time to re-examine what you eat.

It all starts with reading nutritional labels. The nutritional content and ingredient list will give you everything you need to know about the quality of the food item.

I’ve outlined 5 ingredients that should raise a red flag when you turn over that package and find them listed:

Red Flagged Ingredient #1: High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

HFCS is a manmade sugar, derived predominantly from genetically modified corn. The sweet concoction has been shown to promote binges and hysterical hunger, and wrecks havoc on your blood sugar levels, promoting fat storage.

The introduction of HFCS into our food supply directly paralleled a 47% spike in Type 2 Diabetes cases as well as an 80% increase in obesity. Food manufacturers use HFCS in many mainstream products, including the following:

• Sauces (including ketchup)
• Yogurt
• Energy Bars
• Soft Drinks / Fruit Juices
• Processed baked goods
• Cereals
• Crackers
• Ice Cream
• Salad Dressing
• Most packaged snack foods

Red Flagged Ingredient #2: Hydrogenated Fat / Partially Hydrogenated Fat (Trans Fat)

Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats have undergone such extensive processing that the chemical structure has changed from a “cis” shape, which the human body recognizes and utilizes, to a “trans” shape, which is foreign and destructive to human physiology.

Check each food label for the word ‘hydrogenated’ and avoid it diligently. Cutting out hydrogenated fats is a simple set towards looking and feeling your best.

Red Flagged Ingredient #3: Aspartame

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that was denied 8 times by the FDA before being approved in 1973. Many scientists objected the approval, claiming that aspartame hadn’t been proven safe for use as a food additive.

MIT neuroscientist, Richard Wurtman, researched the effects of aspartame and concluded that it promotes cravings for foods high in calories and carbohydrates. Though aspartame is calorie-free it still causes insulin to be released, which job is to stow away sugar – when this sugar is not available, the result is often hypoglycemia and severe hunger. Not exactly a recipe for weight loss.

Red Flagged Ingredient #4: White Sugar

White sugar comes from the juice of a sugar cane plant that has undergone an intensive refining process. In this process all of the enzymes, fiber, vitamins and minerals are destroyed, rendering it nutritionally void. White sugar is also extremely high in calories, which your body loves to store away in fat cells.

Refined sugar has been linked to a weakened immune system, hyperactivity, ADD, mental and emotional disorders, dental cavities, hypoglycemia, enlargement of the liver and kidneys, and an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain. All that and it leads to weight gain.

Red Flagged Ingredient #5: White Flour

White flour comes from natural whole wheat that has been stripped of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. This results in a nutritionally void product that is packed with calories that release quickly into your system, creating a spike in blood sugar. As you know, this promotes fat storage and leads to hysterical hunger and cravings. You don’t need that.

Once you cut these 5 items out of your diet, you’ll be pleased with the results. Expect to lose weight, to have more energy and to feel better than you have in a long time.

If you’re serious about looking and feeling your best through purifying your diet, then focus on eating real food items. Real foods include lean meats, vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts and seeds.

Would you like to expedite your fitness and weight loss results? Email today to get started on a fitness program that will quickly transform your body.

Remember, while nutrition is vitally important for weight loss, true results are achieved through a combination of both nutrition and challenging, progressive exercise.

Hey Gang, Luke Wold here

You’re about to read a great post by my friend Dr. Daniel Chong.  When I saw it on his blog I HAD to ask him if I could share it with you.  (The words are his, the goofy pictures are mine – hope you don’t mind, Daniel!)

Without further ado… here’s Dr. Chong!

Everyone is human.

Myself included.

Lately, I’ve been drinking coffee. Of course it’s organic and I only have one cup a few times a week, but it’s still the dreaded COFFEEEEE (supposed to look spooky) that I learned in naturopathic school is something akin to devil water, especially if you have adrenal stress.

I admit, I have, at various times in the past, asked my patients to stop drinking this stuff. It is very dehydrating and can lead to mineral imbalances and even constipation if consumed excessively. It can also overstimulate a tired person, giving them a false sense of ‘energy’ when really they should be feeling so horribly fatigued that the only viable option for them should be a nap.

AND- It stains your teeth!

These are not good things.

Why then do I drink it sometimes? Why then have I recently adopted more of a lenient attitude about this beverage with my patients (and myself)? Well, a couple of reasons.

For one thing, as I mentioned already, I’m human. So are most of my patients.

Being human, amongst other things, means we are typically unable to maintain a perfect diet and lifestyle 100% of the time, especially if our lives are so crazy that we have no choice but to become so tired that even though we should (correction- we HAVE to) take a nap, we can’t.

What are we all supposed to do then? Drinking green tea would a MUCH better idea if we needed a bit of caffeine pick-me-up, but green tea doesn’t taste like coffee. So some of us, addicted as we are to its lovely flavor and aroma, will keep on drinking it, regardless of what I or anyone else tells them.

The point of this post then is this- For various reasons, some better than others, many of us feel as though we need a vice- some ‘bad’ habit or another that is less than perfectly healthy but makes us feel good. And so, I have come to realize that my job is not only to teach you about the healthiest possible things you can do in your life, but also to teach you about the healthiest UN-healthy things you can do in your life.

In other words, I know many of you think I’m a perfectionist when it comes to health, but I’m trying to be a realist here OK people? I know that this world is FULL of unhealthy things, many of which smell good, look good, taste good and can even make you feel good. These are attractive attributes, especially for someone who is so wiped out and worn down they don’t smell good, look good, taste good OR feel good! So, I’ve come up with a short list of the healthiest options out there for a good old fashioned vice.

Here is my list:

• Coffee
• Dark Chocolate
• Red Wine

What, no doughnuts? No french fries? Come on people, this isn’t a free for all. There actually has to be some benefit to be had here. (I know, I know, “But french fries are made from potatoes, and potatoes are VEGETABLES!” Blah, blah, blah. I’ve heard it all before.)

Coffee

So you are already familiar with some of the negative attributes of coffee. Well, there may be some other ones that are potentially much worse, but for the most part the jury is still out. You see, while some studies suggest that coffee could actually contribute to heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis, other studies show just the opposite, like this one and this one.

All that being said, coffee is still my least favorite vice, mainly because people tend to drink it (or “need it” as some of my patients like to say) when they really shouldn’t, ie when they are wiped out and need a nap! If this is you, try the nap- it’s cheaper and healthier. However, if you are basically healthy and just like the taste and the gentle pick me up it provides you, I don’t really have a problem with it. I would, however, recommend always drinking an extra cup of water and making sure you are taking regular amounts of magnesium and other minerals to help compensate for some of the potential negative effects.

Dark Chocolate

Yummy.

High in powerful, disease preventing antioxidants.

Good fat source.

Lowers blood pressure and reduces stroke risk.

Potential aphrodisiac.

‘Nuff said.

Red Wine

There is rapidly growing list of the likely health benefits to be had from consuming alcohol in moderation, in particular red wine. In fact, when consumed in moderation (1-2 small glasses per day) this is probably my favorite, “healthy” vice of all for most people.

The simple fact that red wine is high in resveratrol, perhaps one of the most health-benefiting antioxidants to be discovered yet, is good enough for me. But now, even the big boys in the health care industry are starting to sing its praises.

Conclusion

So, should we all just skip the exercise, sleep and organic whole foods eaten in a more ‘primal way’ and instead just eat chocolate, and alternate between cups of coffee and red wine?

Funny enough, if you did you’d probably still be better off than the average American, but obviously I jest.

The idea instead would be to do the exercise, get the good sleep and eat really good foods in a primal way, AND THEN feel free to dabble in a few, higher quality vices like these.

Adios from one human to another…..

Dr Daniel Chong is a family physician who enjoys treating people of all ages, with a wide variety of ailments. Over time, he has also developed a keen interest in the treatment of chronic health conditions. His passion is to combine what he calls treating his patients the “old fashioned way”, with cutting edge advancements in functional diagnosis, nutritional and herbal medicine. In addition to his private, clinical practice, he also offers his services via online and telephone consultations.

Dr. Chong is a 2000 graduate of the National College of Natural Medicine, in Portland, an active member of the Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physicians, and is licensed as a primary healthcare provider in the state of Oregon. He can be contacted at www.SeekHealth.net.

One of the first things you need to do if you want to lose weight is quit drinking anything with calories in it.

This is one of the 7 Fundamental Rules Of Nutrition that make up the best fat loss and fitness programs.  (Here’s all 7: Carson City Nutrition)

Calories add up quick with any kind of a drink, and liquid doesn’t set off the “fullness alert” in your brain.

Quick Example:

I was talking to a lady on Saturday afternoon.  She told me she has a tall cafe latte with 2% milk from Starbucks every morning (and sometimes one in the afternoon too).

Now for some quick and easy math – a tall latte with 2% milk has 150 Calories.  365 of these come out to 54,750 Calories over the course of a year.

And you know what, a pound of fat has 3500 Calories.  Some quick division (54750/3500) shows us that a daily latte with 2% milk comes out to the same calories as 15.64 pounds of fat.  (And those lattes would cost you$949, not counting taxes and tips)

Yikes!

I’m NOT telling you to cut out coffee.  No way!  But if you switched from a latte with 2% milk to an Americano, you’d save yourself 54,750 Calories a year – without having to exercise!  (To jog off that many calories you’d have to cover over 684 miles)

Here’s another example: a cup of orange juice has 121 Calories.  Every breakfast in a commercial has a glass of orange juice next to it.

A cup of orange juice every day comes out to 44,165 Calories over a year.  This is the same calories found in 12.62 pounds of fat.

Now, what about the title of this post?  How To Gain 15 Pounds In 2010. Simple – if you drink just a few extra calories every morning, you can easily put on 15 pounds in this coming year.

OR you can switch to coffee, water, and green tea and start losing weight without breaking a sweat.

The choice is up to you.

I get a lot of emails that go like this: “I did cardio and starvation diets for years and now my metabolism sucks, what do I do?!?”

What do you do with a wonky metabolism?  Can you ever fix it?

Heck yes!  I’m handing this post off to my buddy Tom so he can answer this question.

Oh, and if you’re curious about Tom’s credentials, here’s his picture:

How To Repair A Damaged Metabolism
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Burn The Fat

If you’ve caused metabolic damage as a result of following starvation diets or losing weight too rapidly in the past, it can be extremely difficult to achieve any further fat loss at all. The good news is, metabolic damage can be repaired. All it takes is the right combination of metabolism stimulating exercise and metabolism stimulating nutrition (NOT just a diet), all done consistently over time.

The big irony is that most of the diet programs that claim to help you get rid of excess weight, only end up making it harder for you in the long run because they use harsh metabolism-decreasing diets and not enough exercise (almost never any weight training).

Starvation Diets Mess Up Your Metabolism!

It may take a little longer if you have really messed things up with severe starvation dieting in the past, especially if you’ve lost a lot of lean body mass, but it is never hopeless. Anyone can increase their metabolism.

Most people get an almost immediate boost in metabolic rate when they start the Burn The Fat program. However, the results are not going to be “overnight.” Give it a little time…

Within 3 weeks your metabolism will already be more efficient. Within 6-8 weeks, it’s burning hot. Give me 12 weeks of consistent diligent effort, sticking with all the metabolism boosting strategies I teach, and your metabolism really will become like a turbo charged engine, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that.

What’s most important for upping your metabolism is CONSISTENCY in applying the Burn The Fat nutrition and training principles every single day.

That includes:

* Meal frequency: eat 5-6 small meals per day
* Meal timing: eat approximately every 3 hours, with a substantial breakfast and a substantial post workout meal.
* Sufficient Caloric Intake: maintain a small calorie deficit and avoid starvation-level diets (suggested safe levels for fat loss: 2100-2500 calories per day for men, 1400-1800 calories per day for women; adjust as needed)
* Food choices: Select natural, unprocessed foods with high thermic effect (lean proteins like chicken, turkey, egg whites and fish are highly thermic, as are all green vegetables, salad vegetables and other fibrous carbs)
* Cardio training: Push up the intensity a bit if you really want to get a metabolic boost. Walking and low intensity cardio is fine, but higher intensity is more metabolism-stimulating
* Weight training: The basic exercises that include the largest muscle groups or even call into play the entire body as a unit (squats, front squats, split squats, deadlifts, stiff legged deadlifts, overhead presses, all kinds of rows and core-activation exercises) will have a much greater metabolism stimulating effect than isolation exercises (concentration curls, calf raises, etc)

The weight training is extremely important in cases of “metabolic damage” because this is the stimulus to keep the muscle you have and begin rebuilding new muscle tissue, which is the engine that drives your metabolism.

The men don’t usually have a problem with the weight training, but I still hear women say they don’t want to lift weights as part of their fat loss programs. Well, people who wont lift weights can expect a very, very long metabolism “repair process” if they achieve it at all.

Consistency is the key.

Nothing will undermine the “re-building” of your metabolism like inconsistency. If you stop and start, or skip meals and workouts often, you will not even get off the ground.

After your metabolism is back up where it should be, it takes continued “stoking” of the metabolic furnace to keep it there. Once you get your metabolic engine running, you’ve got to keep feeding it fuel or the fire will die down.

Picture an old fashioned wood burning stove…

Imagine you’re in a cabin up in the mountains in the winter. It’s cold in there and you want to keep the cabin warm. Can you achieve this by feeding the fire once or twice per day? Nope. Not enough fuel to burn, so not much heat is generated.

What if you just toss an entire pile of wood in the stove all at once? Will that work? Nope. Lots of fuel, but can’t all be used at once… it just smothers the fire and the excess just sits there.

How about if you throw some tissue paper or crumpled newspaper in the stove, will that work? Nope – too quickly burning.

You have to keep putting small amounts of wood (the right type of fuel) on the fire at regular intervals or the fire burns out.

It’s also difficult to get the fire lit again. In the case of metabolism, it’s like going through that initial few weeks of overcoming inertia all over again.

Your goal is to get your metabolism burning hot and keep it burning and this cannot be achieved by missing meals, missing workouts or with sporadic, infrequent training.

I have only seen a handful of cases where all these things were done properly and there was still a longer “repair” process.

For example, one case was former ballet dancer. At 5′ 5″, she was previously 110 lbs and had increased to about 145 or so. She didn’t want to reach her previous 110, but find a happy medium of about 125 lbs.

I figured with 20 lbs to cut, this would be a simple and predictable process, but she had a challenging time (and I didn’t know why at first).

I later found out that she had been anorexic and bulimic for many years. This had caused a lot of damage, and although she did reach her goal, it took about twice as long as we had anticipated.

The good news is, even in this extreme case, the same nutrition and training principles worked! It just took a little longer. And by the way her program included some serious training with free weights and she ate a lot more (clean) food than she had ever eaten before. No “starvation!”

That’s the power of burning the fat and feeding the muscles… Trying to starve the fat with crash diets is what causes the metabolic damage in the first place!

If you’re interested in the healthy, sensible way to take off the fat, while keeping all your muscle and actually increasing your metabolism in the process, then my Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle program can teach you how. No gimmicks or false promises. Just the truth – you have to work at it and you have to be patient.

——————————————————–

Thanks Tom!

So it boils down to just 2 simple things to fix your metabolism:

1. Eat sensibly
2. Exercise

That’s it!

Talk to you soon

I was amazed by how many people responded this post: 5 Ways To Lose 5 Pounds By Halloween

And surprisingly, a lot of people thanked me for telling them to cut out wheat and grains.  I had no idea so many of my friends have to follow a celiac diet!

See, even if you don’t have a gluten sensitivity (i.e. an intolerance for grains), it’s a smart move to avoid grain products.

The tricky thing is that almost EVERYTHING you can get in a grocery store is chock-full of grains.  They even put it on the boxes!

Our American food industry is sloppy and exploitative.  They use the cheapest ingredients to make foods that are extremely complex blends of allergens from all over the planet.

If you’ve developed a gluten sensitivity from eating this garbage they’ve pimped out as “healthy”, your intestines have probably suffered MAJOR physiological  changes.  That’s why so many people have problems absorbing vitamins, minerals, and nutrients from their food.

Anyone who has eaten a lot of grain products is more likely to develop food allergies and other autoimmune syndromes.

Celiac Body Type

The cool thing is that what I’m about to tell you will help YOU avoid celiac disease, reverse celiac, and avoid allergies and autoimmune diseases.

PLUS it will lower your systemic inflammation, make you leaner, give you more energy… Heck, it will do everything but detail your car!

Alright, here’s the first thing you need to know:

Go Low Carb!

Cut out high-glycemic foods like rice, wheat, breads, pastas, etc.  No added sugar or starch.

Most of your carbohydrates should come from fruits and vegetables.

I’ve had lots of people say, “But I NEED pasta!”

If you NEED pasta then you’ll have to get used to bloating, food allergies, and all of your pants being too tight.

Up to you.

Add Vitamin D

Most people are deficient in Vitamin D.  Know why?

Because your body can only make vitamin D from sunshine if you don’t suffer from inflammation.

Take a vitamin D supplement and probably a vitamin A supplement as well.

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to chronic pain, cancer, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, tooth decay, multiple sclerosis, and memory loss.

Eat Wild Meat!

One of my friends has sampled just about every performance enhancing drug there is.  Guess what he said made the biggest difference in his health, looks, and energy levels?

Switching to grass fed and wild meats.

Corn and grain fed animals have much higher levels of omega-6s and cause inflammation.

Something interesting I learned at a nutrition seminar: Wild beef has all of the good omega-3 fats that wild salmon has, while FARM-raised salmon has all of the UNHEALTHY fats that grain-fed beef has!

Have you ever been to a fishery?  The food they feed them looks just like cat food.  Gross.  I don’t want to eat anything that was raised up on cat food.  Do you?

And did you know that eating red meat doesn’t lead to diseases?  Rather, it was the high carbs eaten alongside the meat that caused inflammation which caused heart disease.

An interesting aside is that statins decrease heart disease because they lower INFLAMMATION, not because they lower blood fats…

High Fructose Corn Syrup + Trans Fats = Fat and Swollen Belly

These two chemicals should be avoided by everyone who wants a hot body.

And both high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils (trans fats) are very inflammatory and cause all sorts of havoc in your body.

Don’t eat any foods with these two listed as ingredients.

Vegetable Oils Will Get You….

Most vegetable oils lead to lots of inflammation in your body.

If you’re trying to lose weight, get healthy, and have more energy, vegetable oils will burden you down.

Stick with olive oil and butter.

For both looks and health, saturated fats are safer than vegetable oils.

An interesting study I looked at the other day showed replacing whole wheat carbs with saturated fats calorie for calorie cut risk for cardiovascular disease in HALF.

Go Fishing

Since EVERYONE needs more omega-3s in their diet, you should be eating more wild fish.

(Remember, farm-raised fish are corn fed and have reduced omega-3s)

In fact, with the prevalence of Omega-6s in our diets, it’s nearly impossible to get enough omega-3s from diet alone.  That’s why I recommend that all of my clients take a fish oil or krill oil supplement.

For normal strength fish oil, I start people off with 1gram per 15pounds of bodyweight.  And it goes up from there.

I’ve had athletes taking up to 40grams per day, so no whining about taking 6 pills a day!

In Conclusion

It’s pretty freaking sweet that an anti-inflammatory diet for people with celiac disease turns out to be a LOT like a good fat loss nutrition plan.

You’ll get lots of vitamins, low sugar, low carbs, more healthy fats.

The only MAJOR difference for celiacs would be the avoidance of their individual food allergens (some celiacs can’t have eggs, for instance).

And if you’re ever confused, just remember: GRAINS SUCK!!

Today I want to tell you about something TOTALLY awesome.

I’ve been doing lots of research on nutrition lately, to find out what really works and how to make it work even faster.

Some of the information that’s out there completely blows my mind!  Things like diets where participants GAINED muscle while on an 800Calorie liquid diet.  Other studies where athletes gained FAT even while working out 6 hours a week.

Nutrition and weight loss is complicated stuff, that’s for sure.

Now here’s the totally awesome info I promised you…

13 years ago, an explorer in the Alakazam River Basin found an ancient manuscript.

It described the magical health benefits of the Gooby Berry, which only grows in the Alakazam River Basin.

The ancients used the juice of these berries to keep their bodies lean, strong, and healthy.

The Gooby Berry also made their hair shinier, whitened their teeth, and boosted their sex drive.

All of these benefits were found in the humble Gooby Berry from the Alakazam River Basin….

The explorer couldn’t wait to share his discovery with the world!

For the past 13 years his company has been bottling this magic Gooby Berry juice in abandoned wine bottles.

The ancients in the Alakazam River Basin didn’t have an obesity problem, but it turns out that Gooby Berry Juice also cures fat stomachs!

Just drink one ounce of Gooby Berry Juice a day and you can lose 37 pounds in a week!

The Gooby Berry juice company is run under the label “Money 4me”, so if you want to lose 37 pounds in a week, cure cancer, and become irresistable to the opposite sex, just find your nearest “Money 4me” distributor. (You won’t have to look far….)

————————————————————————-

Ok, maybe I was being a little bit sarcastic.

That’s because I’ve had so many distributors of “magic potions” bug me about stocking their stuff in our gym.

While I wish I could give you a way to lose weight that’s as easy as taking a pill every morning, it doesn’t work that way.

The secret is to find a proven plan that you can fit your life around, include nutrition AND exercise, and is fun to do (so you’ll stick with it).

Instead of focusing on a “miracle berry” I think you need to learn more about this particular part of your life…. and I think you need to be focusing on how YOU can succeed.

My advice?

Come to my next seminar.  One of the most important aspects of my program is the “big picture” information we cover.

I spend several hours helping you understand the science and realities of getting the body you want to have…. which then becomes kind of a FOUNDATION for the other things you’re learning from me.

It really is the kind of thing that will change the way you see eating and exercise forever… and it will take you to the next level MUCH faster.

The next seminar will be in October.  I’ll see you then!

One of the topics I’ll be covering during my next seminar is my “Fat Loss Time Machine” nutrition path.

Basically, the further you go back in time with your diet, the healtheir you’ll be and the better your body will look.

So if you cut out modern foods like McDonalds and chips and cookies, you’ll have sort of an “Amish” diet.

This has lots of whole grains, meat, milk, vegetables, and is a pretty good plan.

If you want to take it to the next level, you’ll go even further back to a “caveman” diet.

One of the cool things with a caveman diet is that you naturally eat all sorts of fruits and vegetables.  You want a big variety, that’s why you hear me saying “Eat a rainbow”

Well, thanks to the sorting programs on microsoft excel, I’ve ALPHABETIZED a caveman diet shopping list.

Now you can eat the rainbow AND eat the aphabet!

Pretty neat.

Here’s a crazy list of natural foods that can fit right into your fat loss nutrition plan.

(But I won’t ask you to eat all of them, I mean I don’t like fenugreek, and I don’t think I’ve ever had kangaroo…)

A:

• Asparagus
• Agar
• Arame
• Artichoke
• Alfalfa Sprouts
• Avocado
• Apple
• Apricot
• Almonds
• Allspice
• Anise
• Ajowan

B:

• Boar
• Bison
• Brazil Nut
• Been Sprouts
• Beetroot Greens
• Broccoli
• Brocolini
• Brussel Sprouts
• Bok Choy
• Berries
• Banana
• Bell Pepper
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Black Currants
• Basil
• Bay Leaf

C:

• Camel
• Cow
• Chicken
• Crocodile
• Calamari
• Caviar
• Clams
• Crab
• Coconut
• Coconut Oil
• Cod Liver Oil
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Carrot
• Celery
• Collard Greens

• Cos Lettuce
• Cherries
• Cucumber
• Cranberry
• Cardamon
• Cayenne Pepper
• Celery Seed
• Chamomille
• Chili
• Chives
• Cilantro
• Cloves
• Cumin
• Curry Leaves
• Cocoa

D:

• Duck
• Dates
• Dandelion
• Dill
• Dulse

E:

• Eel
• Eggplant
• Eggs

F:

• Fowl
• Flounder
• Fish Oil
• Flax Oil
• Fennel
• Fig
• Fenugreek

G:

• Goat
• Guinea Fowl
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Grapefruit

• Grapes
• Guava
• Ginger
• Ginko
• Ginseng
• Green Tea

H:

• Hare
• Hazelnuts
• Herring
• Hijiki
• Honey
• Honeydew
• Horseradish

I:

• Any suggestions?

J:

• C’mon, any paleo foods that start with J?

K:

• Kangaroo
• Kale
• Kelp
• Kombu
• Kiwi Fruit
• Kumquat

L:

• Lamb
• Lobster
• Leek
• Lettuce
• Lemon
• Lime
• Loganberry
• Lychee
• Lavender
• Licorice

M:

• Mackerel
• Mussels
• Macadamia Nuts
• Mushrooms
• Mango
• Melons
• Marjoram
• Mint
• Mustard Seed
• Myrtle

N:

• Nectarine
• Nashi Pear
• Nori

O:

• Ostrich
• Octopus
• Oysters
• Olives
• Olive Oil
• Onion
• Okra
• Orange
• Oregano

P:

• Pork
• Poultry
• Pheasant
• Prawns
• Pecans
• Pinenuts
• Pistachios
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Pepper
• Pumpkin
• Papaya
• Peach
• Persimmon
• Pineapple
• Plum
• Pomegranate
• Passionfruit

• Paprika
• Parsley
• Peppermint
• Poppyseeds
• Pomegranate seeds

Q:

• Quail

R:

• Rabbit
• Radish
• Red Cabbage
• Raspberries
• Phubarb
• Rosemary

S:

• Salmon
• Sardines
• Scallops
• Shellfish
• Shrimp
• Snapper
• Swordfish
• Sesame Seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Scallions
• Shallots
• Squash
• Spinach
• Sprouts
• Strawberry
• Star Fruit
• Sea Palm
• Safflower
• Saffron
• Sage
• Sea Salt
• Spearmint

T:

• Turkey
• Trout
• Tuna
• Tahini
• Tomato
• Tangerine
• Tarragon
• Thyme
• Tumeric

U:

• Any “caveman” U foods out there?

V:

• Veal
• Venison
• Vanilla

W:

• Walnuts
• Wakame
• White Fish
• Watermelon
• Watercress
• Wasabi

X:

• This is a hard one…

Y:

• Yellow Squash

Z:

• Zucchini

That’s a looooong list of foods, and you probably aren’t familiar with all of them (I’m an expert and I had to google some of the ones off of my list!)

Which ones are you going to try next?  And can anyone fill in those few missing alphabet categories for me?  Please!

Leave a message below!

(And if you’re not already a member of my Bootcamp In Carson City leave me a comment why not!)

You and I both know that a great body doesn’t happen overnight:

Here’s the thing: a lot of people email me about my bootcamp and tell me they have something like a wedding or high school reunion in 10 days and want to lose 3 dress sizes by next Thursday.

Ummmm….

I have a special plan I use for getting people “photoshoot ready”, but it doesn’t work if you have 30 extra pounds of fat hanging off of your sides: 

That being said, there ARE some things you can do to look better and leaner in just a few days.  This is just a quick list to get you started, if you want SIGNIFICANT and LASTING change, give my morning bootcamp a try (I’ll even give you a week free, just to try it out!)

Ok, here are 21 Ways To Look And Feel Better!

1. Double the amount of water you drink.  This will heep you from being bloated. (You WILL have to pee more often though)
2. Sleep at least 8 hours a night.
3. Exercise first thing in the morning and you’ll have a glow that lasts all day.
4. Strengthen your core muscles with exercises like planks and you’ll stand straighter.  Having good posture can take ten pounds off your waist and ten years off your looks.
5. Cut out processed carbohydrates.  I give clients a two week challenge with no alcohol and no pre-packed carbs (such as bread) and they often lose 7 pounds in the first week!
6. Eat every 2 to 3 hours.  This will raise your metabolism and give you tons of energy.
7. Eat enough protein.  This means at least 30% of your daily calories come from protein.
8. Stick to a proven exercise plan, don’t jump from system to system.  You’ll make faster progress by following a good program for 6 months than you will switching to something new every week.
9. Don’t “Start Over On Monday.”  If you screw up your eating plan on Friday night, don’t declare the weekend a bust.  You’ll just dig a deeper hole to work out of.  Admit you made a mistake and get right back on track.  (More about this idea in a few days…)
10. Drink a post-workout shake that has the right mix of fast-acting carbs and protein.  Your muscles will recover faster and you’ll burn more fat.  Win-win.
11. Eat enough fat.  Healthy fats will help your hair and skin look soooo much better.  Plus they fuel your body and taste great!

That’s it! 11 easy ways to look better almost instantly!

Leave a comment below with YOUR favorite “look better” tip!