I’ve written about my personal experience with soy overdosing here: Soy, My Nipples, And Your Health.

And a friend of mine just sent me this study on soy: Soy food and isoflavone intake in relation to semen quality parameters among men from an infertility clinic

Researchers looked at “subfertile couples” undergoing treatment at fertility clinics and found that there is an inverse relationship between soy intake and sperm concentration.

Translation: The more soy you eat, the lower your sperm count.

Uh-oh.

Soy’s natural defense against being eaten isn’t thorns or poison, it’s much more subtle than that.  When a soy plant is eaten, it makes the animal (humans in this case) sterile to prevent any future eating.

Diabolical, isn’t it!

So the take-home message for today is: Soy really messes up your health.

If you want to find more studies on soy, google any of the abstracts on this page: Survey Says… Soy Is Bad News!

I hope you’re having a great holiday weekend!

The 4th of July is a time to celebrate this GREAT Country we live in with your family and friends.

Most everyone will be celebrating at picnics and parties where you’ll be surrounded by high fat foods, sugary drinks, and killer desserts.

Essentially… Foods laced in a ton of FAT and SUGAR! Not the best environment for losing weight and sticking to a healthy eating plan.

Here are a few eating tips that will help you cut down on junk, yet give you the satisfaction of not totally depriving yourself:

1. Skip the hot dog and have a grass-fed hamburger instead.

2. Grill a chicken breast with a NEW seasoning or marinade.

3. Skip the bread with your burger.

4. Skip potato chips and choose veggies with a guacamole dip.

5. Skip high sugar desserts and make a dish of Greek yogurt with fresh strawberries and blueberries, it will have a red, white, and blue theme!

6. Skip the deep-fried fries or mashed potatoes and make a blue Okinawan sweet potato dish.

7. Make your potato salad with mustard instead of mayo.

8. Make a fresh salad with a ton of veggies and put the dressing in there lightly – oil and vinegar or balsamic vinaigrette. NO cream dressings.

11. Use smaller plates! Have big portions of healthy items and smaller of not-so-healthy.

12. Don’t hang out near the food table!  Play with the kids instead :p

13. Drink light beer, red wine, and skip anything with soda! Make a pact with yourself to have a glass of water in between each drink.  (For holiday drinking tips, check out this post: Ways To Beat A Hangover)

14. Bring a healthy dish YOU like and don’t go hungry.

15. Eat some healthy snacks before the party so you don’t go crazy once everything is out.

16. Send leftovers home with everyone else!

Use these tips to help you stay on the weight loss track

I wish you and your family a Happy & Safe 4th of July!

Even very lean women can have a little “pooch” on their lower bellies.

Check out these bikini models that have what my daughter calls a “pooch”:

These models are lean, heck – you can see their ribs!

So what causes that little bulge in the lower belly?

Is it something they ate hanging around in their digestive system?  Maybe.  Grains, even whole grains, can bind up in your intestines and cause bloating.  (More on that here:  Beat The Belly Bulge)

But if your diet is on point, you’re lean, you’re working hard… What can cause the pooch?

Simple: tight hip flexors.

The muscles that cross the front of your hips can get really tight and pull you into what we exercise science types call an “anterior pelvic tilt.”

This forward tilt pulls your low back out of alignment.  Look at the diagram below on the left, it shows what happens when your low back is pulled forward:

Whoa!  In the lordosis (“swayback”) picture the lower belly is pooched out!

Even on someone very lean having a swayback can give you a lower belly pooch.  Here is a skinny kid that manages to look like he has a belly:

In the title of this blog post I promised one exercise that would end lower belly pooch.  And here it is: The humble hip flexor stretch

This stretch will bring your hips back to where they should be, ease forward pressure on your lower back, and dial back the lower belly bulge.

Here is an example of someone with forward tilted hips (from tight hip flexors).  Notice the slight bulge:

And here is the same girl without the forward hip lean.  Notice that she isn’t sucking in her stomach or flexing her abs, just fixing her hips and low back:

Pretty cool, huh!

So if your diet is straight-on and you’re looking for that last little edge on getting rid of lower belly bulge, try the 3 way hip flexor stretch twice a day, for 30 seconds in each position.

And say bye-bye to the lower belly bulge!

Estrogen levels in men are a hot topic in the news right now.

Men with high estrogen levels are more likely to store their fat in their chest and lower abs.  Plus it leads to some nasty health issues and chronic diseases.

Testosterone levels in men are 15 to 50% lower compared to 50 years ago.  (This probably leads to the saying “You’re half the man your grandfather was!”)

I’ve put together a short list of estrogen-lowering tips for men, check ‘em out:

1.  Eat organic, local, pesticide-free produce.

Preferably grown yourself or from a farmer’s market.

Pesticides and herbicides have been shown to increase estrogen levels.

2.  Eat organic, local, hormone-free meats.

Most commercially raised livestock is pumped full of hormones and antibiotics.

These hormones and antibiotics will raise your estrogen levels, damage your body, and lead to heart disease and cancer.

To really maximize the health benefits of the meat you eat, get grass-fed beef.

3. Avoid commercial protein powders for the reasons in #2

If the animal has been pumped full of hormones and antibiotics, it stands to reason that the milk from the animal will be full of hormones and antibiotics.

If you drink whey protein from an animal full of chemicals, your estrogen levels will rise.

4.  Avoid eating and drinking out of plastic

Plastic has been linked to increased estrogen levels.  Keep your food in glass containers and drink out of stainless steel bottles.

The worst plastic for you is type #7 (it has a little 7 on the bottom).  Avoid this plastic at all costs, don’t even use shampoo from type 7 bottles.

5.  Don’t eat “modern foods”

Almost everything that comes from a box, bag, or bottle is bad for you.

Follow the paleo nutrition rule: only eat what a caveman would eat.

All the chemicals and preservatives in modern manufactured foods will raise estrogen levels, make you fat, and lead to health problems.

6.  Eat tons of cruciferous vegetables

Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower have been shown to reduce estrogen levels.  A side bonus is that they are effective cancer fighters.

Tired of broccoli?  Here’s a list of other cruciferous vegetables:

• horseradish
• land cress
• ethiopian mustard
• kale
• collard greens
• Chinese broccoli
• cabbage
• brussels sprout
• kohlrabi
• broccoli
• broccoflower
• broccoli romanesco
• cauliflower
• wild broccoli
• bok choy
• komatsuna
• mizuna Brassica
• Rapini (broccoli rabe)
• flowering cabbage
• chinese cabbage
• napa cabbage
• turnip root
• turnip greens
• rutabaga
• siberian kale
• canola/rapeseed
• wrapped heart mustard cabbage
• mustard greens
• tatsoi
• arugula
• garden cress
• watercress
• radish
• daikon
• wasabi

7.  Avoid alcohol

Alcohol is highly estrogenic.  A drink a night or a few drinks on the weekend will boost your estrogen levels and keep fat on your body.  Which leads to…

8.  Lose excess body fat

Most people forget that fat has an impact on hormone levels.

It is essential for men to get their bodyfat below 15% for health and to combat estrogen levels.

No booze, no junk food, cut the carbs, and do metabolism boosting workouts at least 3 times a week.

9.  Drink purified water

Water quality is getting worse and worse as it is recycled and chemicals are added.

Get a high quality water filter and use it for all of your drinking water, coffee, tea, and ice cubes.

For bonus estrogen fighting points, get a filter for your shower head as well.

10.  Get more sleep

Lack of sleep will cause your estrogen levels to rise.  Make a deal with yourself that you’ll be in bed early enough to get a full night’s sleep.

Darken your bedroom, avoid TV or computer an hour before bed, and don’t drink caffeine late in the day.

That’s it, 10 simple ways for you to lower your estrogen levels.

With low estrogen levels, not only will you be healthier and leaner, it will be easier for you to add muscle, recover from injuries, and have a great body.

Eating healthy at fast food restaurants can be tricky.

Today at bootcamp someone asked me what I think of the Low Carb Six Dollar Burger From Carl’s Jr.

I think it’s an ok decision when you’re stuck out on the town and everyone you’re with wants to grab a burger.

The 570 Calorie Low Carb burger has a 100% black angus beef patty, two slices of cheese, tomato, red onions and dill pickles wrapped in a romaine lettuce leaf.

If you order it without mayo, mustard, or ketchup, and just one slice of cheese, you can get it down to just under 400 Calories.

If you’ve got to eat out, grab the Low Carb Six Dollar Burger!

A chiropractor friend of mine told me that SITTING is the most damaging thing we do all day:

You probably don’t need a better chair, you just need to see how to sit correctly.  Check out this video:

For more tips and tricks for getting rid of back pain, check out this post on Wold Fitness:

17 Ways To Fix Back Pain

Do you ever hear things like this?

“Comfort food”

“Special treats”

“Reward meals”

What exactly is “comfort food”?

According to Wikipedia: “food consumed to improve emotional status, whether to relieve negative psychological affect or to increase positive feeling.”

Comfort foods “improve emotional status” by turning on the reward centers of your brain.  You feel more like a winner after you eat your comfort food.

And, as Charlie Sheen will tell you, winning is addictive.

But the problem with comfort foods is that they lead to comfort bodies:

What if there was a way to turn OFF the food reward centers of your brain?

A way to turn down the need for the emotional lift that comfort foods can bring?

Turns out you can turn down your “neural response to visual food stimuli”:

Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011 May 5. [Epub ahead of print]
Neural Responses to Visual Food Stimuli After a Normal vs. Higher Protein Breakfast in Breakfast-Skipping Teens: A Pilot fMRI Study.
Leidy HJ, Lepping RJ, Savage CR, Harris CT.

This study used brain imaging scans to see if breakfast would alter brain activity in overweight girls and to see if additional protein would produce more alterations.

It did.

The group that ate a higher protein breakfast (50 grams of protein) had a much reduced food motivation and reward response.

What does this mean for you?

Eating a higher protein breakfast will help you stop viewing food as a reward.

Now, fifty grams of protein may seem like a huge amount (especially if you’ve been skipping breakfast)…

So I want to give you a simple plan that WORKS: It’s called 30/30/300.

• Eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up
• Eat at least 30 grams of protein in your breakfast
• Eat at least 300 Calories at breakfast

Simple

Following the 30/30/300 plan will raise your metabolism, help you lose weight, and cut down on comfort food cravings.

For more info on food cravings and brain chemistry, check out these other articles from Wold Fitness:

Sugar Cravings Taking Over Your Brain

Are You An Emotional Eater? (Quiz)

End Emotional Eating

A Carson City Bootcamp Exercise Post by Lucas Wold

Gymnastics rings are a phenomenal training tool.  You can build strength, flexibility, and balance on one simple training tool

Most people don’t realize that two of the most popular training tools in the world right now, the TRX and the Total Gym are take offs of traditional gymnastic ring training.

The TRX is a set of rings with flat flat handles, foot stirrups, and a single point of attachment:

And the Total Gym is a take-off of an old Russian gymnastics training tool that allowed athletes to practice rings moves with a smaller percentage of their body weight

And rings aren’t just good for training gymnastics tricks.  You can use a set of rings to exercise every muscle in your body and get a great metabolism boosting workout.

To that end, here are 10 simple rings training exercises for you to try:

Gymnastic Ring Triceps Extension

This is a great exercise for the triceps muscles on the back of your arms.

Gymnastic Ring Body Row

In this video I have my feet on a Swiss Balance Ball, but a simpler variation is to put your feet on the floor. This exercise will strengthen your back and arms, and do wonders for your posture.

If there was a single exercise I’d recommend for everyone, the body row would be it.

Gymnastic Ring Pistol Squat

Pistol squats are a phenomenal exercise, but they are very difficult. Using the gymnastic rings allows you to train the pistol without losing your balance, plus the rings take some of the load off your working leg, allowing you to build up to a full pistol squat.

Gymnastic Ring Straight Arm Pulldown

This exercise is a great way to develop your back and core

Gymnastic Ring Reach Out

This is one of the best exercises for training your core.

Gymnastic Ring Dip

Dips have been called the “squat of upper body training.” If you want a strong chest, strong arms, and shoulder stability, try dips.

Gymnastic Ring Low Trap Pull

Scapular depression is one of the most under-trained movements in the gym. It is also one of the most important things you can do to improve your posture and shoulder health.

Gymnastic Ring Biceps Curls

If you’re going to do curls, do them on the rings.

Gymnastic Ring Push Up

You can improve the basic push up by using the rings. It will challenge not only your “push up” muscles, but also your shoulder stability and core strength.

For beginning exercisers, you can use the rings to reduce the amount of your body weight that you are pushing, making it less difficult than a push up on the floor.

Gymnastic Ring Face Pull

One of my favorite exercises for the back of the shoulders.

Now, if you want to use rings in your training, set up your workouts to use ring exercises in a circuit. Here’s an example:

Have fun!

Just to lighten up your day – no pun intended!

Have a great day!

Salads can be so much more than iceberg lettuce and shredded carrots.  Salads should be delicious and nutritious – not boring and limp.

Today I want to share 8 greens that will boost both the taste and nutrition of your salads.

Salad Booster #1: Arugula

I’d describe arugula as “mustardy,” which helps to add flavor when you’re cutting down on salad dressing.

Arugula will also give you a good dose of calcium and magnesium.

Salad Booster #2: Watercress

Last night I had plum and chicken kabobs over a watercress salad. Delicious!

Watercress is a little peppery, and contains awesome phytochemicals that fight airborne pollutants like tobacco smoke and exhaust fumes.

Think of a watercress salad as a HEPA filter for your lungs.

(Update: One of my clients told me her grandmother used to crush watercress and feed it to her whenever she had a cold lodged in her chest.  Grandmas rule!)

Salad Booster #3: Spinach

Spinach and I get along so well I have to remind myself to branch out and eat lots of other vegggies. I cook down as many as 8 cups of spinach into my morning eggs.

Spinach is a great source of both lutein and zeaxanthin – antioxidants that protect your eyes from aging.

A study from Tufts University found that eating spinach frequently lowers your risk of age-related macular degeneration by 43 percent.

Salad Booster #4: Romaine

Romaine tastes a little bit like celery, without the bother of strings getting caught in your teeth.

It is a good source of beta carotene (more than 700 micrograms per cup).

The University of Illinois showed that high levels of beta-carotene inhibits the growth of certain cancers by 50 percent.

Salad Booster #5: Kohlrabi

I didn’t like kohlrabi the first time I had it, but now I can’t get enough! It tastes like a cross between a cabbage and a turnip (seriously).

Kohlrabi has potassium (an essential element) to help lower your blood pressure.

You also get a dose of glucosinolate, a phytochemical that has been shown to help prevent some cancers. Cool!

Salad Booster #6: Endive

Crisp, slightly bitter, and full of fiber – endive is a great addition to any salad.

A cerving of endive also has plenty of folate: an essential B vitamin. People who don’t get enough folate have a 50% greater risk of developing heart disease.

Salad Booster #7: Bok Choy

Bok choy tastes a little like cabbage… but it has A LOT more vitamins!

You can get even more cancer-fighting, age-reducing phytochemicals from eating bok choy: flavonoids, isothiocyanates, and dithiolthione.

Salad Booster #8: Mustard Greens

This is advanced salading right here. Mustard greens are spicy, crunchy, and delicious. The only caaveat I have about them is to start off with small servings if you aren’t used to eating vegetables. Otherwise your digestive system might rebel!

Mustard greens are a good source of tyrosine, an amino acid that can help with both your memory and your concentration.

There you have it! 8 delicious ways to add more flavor and nutrition to your salads. Now for a bonus tip:

BONUS SALAD TIP

Most salad dressings are packed full of sugars, vegetable oils, and gummy coloring agents. Gross.

If you want to add some moisture and some flavor to your salads, add in some fruits and nuts.

I add a few raisins, a bit of chopped apple, and some chopped walnuts to my broccoli-watercress salads. Mmmmmm…

Other good moisture/flavor additions to a salad are: cucumbers, berries, bell peppers, chopped dried fruits, and meat.

Have fun and eat some delicious salads!