Rather Be Healthy

When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, over 12,000 people were instantly killed while an additional 100,000 suffered injuries. A curious phenomena followed. Even though a majority of the people within a two kilometer radius from the epicenter died from either direct or indirect radiation exposure, some survived without any ill effects and are still alive today. A significant difference between the two groups involved the diet — those who lived had adopted macrobiotic principles.

Early beginnings
Based on traditional Japanese foods, a macrobiotic diet consists of seasonal whole grains, vegetables, beans, seaweed, soups and broths. It was originally developed by two Japanese educators, Sagen Ishitzuka, M.D. and Yukikazu Sakurazawa (later to be known in the West as George Ohsawa). Both believed a simple diet of organic miso soup, brown rice and sea vegetables cured serious disease. Later, Michio Kushi took up the torch, writing several books and creating a macrobiotic educational facility in Massachusetts known as The Kushi Institute.

The merits of macrobiotics against radiation sickness
Dr. Tatsuichiro Akizuki was working as the director of internal medicine at Urakami Daiihchi Hospital in Nagasaki, Japan when the atomic bomb was dropped 1.4 km away. Since Akizuki was inside when the bomb exploded, he survived. Unfortunately, he was still exposed to high levels of indirect radiation.

After the blast, Akizuki fed the staff and patients under his care a diet of brown rice, miso, vegetables and a variety of seaweeds. He recalls, “I gave the cooks and staff strict orders that they should make unpolished whole-grain rice balls, adding some salt to them, prepare strong miso soup for each meal, and never use sugar. When they didn’t follow my orders, I scolded them without mercy, ‘Never take sugar. Sugar will destroy your blood!'”

In his memoir book, The Concentric of Death, Akizuki names 31 people who consumed his simple macrobiotic diet in the wake of the explosion. Sixty years after the blast, one third of the people given the special diet were still alive. Without the protective element of macrobiotic foods, most who survived the explosion either died soon after or developed severe health problems such as cataracts and cancer.

“This dietary method made it possible for me to remain alive and go on working vigorously as a doctor. The radioactivity may not have been a fatal dose, but thanks to this method, Brother Iwanaga, Reverend Noguchi, Chief Nurse Miss Murai, other staff members and in-patients, as well as myself, all kept on living on the lethal ashes of the bombed ruins. It was thanks to this food that all of us could work for people day after day, overcoming fatigue or symptoms of atomic disease and survive the disaster free from severe symptoms of radioactivity,” said Akizuki.

Sources for this article include:

http://yufoundation.org/furo.pdf

http://thalassotherapyandiodine.blogspot.com

http://www.livewellnaturally.com

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=diet&dbid=9

http://www.rifeenergymedicine.com/Radiationprotection.html

http://www.kushiinstitute.org

About the author:
Carolanne enthusiastically believes if we want to see change in the world, we need to be the change. As a nutritionist, natural foods chef and wellness coach, Carolanne has encouraged others to embrace a healthy lifestyle of organic living, gratefulness and joyful orientation for over 13 years. Through her website www.Thrive-Living.net she looks forward to connecting with other like-minded people who share a similar vision.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Drinking beet juice daily lowers high blood pressure

A new study just published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension has found there’s a substance that lowers high blood pressure significantly. It’s not a new Big Pharma drug and it comes free of side effects. Instead of medication, it’s simply a small amount of beet juice.

Researchers found that people with hypertension, the medical term for high blood pressure, who drank about eight ounces of beet juice daily had a decrease in blood pressure of about 10 mm Hg. The scientists explained in their paper that the amount of juice from beets (known as beetroots in Europe) consumed contains 0.2g of dietary nitrate — that’s about the same amount of nitrate that’s found in a large bowl of lettuce or approximately two beets.

So what does nitrate have to do with blood pressure? It turns out that after it’s consumed, nitrate is converted in the body to a chemical called nitrite and then to the gas nitric oxide. Once in the bloodstream, nitric oxide widens blood vessels, aids blood flow and lowers blood pressure.

“Our hope is that increasing one’s intake of vegetables with a high dietary nitrate content, such as green leafy vegetables or beetroot, might be a lifestyle approach that one could easily employ to improve cardiovascular health,” said Amrita Ahluwalia, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a professor of vascular pharmacology at The Barts and The London Medical School in London.

A little vegetable juice produces a big health effect
Blood pressure is measured with two numbers — the systolic blood pressure (the top number and the highest) measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats, while the diastolic blood pressure (the bottom and lower number) measures blood pressure in the arteries when the heart is between beats.

The study involved eight women and seven men who had a systolic blood pressure between 140 to 159 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), a measurement indicating they had high blood pressure. Other than hypertension, none had other medical complications and they weren’t taking blood pressure medication. The research subjects drank 250 mL of beet juice or water containing a low amount of nitrate. Then their blood pressure was monitored over the next 24 hours.

Compared with the group drinking water with just a bit of nitrate, the research subjects who drank beet juice were found to have reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure. This impact on blood pressure continued even after nitrite circulating in the blood had returned to their previous levels before the juice was consumed. In fact, the positive effect was most pronounced three to six hours after drinking the juice – but it was still present even a day later.

In the United States, more than 77 million adults have diagnosed hypertension — and high blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attacks and stroke. Eating vegetables rich in dietary nitrate and other critical nutrients may be an accessible and inexpensive way to manage blood pressure, Dr. Ahluwalia said in a media statement.

This isn’t the only research that shows beets have health-protective properties. NaturalNews previously reported that a study published in Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry, the peer-reviewed journal of the Nitric Oxide Society, by scientists at Wake Forest University’s Translational Science Center found that beets increase blood flow and help oxygen get specifically to places in body that are lacking oxygen — including the brain — and may help people with dementia.

Sources for this article include:

http://newsroom.heart.org

http://hyper.ahajournals.org

http://www.naturalnews.com/030417_beet_juice_brain_health.html

About the author:
Sherry Baker is a widely published writer whose work has appeared in Newsweek, Health, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Yoga Journal, Optometry, Atlanta, Arthritis Today, Natural Healing Newsletter, OMNI, UCLA’s “Healthy Years” newsletter, Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s “Focus on Health Aging” newsletter, the Cleveland Clinic’s “Men’s Health Advisor” newsletter and many others

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Exclusive: Scientific paper that announced high levels of lead in rice suddenly retracted by its author

A recent scientific paper that concluded imported rice was heavily contaminated with lead has been suddenly withdrawn by its author. Natural News has confirmed from the author, Monmouth University Chemistry Professor Tsanangurayi Tongesayi, that the paper is “recalled until further notice.”

The paper, announced with great fanfare at the American Chemical Society last week, was also accepted for publication in the Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part B: Pesticides, Food Contaminants, and Agricultural Waste. It found that some sources of rice, including rice from China, were contaminated with as much as 12,000% more lead than allowed under current safety limits for children.

The story was widely published across the media, including Natural News. Its findings, after all, were consistent with many other findings about the contamination of foods grown in heavily polluted countries. So no one thought the conclusions might be in doubt. When we hear about “scientists” conducted metals analysis in foods, we tend to think they know what they’re doing, right?

But the authors themselves discovered worrisome discrepancies when they sent the samples to a third-party lab for verification. According to an email acquired by Natural News, the results from this third-party lab showed all sub-ppm levels of lead, not the much higher numbers the Tongesayi team had reported.

Why the Tongesayi team did not conduct third-party lab verification before announcing the results has not been explained.

Analysis machine somehow produced flawed data
What has been revealed, however, is that the original lead results were determined through the use of an “XRF” spectroscopy machine which uses X-Ray Fluorescence to profile the elemental composition of the sample.

The brand of the XRF machine used in this analysis was “Innov-X,” from Olympus, according to information received by Natural News. Click here to see an overview of the products.

Most likely, the Tongesayi team was using the BTX Benchtop XRD equipment, which is about the size of a bread maker and, compared to high-end spectroscopy equipment, also costs about the same as a bread maker. (See below for more analysis of XRF versus atomic spectroscopy / mass analyzers.)

According to their own announcement about their findings:

We measured the levels of lead in rice that is imported into the U.S. using XRF and the data was validated using a NIST1568a reference sample. Lead levels ranged from 5.95 +/- 0.72 to 11.9 +/- 0.6 mg/kg and the calculated Daily Exposure amounts were significantly higher than the Provisional Total Tolerable Intakes for all age groups.

Translation: What they’re basically saying is that they found lead at levels of 6 to 12 ppm in rice. But as you’ll see below, these numbers are completely wrong.

2012 tests from Consumer Reports reveal roughly 1,000 times LOWER levels of lead in rice
Here’s another clue worth considering in all this. In 2012, Consumer Reports published results of its lead analysis of 223 brands of rice. They also measured arsenic and cadmium in rice.

If you click the link above, the chart you’ll see is shown in parts per BILLION. These numbers, in other words, are 1/1000th the value of numbers given in parts per million. As a reminder, 1000 ppb = 1 ppm.

If someone asks you, “Would you rather each 500 ppm of lead, or 500 ppb of lead?” the correct answer is ppb.

Here’s a screen shot of the Consumer Reports report (link above):

The Tongesayi team was announcing that it found rice to contain high ppm of lead. But the Consumer Reports team — which of course has decades of experience running tightly-controlled lab analysis activities — was only reporting lead at ppb in rice.

Somebody is off by a factor of 1,000. That’s three orders of magnitude. And I’d bet my favorite pair of hiking boots it’s not Consumer Reports.

Why I was absolutely shocked to learn these studies were conducted via XRF
Consumer Reports, it turns out, conducted its study of rice using what it called “ICP-DRC-MS.” I discuss this is more detail below, but the “DRC” just means it’s a jazzed up ICP-MS “mass spec” machine using a Dynamic Reaction Cell. This technology helps eliminate polyatomic interferences (i.e. false readings) through the use of a highly reactive gas (like oxygen) that is allowed to bleed into the analyzer and “react” with problematic ions. The result is a detection limit that approaches low parts per trillion, depending on the element. (Plus, your lab gets the “thrill” of being stocked with explosive gases.)

But the Tongesayi team didn’t use ICP-MS. They used something called “XRF” — almost certainly due to budgetary constraints. As someone who has done a considerable amount of hands-on research into trace element analysis of foods, I was absolutely shocked to learn that this “scientific” study about to be published in a science journal was conducted on a single XRF machine without the results being independently confirmed through more accurate testing methods. As much as I feel the professor was trying to do the right thing with this research, if you are going to announce something of such magnitude to the world, for God’s sake run a redundancy check on another machine! (Is this not common sense?)

Personally, if I were going to put my name behind test results, I would choose a technology such as ICP-MS: Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Also just called “ICP Mass Spec” for short.

A quick overview of ICP-MS mass spectrometry
ICP-MS machines are made by several companies such as Agilent, Perkin Elmer, Bruker and Thermo. They are capable of detecting trace elements down to parts per TRILLION, with astonishing accuracy and repeatability.

The really freaking thing is that they can measure all the elements of a given sample simultaneously. So in 2-3 minutes, you get a full read-out of everything in the sample: lead, cadmium, mercury, magnesium, iron… and if you’re really lucky then some barium and thallium, too.

Running ICP-MS machines, however, is tricky business. For starters, you need a ridiculously air-tight clean room with active HEPA filtration, or the trace elements in microscopic pieces of dust in the air will throw your results. ICP-MS also typically uses a nebulizer to atomize a liquid solution, and because of the extreme precision of the ICP-MS components, this solution can contain a maximum of 0.2% TDS (dissolved solids). This means solid food samples must be digested, then diluted, and then re-run through the analyzer if the dilution level is still not sufficient to bring the element to within the window of detection by the machine.

ICP-MS is expensive and complicated. And it uses a lot of gas. You’ll burn through dozens of gas tanks of argon gas each year. (Well, not actually “burning” them. The gas is harmlessly exhausted after each analysis.) And if you want to run so-called “collision cell” quantitative elemental analysis — which offers far more precision than standard ICP-MS — you might end up using other gases such as helium or even nitrogen.

ICP-MS isn’t cheap, either. You need to build out a lab room that can keep the machine free of contaminants. Just the room itself might easily cost you $200,000. Most of these machines have a plasma torch that needs 240V electricity hardwired in (because it takes juice to turn solids into their plasma state, right?), and with the auto-diluters, auto-digesters, analysis software and everything else you need to run these systems, you can easily spend $500,000 – $1 million. And that doesn’t count the salary and the health insurance benefits of the lab technician you’ll need to hire to run the whole thing… the very same guy who will quit right in the middle of your urgent batch run that needs to be done immediately.

But of all the trace element detection technologies available today, I have personally never heard of anyone using XRF as the sole machine for announcing scientific results of heavy metals contamination for food staples.

How one machine might consistently produce false lead contamination results
It’s painfully easy for one machine to produce consistently erroneous results due to a number of reasons. Just off the top of my head, I can think of at least four reasons why this might happen:

#1) The machine is incorrectly calibrated. These machines must be frequently calibrated against samples with known quantities of detected elements. If they are poorly calibrated, they will obviously produce incorrect results.

#2) Contamination during sample preparation. Whoever was preparing the rice samples was likely using some sort of acidic solution to “digest” the rice into a testable liquid. This process of sample preparation provides a multitude of opportunities for contamination, including the acidic solution, lab ware used in the preparation, ambient lead in airborne dust, the handling of samples by lab technicians, etc.

#3) The machine’s sampling area was somehow contaminated with lead. I’m not sure what technology this XRF machine uses to hold the sample being tested, but it is possible that the same machine had previously been used to test something such as an actual piece of lead… and somehow enough lead remained in the testing instrument to give off high ppm with all subsequent samples. This could be determined by testing the unit with a known quantity of ultra-purified laboratory water known to contain no lead whatsoever. If the reading still shows high lead, then the problem is the instrument.

4) Altered data. You can never discount the possibility that someone involved in the research sought to alter the numbers in order to fit their desired outcome. I’m not saying this was the case with this rice research, but it has happened before and must always be considered as a possible explanation.

Conclusion
So that’s a long-winded way of saying the “lead contamination in rice” paper has been retracted, and it was pulled because the people who did the study realized their machine was producing erroneous results.

So, on one hand, you could say they are doing the “responsible thing” by retracting this paper themselves, but on the other hand this is a pretty big whopper to make in a science journal and a public symposium of the American Chemical Society.

Importantly, the retraction of this paper does not mean rice from China isn’t contaminated with lead. There is lead in rice from China, but as Consumer Reports shows, it’s most likely in the ppb range than ppm.

Obviously, we’re going to continue to investigate this issue and work to bring you more news (and our own lab results) about metals contaminants in food. For now, just remember that not every published “scientific” paper is accurate. There are retractions every single day, and even when people don’t intend to make mistakes, they often get caught up in them anyway.

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Want to Burn More Fat During Exercise? Take a Break

Allowing time for a rest period during your workout burns more fat than exercising for one continuous session, according to a Japanese study that could change the way we look at exercise.

The unprecedented study compared the workout sessions of seven healthy men with an average age of 25. Their respiratory gas and heart rate were monitored, and blood samples taken, while they performed the following scenarios:
•A 60-minute workout on a cycling machine, followed by a 60-minute rest period (single)
•Two 30-minute workouts on a cycling machine with a 20-minute rest in between, and a 60-minute recovery period at the end (repeated)
•A 60-minute rest period (for control purposes)
It was found that the participants had a greater amount of fat breakdown, or lipolysis, during the repeated session than the single session.

Meanwhile, the repeated trial caused a greater increase in free fatty acids and glycerol, which are released when stored fat is burned, than did the single trial. Also during the repeated session, levels of epinephrine increased and levels of insulin decreased much more than during the single session — a combination that may have further contributed to fat breakdown.

Current recommendations by The American College of Sports Medicine to exercise for a duration of 45 to 60 minutes may therefore not be the most effective, the researchers say. Splitting up a longer exercise session with a rest period may be more beneficial, helping people to better manage and control their weight.

Journal of Applied Physiology 102(6):2158-64 June 2007

Science Blog July 18, 2007

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

The evidence continues to mount that shorter bursts of activity with rest periods in between is one of the most effective ways to exercise. This alternating technique, known as interval training or high-intensity interval training, has been around for decades but is experiencing newfound popularity as its benefits are publicized.

This most recent study confirmed that interval training results in more fat burned — even when the session was not done at an extremely high intensity — and a study earlier this year found that it can improve your cardiovascular fitness and your body’s ability to burn fat.

During my college years, and about 15 years after that, I used to do interval training, but stopped it and just did endurance training since I haven’t regularly competed for 15 years. I had no idea that the interval training had so many other benefits.

Now however, as the benefits of interval training keep pouring in, I have been reawakened to the importance of short bursts of activity done at a very high intensity to reach your optimum level of fitness. Therefore, I now incorporate interval training (sprints) with endurance cardio training (running), pull-ups, dips and singles tennis (when I can find someone to join me!) You certainly don’t have to run to achieve these benefits, and can receive similar effects using properly supervised weight training.

I believe that incorporating interval training into your exercise routine will be a welcome relief for most, particularly those who dread hour-long cardio workouts.

Although interval training requires intense periods of exercise (more intense than you may have normally done), the session is broken up with periods of rest, so it really goes by much faster yet produces excellent results. This technique should help just about everyone who uses it; just be sure to start out at your own pace.

So remember, along with some endurance cardio training, be sure you are also incorporating interval-type training and strength training into your exercise routine. As with many things in life, when it comes to exercise, having some variety built in will help you to get the most comprehensive results for your mind and body.

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Truths that Shatter Prevailing Weight Loss Myths

In this interview, Marc David, an expert in the psychology of eating, talks about one of the most pervasive weight loss myths: that weight loss is simply a matter of eating less and exercising more.

I’m sure you received many valuable health tips from this small segment of the expert interview. To hear the full version of this and other interviews I do with world-renowned health experts is easy… Simply sign up for the affordable Mercola Inner Circle and receive them monthly, with zero effort on your part. Take this small step — and take control of your health – 2,250 other Mercola Inner Circle members can’t be wrong!

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

This video clip of my Inner Circle expert interview with Marc David brings up one of the most pervasive weight loss myths out there: that losing weight is merely a matter of exercising more and eating fewer calories.

But is that really true?

As the founder and director of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, Marc has firsthand knowledge in this area. He’s even written two excellent books on the psychology of weight loss and eating habits: The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss, and Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind-Body Approach to Nutrition and Well-Being.

The truth is, the formula for successful weight loss is oftentimes not that simple.

How Exercising Too Much Can Hinder Weight Loss

According to Marc, the idea that eating less combined with more exercise equals weight loss is based on antiquated science, because we now know that a calorie is metabolized differently in different people, depending on a variety of factors. Variables such as your stress level, and even your breathing habits, will impact how your body processes calories.

Additionally, exercising too much can have the opposite effect, causing your body to hold on to unwanted weight.

This happens because when you exercise too much, your body goes into a more extreme physical stress response. This can cause your cortisol levels to remain high.

Cortisol, also known as “the stress hormone,” is secreted by your adrenal glands and is involved in a variety of important physical functions, including:
•Metabolizing glucose
•Regulating your blood pressure
•Releasing insulin for blood sugar maintenance
•Your immune function
•The inflammatory response

However, when your cortisol level is chronically elevated – which can happen if you exercise too much — it stimulates your body to store fat and not build muscle.

This may be the underlying problem if you engage in excessive amounts of exercise on a regular basis and find that you’ve hit a plateau where you cannot lose weight or build more muscle.

So, although nearly everyone reading this is probably exercising too little, it is crucial to understand that you can indeed sabotage your weight loss efforts by over-exercising.

The key points to remember are moderation, and individualization.

Ideally, your exercises should be broken up with short breaks in between for maximum effectiveness. I’ve published many stories about the benefits of interval training, which has led me to incorporate interval training (sprints) with endurance cardio training (running) in my own routine. You certainly don’t have to run to achieve these benefits. You can receive similar effects by using properly supervised weight training. Interval training is also a welcome relief for those who dread, or don’t have time for hour-long cardio workouts.

Getting the Right Ratio of Nutrients is Essential for Successful Weight Loss

Additionally, what you eat is just as important as how much. Simply counting calories is not the answer.

In this video, Marc describes the case of a young marathon runner who simply could not lose her unwanted weight, despite her intense exercise regimen and eating a mere 1,400 calories a day.

Because in addition to her over-exercising, another problem was the ratio of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in her diet. She ate mostly carbs, and was likely fat deficient as she consumed very little essential fats.

When your body is deprived of essential fats your metabolic rate slows down, so you can’t burn calories as efficiently.

In addition, omega-3 fats, which are essential to optimal health, improve your cells’ response to insulin, neurotransmitters and other messengers. They’re also very important for the repair process when your cells are damaged.

In fact, weight gain is one of the symptoms of omega-3 deficiency.

In the case of that young lady, simply replacing her excessive daily running with milder forms of exercise that she truly enjoyed, combined with a higher level of essential fats in her diet, she was able to lose 15 pounds in one month!

High Protein Meals Help Burn More Fat

A number of studies have also suggested that high-protein diets may help people shed weight more easily. I firmly believe it’s very important to eat some protein with every meal, as protein is the most satiating type of food, beating out carbohydrates and even healthy fat.

However, the amount and type of protein you need (as well as the ratio in relation to carbs and fat) can vary quite dramatically according to your gender, height, weight, exercise levels, and, most importantly, by your nutritional type, which is now a rapidly emerging field.

Unfortunately, many are still unaware of nutritional typing and how it can completely revolutionize your overall health, and help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

For more information on how to determine your unique nutritional needs, please review my Beginner’s Nutrition Plan. And for even more guidance on how to successfully shed unwanted pounds, take a look at the related articles listed below.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Believing These Persistent Fitness Myths Can Sabotage Your Success

By Dr. Mercola

There is no shortage of misinformation when it comes to diet and exercise. The fitness industry is a multi-billion dollar business based on selling you one piece of equipment or another, one supplement or another, constantly bombarding you with images of “the perfect body” if you will only do this or that.

Unfortunately, marketing perpetuates myths, and these myths are further perpetuated by word of mouth. Some of these myths will hold you back from achieving your fitness goals—or worse yet, damage to your body and your health.
•Are you under-exercising?
•Or maybe over-exercising?
•Are you on the right supplements?

Are you stuck with your progress toward your weight loss and fitness goals? Maybe you have unknowingly bought into some of the same exercise myths that I did over the years. It’s time to take a look at fact versus fiction, when it comes to diet and exercise. Let’s take a look at several of the more common exercise myths making the rounds today.

Myth #1: Long Cardio Workouts are the Key to Weight Loss

If you walk into any gym, you’ll likely observe like I do that the majority of people working out are using the cardio equipment, believing they’re getting an excellent workout. I really don’t blame them as I was caught up in the same misinformation for over 40 years. Only recently did I learn there are FAR better forms of exercise, especially if you’re 40 or above. There is a growing body of science showing that longer workouts are not better—which is great news if you are already trying to fit 25 hours of activity into every day.

Runners can rejoice—your days of spending long hours pounding the pavement each morning are finally over!

Science continues to confirm that shorter, higher-intensity burst workouts result in greater fat burning, greater development of lean body mass, and a variety of other benefits than the more time-consuming cardio routines of yesteryear.

The reason for this is that high-intensity burst exercises, like what I’ve incorporated into my Peak Fitness program, engage all the different muscle fibers in your body, including a certain group of muscle fibers that you cannot engage through conventional aerobic cardio. High-intensity burst exercises also boost your body’s natural production of human growth hormone (HGH), a hormone produced by your pituitary gland that is key for physical strength, health and longevity.

High-intensity burst exercises require only a 20-minute time investment two to three times per week for optimal benefits.

I’ve been doing high-intensity burst exercises since April 2010 and have shed over 17 pounds of fat and three inches off my waist, while gaining more than seven pounds of muscle, all while dramatically reducing the time I spend in the gym. My Peak Fitness program is a comprehensive exercise plan that also includes strength training, core exercises, and stretching. But please remember that 80% of those results were related to the foods I was choosing to eat. It is the combination of the right foods and exercise the produces the results.

Myth #2: When it Comes to Exercise, More is Better

Although nearly everyone reading this is probably exercising too little, it is important to realize you can also sabotage your weight loss efforts by over-exercising. In this case, your body goes into an elevated stress response, keeping your cortisol levels too high. Cortisol, also known as “the stress hormone,” is secreted by your adrenal glands and is involved in a variety of important metabolic functions, such as regulating your insulin and glucose levels, and controlling inflammation. Elevated cortisol will cause your body to store fat instead of building muscle.

Recovery is absolutely crucial to your long term success. You simply must provide your body with the opportunity to rebuild and restore itself after you stress it with intense workouts.

I no longer recommend marathon running and other high endurance exercises because science has now confirmed that these extreme endurance races place extraordinary stress on your heart—even if you’re very fit.

Long-term endurance athletes have been found to suffer from diminished function of the right heart ventricles and increased cardiac enzyme levels, which indicate injury to the heart muscle itself. In 12 percent of endurance athletes, scarring of the heart tissue is detectable one week post race. Regardless of what type of exercise you do, always listen to your body as it will give you important feedback about whether or not you are overexerting yourself.

Myth #3: You Need to Take Supplements to Build Muscle

Muscle is hard to build and easy to lose. As you age, this is even more pronounced. Building a lean, healthy body depends on your overall diet, not just the right supplements, contrary to what you might hear at the gym. As I have said many times, with few exceptions, supplements should supplement your foods—not replace them. Strength training and resistance training are also key for building a lean body.

The leaner you are, the higher your metabolic rate will be. Weight training (aka resistance training) should be an integral part of your total fitness routine, which is why it’s an important component of my Peak Fitness program.

Good nutrition requires eating a wide range of high-quality, fresh whole foods, such as organic vegetables, grass-pastured meats, organic eggs, etc., and minimizing your sugar intake. For more comprehensive nutritional guidelines, refer to my Nutrition Plan. If you are interested in augmenting your fitness routine and want to incorporate some supplements, there are a few that stand out above the rest:
•Omega-3 fats: Omega-3s benefit your heart and reduce inflammation, which may decrease your muscle soreness after a workout. Omega-3s also aid in tissue repair—and many other things. Research suggests the overall best omega-3 supplement is krill oil. Omega-3s can also improve your insulin response, and their deficiency has been linked to obesity.
•Carnosine: Carnosine is composed of two amino acids, beta-alanine and histidine, which help buffer acids in your muscles and serve as a potent antioxidants to quell inflammation, thereby reducing muscle soreness. (As an added note, research has also shown that fresh ginger can alleviate sore muscles.) Beta-alanine is probably more important if you are going to supplement with carnosine. This is particularly important for those who choose to avoid animal protein.
•Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA): Research shows CLA is beneficial in lowering your body fat while preserving muscle tissue, and may also increase your metabolic rate. The best source is grass-fed beef, but if you don’t have access to this, you may want to consider a supplement.
•Whey Protein High quality whey protein is not really a supplement but a food, and it’s one of the highest quality sources of protein you can consume. Whey protein contains a complete range of the amino acids necessary for building muscle, and benefits your heart as well. Whey protein should be consumed at the appropriate time with respect to exercising, for maximum benefit.

Myth #4: You Need a Sports Drink to Replenish Your Body’s Electrolytes when Exercising

For most average exercisers and athletes, sports drinks are not only a waste of your money, but they are typically far more harmful than helpful to your health. Most sports drinks are loaded with things you DON’T want, like refined sugars, artificial colors and chemicals.

If you exercise for 30 minutes a day at a moderate to high intensity, fresh, pure water is the best thing to help you stay hydrated. It’s only when you’ve been exercising for longer periods, such as for more than 60 minutes or in the heat, or at extreme intensity levels where you are sweating profusely, that you may need something more than water to replenish your body.

Besides plain water, coconut water is one of the best and safest options to rehydrate you after a strenuous workout. Coconut water has a powerhouse of natural electrolytes, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, enzymes, antioxidants and phytonutrients, and is low in sugar but still pleasantly sweet. Depending on how much salt you’ve lost through sweating, you might even add a tiny pinch of natural Himalayan salt to your glass of coconut water. One study in 2007i found sodium-enriched coconut water to be as effective as commercial sports drinks for whole body rehydration after exercise, with less stomach upset.

Myth #5: Stretching Before Exercise Will Prevent Injury

Traditional warm-ups are seriously flawed. One of the most common mistakes is stretching—doing the wrong type or the wrong amount of stretching—during the warm-up. Stretching too much or in the wrong way can actually cause, rather than prevent, injury. Mild stretching is okay, but keep each stretch brief. Five to 10 seconds per body part is usually sufficient; keep your repetitions below six.

It is better to do more sets at low repetitions than low sets at high reps during a warm-up. Save the more intense stretching for later in your workout.

The best type of stretching to do before a workout is dynamic stretching, as opposed to static stretching (which is what most people do). I personally have been doing active isolated stretching for the past three years. I consider it a vital element of my exercise program and seek to do it daily if time permits. I typically do it at night before I go to bed while I relax.

Myth #6: If You Don’t Exercise When You’re Young, It’s Dangerous to Start When You’re Older

You are never too old to start exercising. In fact, exercise gets even more important with advancing age. Research shows that, no matter your age, you stand to gain significant improvements in strength, range of motion, balance, bone density and mental clarity through exercise. Ideally, you will have made exercise a regular part of your life long before you reach your “golden” years… but if you haven’t, there’s no better time to start than the present. Research has shown that regular exercise, even initiated late in life, offers profound health benefits.

For example, consider the following scientific studies:
•Even a small amount of exercise may protect the elderly from long-term memory loss and even help reverse some of the effects of aging.ii
•Women between the ages of 75 and 85, all of whom had reduced bone mass or full-blown osteoporosis, were able to lower their fall risk with strength training and agility activities.iii
•Moderate exercise among those aged 55 to 75 may cut the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, which increases heart disease and diabetes risk.iv
•Among those who started exercising at age 50 and continued for 10 years, the rate of premature death declined dramatically, similar to giving up smoking and mirroring the level as seen among people who had been working out their entire lives.v
•Exercise significantly improved muscle endurance and physical capacity among heart failure patients with an average age of 76.vi

My mother is a perfect example of how exercise can benefit the elderly. She began a workout program in 2010 while still recovering from a fall in 2009 in which she fractured both her shoulder and wrist. Exercise has been extremely helpful to her in regaining strength, balance, and flexibility.

COROLLARY to Myth #6: The Dreaded Spread is Inevitable

“Middle-age spread” is avoidable! People often DO gain weight as they move into middle age, but this is due to decreased activity, rather than an inevitable by-product of aging. Remember though that optimizing your weight is about 80 percent related to the foods you are eating.

If you aren’t engaging in regular exercise as you age, your muscles will atrophy, a phenomenon called sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss). The key to avoiding sarcopenia is challenging your muscles with appropriately intense exercise. Age-related muscle loss affects about 10 percent of people over 60, with higher rates with advancing age. This loss of muscle means you’ll burn fewer calories when both active and at rest, so your body composition tends to shift to less muscle and more fat.

The good news is that this dreaded spread can be prevented (or reversed) with a comprehensive fitness program that incorporates anaerobic exercise, core strengthening, resistance training, stretching, and of course good nutrition.

Seize the Day!

If you’re still on the fence about starting an exercise program, there’s no time like the present. I guarantee it will make a major difference in your energy level, self-esteem and probably your entire outlook on life. It is really THAT powerful, whether you’re 18 years old or 80!

It’s important to incorporate a wide variety of activities into your exercise routine, to provide comprehensive conditioning and prevent boredom. If you’ve been sedentary for any length of time or you’re out of shape for some other reason, then start slowly. One of the main reasons people don’t stick with an exercise routine is because they go too hard, too fast and wind up with an injury, illness or simple exhaustion.

For tips on getting started, I invite you to explore my fitness site, Mercola Peak Fitness, which is a treasure trove of exercise videos and articles. It’s a wonderful resource to help you become fitness savvy and make exercise a regular and enjoyable part of your life.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Food for Fat Loss™ – 30 Days To A Healthier Happier YOU

Hey Mate,

I hope this finds you better than ever. In light of a bunch of questions recently on when to take Athletic Greens, Athletic Greens and fat loss, food and fat loss, belly fat and fat loss, fat loss and fat loss, and Athletic Greens vs. “post workout powder xyz” I decided to rip this one out.

It has been by FAR the most popular article I have ever written, now completely updated.

Read it, do it and you can expect dramatic and EASY Fat Loss.

My take on FOOD for FAT LOSS and the idea behind Athletic Greens

Lets start with my direction for 95% plus of people on how and when to take Athletic Greens

Wake up, take 1 serving of Athletic Greens, ideally in water. Do this everyday. AND/OR take your serving of Athletic Greens immediately post workout (or depending on diet immediately prior to first meal of the day). For 95% of people, this is the be all and end all of how you take Athletic Greens

PLEASE NOTE: It is NOT a meal replacement. I am going to say that often.

The idea behind Athletic Greens, or “Why would you take Athletic Greens?”

You take Athletic Greens to get a huge wallop of food-sourced and readily absorbable micronutrients (and get them IN to your system) every day. They have been pre selected for efficacy, quality, and combined in optimal amounts for synergistic impact.

Eating (and absorbing) sufficient micronutrients is VITAL for every function in your body. If you are missing out on even one essential nutrient, your health suffers. We can survive for a long time, but thrive is a different story.

At the same time as providing those micronutrients Athletic Greens works on your body’s ability to absorb ALL nutrients by improving gut health.

Improving gut health = increased nutrient absorption + lower inflammation

Since you know we need those nutrients, and inflammation is the number one cause of disease, you can see why this is useful

Athletic Greens will also massively boost your immunity, detox (lightly) your liver, and do a host of other cool little things like give your brain a neurotransmitter boost, improve your body’s ability to withstand stress (via a host of adaptogens) and provide potent anti-oxidants aimed at improving cellular function and overall health.

Pure and simple, it is “Ultimate Nutritional Insurance™“

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Insurance against nutrient gaps in your diet

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Even if you eat “perfectly” – insurance against nutrient gaps in your available food quality

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Insurance against disease, toxicity, and immune suppression

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And importantly insurance against problems with your GI tract impacting on your health and your absorption of nutrients.

That is it. It is not a meal replacement (who still eats these? please eat FOOD), it is not designed to be taken only on “cheat days” – it was designed to give you a DAILY leg up nutrition wise with a view to optimum health, energy, longevity, and performance.

If you take it every day, it works. GI function will improve, micro-nutrient absorption will improve, immunity will improve, energy will improve. And yes, if you get those benefits in a row it will help with fat loss.

Over training, having your immunity depressed, feeling sick, gut health issues, post antibiotics, or about to go on a binge and eat a ton of stuff that is bad for you – all good times to up the dose dramatically – that is the other 5% of the recommendation.

But, that is not the “plan” – it is designed so that you take it EVERY day, and over time and in conjunction with smart eating, lifestyle and exercise choices you will look, feel, and perform better. You will also get sick a lot less often, improve health right down to the telomere level (the ends of your DNA strands, anti-oxidants have been shown to do this) and enjoy overall greater energy.

Ideally, all of these will make you happier. THAT is our goal with this product.

We are all running our lives. We are all athletes… Just at different levels.

Athletic Greens is there to help you take it the next level.

These are all very good things. But none of that makes Athletic Greens a replacement for actual food that you chew…

FOOD is FIRST.

I would love to say ‘you heard it here first’ but deep down I am sure you already know this. We both know it.

If we all accept that food is first, here are some simple rules for nutrition. If you do these, you will be happily ripped in no time. As a plus, you will also live longer, feel healthier, and have far lower incidence of disease.

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EAT for nutrient density

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EAT to improve gut absorption of nutrients

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EAT a macro nutrient profile that lends itself to improved body composition and less disease

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EAT sufficient quantity of quality food to deliver your body its macro and micro nutrient requirements

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DO NOT EAT anti-nutrients

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DO NOT EAT foods that harm you

There are some great eating programs out there, the Slow Carb Diet ® from The 4-Hour Body, the Beyond Diet program, I like them both, they work well and are especially good with a view to people just starting out and wanting compliance for the whole family.

They work, and with compliance people stick to them… so people get results.

Those results are reflected in how many people love and rave about those programs.

Having said that, here is my take on FOOD for FAT LOSS.

This is an all-out, no bullocks, 30-day plan “results guaranteed” way of eating. You won’t get hungry more than once or twice if you do it properly.

This is very, very easy. Note the words FOOD (that is what you will be eating, and the only thing you will be eating) and FAT LOSS – if you eat this way, and don’t change a thing; FAT LOSS is what will happen.

The Kiwi‘s take on FOOD for FAT LOSS ™… and Happiness.

You want to lose fat? REALLY lose fat? Then lets get it over and done with!

Here is my ONE RULE:

Make every meal a healthy sequence of Protein, Good Fats, and Non Starchy Veggies…

… In that order…

… And with NO exceptions.

Do this for 30 days (or 60, or forever, if you prefer), and get the bulk of your fat loss over and done with, quickly.

This ONE RULE, which automatically ensures a superior macro nutrient ratio for fat loss (and health) – has outstanding results with EVERYONE who tries it for the whole 30 days.

Kiwi! It can’t be that simple.

It is, but if you want the nitty-gritty, here is how it works:

1. Protein FIRST. Every meal, start by eating a clean, CHEWABLE quality source of protein. What do I mean?

Meat (preferably grass-fed), (non-farmed) fish, free range poultry, clean living or game meats, and free range eggs.

That is it.

Aim for a DAILY intake of 1 gram of protein per lb. of lean body weight or more. Yes, I really said that that, and yes, it is harder than it sounds.

Yes, it is so important it is going at number 1.

Break this protein intake over each of your daily meals (2 meals is ok, 3 meals is perfect and 4 is more than enough), and make getting in that quota of high quality animal sourced protein your priority at every meal.

Don’t like counting? (And I don’t like counting, so this is how I recommend you do it)

HOW I RECOMMEND YOU DO IT (the food order part)

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Eat your protein until you are about 75-80% of the way to satiety, check for fats, and fill up on veggies.

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That means eat the animal-sourced protein component of your meal until you are nearly full (about 75-80% of the way there)

2. Fat SECOND. After you get your real food protein down, ensure you are getting some healthy, quality, FATS at every meal.

“Good fats are your friend”.

If you cook in coconut oil, limit omega 6 intake, and eat nothing for protein but grass fed meat, wild caught fish such as salmon, anchovies, and sardines, game meats and wild fowl, and vegetables, you are probably good to go without any supplementation, additives, or tricks whatsoever.

Since this is nearly NO ONE who is chasing fat loss, everyone else needs to balance out their omega 3 to omega 6 ratios and reverse all the damage this imbalance has caused you, as fast as possible.

You are aiming for a 1:1 to 1:3 ratio of Omega 3s to Omega 6s which are our ancestral dietary norms and NOT what is happening with the bulk of the food you eat (you need a LOT more omega 3 and a lot LESS omega 6 to get this balance, trust me).

We do this two ways. 1) LIMIT Omega 6 intake FIRST and then 2) TOP up Omega 3 intake.

We also want to ensure that you are getting sufficient variety and quality in your good fat intake, and that these are coming from clean sources.

Other than the protein selection guides above, to top up Omega 3, do the following…

Take down some high quality fish oil with every meal. Work up to 2-3 grams of combined DHA/EPA per meal.

Daily amount as follows:

2-4 grams total EPA/DHA per day if you can see your abs even when sitting, never eat any grain fed meat, have no auto-immune or inflammatory issues, and none of your joints hurt, ever.

4-8 grams total EPA/DHA per day if you are carrying excess flab, any of your joints hurt, or you suffer any form of auto-immune or inflammatory disease. If you are anywhere in between, I recommend you build up, hold the slightly higher dose for four weeks, then go back down to 2-4 grams total EPA/DHA per day.

Divide your daily intake across your meals equally.

Trust me on this, it may take some working up to, but the results are outstanding. It will also help your BRAIN, and recent science suggests even the health of your telomeres (the “caps” on your DNA).

NOTE: Hold this dose for no more than four weeks, then DROP DOWN. Don’t make a big deal of this – this is an intervention – the FOCUS IS ON FOOD.

“What If I Can’t Get Grass-fed Meat?

Grain-Fed Meat

What about eating grain fed meat? Avoid it whenever budget and availability allow, those cows are unhealthy and have a messed up omega 3 to omega 6 ratio (omega 6 heavy, frequently higher than 1:20), but if you have limited options, eating grain fed ruminants is STILL BETTER than not eating this way. However, for Grain Fed meat go for the leanest cut you can (the fat on grain fed meat is BAD).

So cut the fat OFF grain fed meat, go for the leanest cuts.

To top up the fat content with CLEAN FATS (remember, we check for fats EVERY meal), add a tablespoon of one of the below.

CHECK FOR FATS: ADD 1 TABLESPOON OF THESE TO any meal that is not made up of Grass-fed meat, wild caught salmon, or game meats.

1. Grass-fed butter (the only dairy you will eat)

2. Organic Ghee

3. Coconut Oil

Or NUMBER 1: the rendered animal fat of a cleanly raised animal. Either because you bought it, or because you saved it from another cooking session where you cooked clean meat.

Some advise that you nibble away on almonds, macadamias, Brazil nuts or walnuts, but these can potentially increase your Omega 6 load (Macadamias, Brazil nuts and Macadamias the best of the nuts but remember that ratio) and potentially cause auto-immune issues, so personally, go for the other sources of fats given here, and limit total daily nut intake to half a handful of raw nuts per day, max. (Let’s call that “6 nuts per day” – no more).

Any meal that is made up of grass fed meat, wild game, wild salmon, anchovies, or sardines, you can skip the tablespoon of clean fats, since your meal will already provide you with them.

Feel free to leave the FAT ON when eating grass-fed ruminants or wild game. This is clean fat and GOOD FOR YOU, and very good for your fat loss.

For Cooking: Cook in coconut oil (low to high heat), grass-fed organic ghee, or in the animal’s own fat (or rendered lard from grass-fed animals, if you can find it). Those stuck with grain-fed meat, can cook in grass-fed butter if they want to.

Other than coconut oil (with impunity) and small amounts of olive oil (for flavor, if you cook with olive oil, LOW TEMP only) ALL OTHER VEGETABLE OILS are making you fat, inflamed, and unhealthy and they ARE BANNED FOR LIFE.

FAT SUMMARY:

1) Food quality is extremely important. Go for the clean cuts of meat and wild caught oily fish wherever you can find them/afford them, and you can chow down with the fat ON without even thinking about it. This is the BEST way to get your fats in your diet.

2) Next step on the ladder is to add in clean fats to your meal as required, normally in what you cook in.

3) Last step is the fish oil – NOTE: This slightly high dose fish oil approach is an INTERVENTION. It is designed to help you get rid of inflammation, start stripping fat and balance out your (likely horrible) current omega 3 to omega 6 ratio.

You hold this level for 30 days MAXIMUM at which point you will drop back and take from 2 to 4 grams of combined EPA/DHA from fish oil a day for the other health benefits.

MORE IS NOT BETTER. LONGER IS NOT BETTER.

Read this again: At the end of the 30 days at the higher dose, you must back right down.

Intervention means it is not forever.

3. Veggies THIRD.

Yes, third. Fill up (keep going until you achieve satiety) with green, nutrient dense vegetable choices.

You have eaten your animal sourced protein until you are 80% full. Checked for clean fats, and added if required. You took your fish oil…

NOW, for Part THREE – VEGGIES! – Just close out the meal and keep chomping until you are no longer hungry. You will get a TON of micronutrient goodness with very little calories, so seriously, eat away until you are nicely satisfied! Here are my favorites:

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Spinach

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Kale

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Broccoli

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Cabbage

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Baby Bok Choy

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Brussel Sprouts

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Asparagus

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Cauliflower

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String beans

Feel free to add your own.

You can do this as a stir-fry, steamed veggies, raw veggies, a big salad, a stew. Whatever makes you happy. Just watch sauces, olive oil and balsamic vinegar in small quantities are fine. Other than coconut oil, ALL other vegetable oils are banned.

Please make sure you cycle through the veggie choices, and don’t be afraid to add plenty more, variety rocks, and there can be too much of a good thing.

Tip: Cook with herbs and spices to add variety in nutrients and flavors to your cooking. There is no need to get bored.

What about carbs you ask?

My answer: This is about FAT LOSS, which generally implies that you have some form of METABOLIC DERANGEMENT and INSULIN ISSUES… so what about them?

Limit fruit, eat NO carbs at all other than those naturally occurring in your vegetable selection, and only drink sugar-free, unsweetened beverages.

This means water, tea, black coffee.

Sound extreme? Not really, extreme is forcing our bodies to survive on a diet that is freaking terrible for us.

The result, lots and lots of FAT, SICK, and MISERABLE people.

I am all about happiness, so please, don’t be one of them.

Oh yeah, this also means NEVER EVER – EVER – EAT GLUTEN.

Ancestrally, we didn’t eat any processed carbs, or even a carb heavy diet, and we sure as heck didn’t eat much, if any gluten.

The longer you go without by the way, the easier it is to get past any carb addiction.

Move your body over to this, our more ancestral and evolutionary format for eating and quite simply…. prepare to be amazed.

The nutrient density of a meal like this alone is a world away from a modern, nutrient starved, about to make you fat and miserable “meal”.

Note: Elite or very hard training athlete’s whose focus is on recovery (or fuel, in the case of endurance athletes) should take down some carbs post workout in the form of tubers. This equals yams, sweet potatoes, taro, yuca, and potentially a small amount of fruit. But this article is not about nutrition for you guys in season or training, this is about FAT LOSS.

Here is the FOOD for FAT LOSS Rule again.

Make every meal a healthy sequence of Protein, Good Fats, and Non Starchy Veggies…

…In that order…

… And with NO exceptions.

Nothing else. Do not eat anything else.

I repeat. If your goal is FAT LOSS, then for 30 days eat NOTHING ELSE.

This means for the 30 days…

NO CHEAT DAYS: Yep, no cheat days. You can have the odd OVER EATING day, but the rules for the food order and choices remain the same.

If you want to over eat one day a week, go for it!! Brazilian BBQ restaurants with a salad bar work a treat, as does a monster Thai “double” red chicken curry in coconut milk (ask them to hold adding sugar) and without the rice. Yummy.

NO GLUTEN: Remember the “no anti-nutrients” rule? Gluten is the king of anti-nutrients. So that means not today, not on a cheat day, not once in the next 30 days, and ideally not ever. You are welcome.

NO GRAINS, NO CEREALS and NO LEGUMES: Sorry, they are OUT for my version of the 30 day fat loss cure. While legumes are by far a “lessor evil” when compared to gluten, the anti-nutrient content (lignans, lectin, saponins) plus the carb content rules them out. All cereals and all grains out means no quinoa, no oats, no brown rice.

POST WORKOUT NUTRITION: see meal rules above, and Athletes note my comments. NOTHING changes if the primary goal is fat loss.

(Athletes already pretty lean who want to get a tiny bit leaner while not impacting training loads can add in some tubers and a small amount of fruit immediately post-workout. LIMIT fruit if you want to speed up the fat loss. If you are going to do fruit at all, or if you must blend any liquid meal, NOW is the time. Athletes who are serious about getting leaner should back off their training volume and adopt this eating strategy in full for 30 days, and get the fat loss over and done with)

NO JUICE: No juice, no juice…no juice. NOT ONCE.

NO DAIRY: including milk, cheese, whey protein, cottage cheese or anything else. Did you see ANY mention of dairy above other than grass-fed butter for people stuck with grain-fed meat? Nope. That is because it is not in your diet at all the next 30 days.

DO NOT HAVE LIQUID MEALS: if your goal is FAT LOSS. This includes ALL protein shakes, blending up a ton of veggies and or fruit in a blender, or any “meal replacement” products. These will cause insulin spikes, those spikes don’t help your fat loss one little bit. Blended is way better than juice, but even so, lets limit those insulin spikes for the next 30 days.

LIMIT FRUIT: to post work out only, one serving or less (on average) every second workout, until you are lean. Too much fructose will mess up the best of fat loss plans. Best choices are melons or berries.

Limit means exactly that. If you are seriously looking for fat loss I would be happiest if you ate NO FRUIT for the next 30 days.

NOTE: Your vegetables have ALL those wonderful anti-oxidants and nutrients as well, but without the fructose.

FRUCTOSE is the devil when it comes to Fat Loss – limit fruit!

SUPPLEMENTS: in total. Athletic Greens for insurance and gut health (as required), fish oil for Omega 3s and to combat inflammation, and Vitamin D3 if you are not getting enough sun. Anything else is surplus, and purely elective. Heck, ALL of them are elective. Food is FIRST remember.

HUNGER and CALORIE COUNTING: there is no calorie counting. If you do it right, there will be no hunger either.

Just eat when you are hungry, and stop when you are full, but ONLY eat according to the rule above. If a lack of appropriate food choices means you can’t eat for a few hours, pucker up mate and just hold on. You will thank me for it.

If it happens that you can’t find food that complies, just ENJOY the hunger, and when you can eat according to the rules, just make up for it in terms of volume.

Having this break from food intake won’t detrimentally harm your fat loss, or your muscle, or anything else. I promise.

That. Is. IT.

Woooohooooo!

Note: Just in case you are crying at the thought of what you CAN’T eat. Once you are ripped, you can start to play with the following:

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Having a small amount of fruit post workout on occasion

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Carbs in general post workout if your training necessitates it (tubers ideally, sometimes a bit of fruit, melons and berries the best)

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Nuts and seeds (but watch volume)

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Not worrying about having the odd meal where you go off the rails (a little, and if you are smart, NEVER gluten)

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Playing with Dairy a little – especially post workout if after MASS – and only if tolerated

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Playing with blended smoothies – if you must, again, post workout ideal

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Alcohol in moderation

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Cheat meals done right (more on this later)

But, until you are ripped… try this EXACT eating pattern and food choices for EVERY meal for 30 days.

This eating pattern puts Food Quality, Your Health, and FAT LOSS first… Crazy right? If you are carrying excess body fat, then it is something you should have done a long time ago. Now is your chance!

Exercise SMART. Lift weights with intensity 2-4 x per week, never more than 1 hour, and generally far less. Walk as often as you can. Sprint every now and again when orthopedically ready. It not orthopedically ready, work towards it aggressively with smart programming, since sprinting is your birthright and few things beat it in terms of quality exercise.

Spend more time on relaxation outdoors than you do now.

Focus on SLEEP (chase 8-9 hours plus in a blacked-out room), and getting 30-60 minutes of sun daily. If you don’t get enough sun, supplement with some Vitamin D3, and think about changing your lifestyle or moving.

If you do this FOOD for FAT LOSS plan, really truly do this, and don’t love me at the end of it… well, there is always a first time for everything.

“100% Focus on Happiness”

That is my mantra, and it starts with phenomenal health.

Best,

Chris “the Kiwi”

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Fat loss does NOT mean you have to go low carb! Yes, there are plenty of carbs that you should be running away from (and I mean run away screaming) but hey, that’s also the case with many proteins and fats. The real trick to fat loss is knowing which foods are the good and which are the bad in every category.

There are plenty of delicious and extremely healthy grains that are a perfect fit to your Beyond Diet healthy eating plan, such as rice. Today I’m going to fill you in on a super grain that has been all the rave these days (like if grains were celebrities, this one would be Taylor Swift). Introducing quinoa!

Seems like the only problem with quinoa is that nobody knows how to say it. Since its origins are in South America and my father is a native of Peru, I’m pretty positive that the pronunciation is “KEEN-wah.”

Nutritionally, quinoa can be considered a super grain, although it’s not really a grain, but the seed of a leafy plant that’s distantly related to spinach. Quinoa is incredibly high in protein (very unlike other grains), and is not missing the amino acid lysine, so the protein is more complete. Quinoa offers more iron than other grains and contains high levels of potassium and riboflavin, as well as other B vitamins: B6, niacin, and thiamin. It is also a good source of magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese, and has some folate (folic acid). A pretty awesome list of good qualities, don’t you think?

As I mentioned above, my father is originally from Peru and grew up in a small Incan village where quinoa was a staple of their everyday diet. When I went on a business trip to Connecticut one time, I left my 7-month-old son with my parents for two nights. I left the baby prepared with all his needs, one of which was breast milk I’d stored in preparation for the trip. My dad then shared an interesting fact about quinoa that I didn’t know. He said, “Did you know that in the villages of Peru, when a mother cannot breastfeed, they boil quinoa and use the water as milk for the baby?” According to my dad, those children grow healthy and strong. Wow! A true testament to the amount of nutrition that is available from this grain.

Now, for many of us, we’re not exactly trying to replace mother’s milk here, but we are trying to achieve our ideal weight and an increased level of health. So how does quinoa fit in there?

Since quinoa does not contain wheat or gluten, it is a perfect carbohydrate to include into your meal plans when you’re following the “no white” meal plans.

Quinoa is also very high in protein, and one of the great things about protein is that it keeps your blood sugar levels stable and makes you feel full longer (and nobody likes to be hungry, right?).

So where can you include quinoa into your weight loss and healthy meal plans? It’s actually a perfect fit into your breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Since I know some people are new to creating delicious meals with quinoa, I’ve compiled a whole book of quinoa recipes and want to give it to you, completely FREE, for being an amazing person.

Grab your Quinoa Recipe Book HERE – Yours completely free

I know you’re going to enjoy making these recipes for your entire family (there are some of my husband and kids’ favorites in here).

Download your Quinoa Recipe Book HERE

In health and happiness,

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Can Large-Scale Environmental Devastation Really Be Reversed?

Throughout centuries of farming, animal grazing and deforestation, the earth’s natural resources have been exhausted. Deserts are encroaching into previous lush areas and water is becoming alarmingly scarce.

Our soil is depleting 13% faster than it can be replaced, and we’ve lost 75% of the world’s crop varieties in just the last hundred years. Over a billion people in the world have no access to safe drinking water, while 80% of the world’s fresh water supply is used for agriculture.

Even from space, the visual scale of the destruction is both disheartening and sobering. Add to this travesty the fact that the world’s population is expanding by a billion people every 12 years.

On a photographic assignment of the 640,000-square-kilometer Loess Plateau in North-Central China in 1995, cameraman John Liu witnessed the ravaging effects of man’s ignorance and greed. But he was amazed to discover that the mindful, purposeful efforts of local Chinese residents had rehabilitated a stark desert area the size of the Netherlands into a lush, green oasis.

He wondered if similarly devastated landscapes had once been vistas of lush, thriving vegetation that include waterfalls, rainforests and fertile valleys – before several thousand years of exploitation had stripped the land of every natural resource.

The epiphany Liu experienced spawned his provocative film, Hope in a Changing Climate, which he posted on the Internet. You could say the results have gone viral …

‘What Happens When Humans Don’t Understand How Ecosystems Function?’

As Liu witnessed the negative trend being reversed around the Loess Plateau, he discovered that not only can damaged ecosystems be rehabilitated, and that similar remediation can restore other parts of the world, but that the pathway for accomplishing it is fairly simple.

But the first order of business is to understand how it happened in the first place. It often begins with several thousand years of relentless grazing of domestic animals on mountainous slopes until there’s nothing left but barren ground.

Rains that may have restored the land erode, carrying fertile topsoil down the hillsides, effectively removing any chance for new growth to emerge. On the Loess Plateau, millions of tons of powder-fine silt were swept down into the Yellow River, not only obstructing its flow, but causing massive flooding and the river’s new name: China’s Sorrow.

On his travels, Liu noticed the same scenario of cumulatively encroaching desert land where it had once been fertile.

“The lands are exhausted. They allow hundred of thousands of sheep and goats to walk across here, and any green thing that sticks up its head is food, and they’re just walking around here getting everything. Well, you can’t let them do that any more. They’ll have to stop… that’s what’s destroyed this area. If that doesn’t stop, you won’t be able to fix this.”

Greening the Desert – Can This Be Replicated in Other Parts of the World?

This same trend in Jordan prompted the government to take action. Working with civil engineers and scientists, Liu sectioned off areas to allow the land to rest for three years. In an amazingly short time, grass began to appear. A plant species last recorded in the 1800s and thought to be extinct emerged on its own.

“Grasses develop perennial root systems that spread, encouraging microbial communities living and growing in this microclimate that’s created,” Liu explained. “Then you won’t have direct sunlight hitting, and UV radiation sterilizing this microbiological habitat. Then, everything will change – you’ll have a cumulative situation where there’s always vegetation, organic matter and biodiversity.

“You can see the relationship between hydrology and vegetation and biological life. That’s the basis of the air and the natural water system. It’s how the atmosphere and the hydrological cycle were created and how they were constantly renewed. …If we emulate those and don’t disturb them, we can live in the Garden of Eden.”

Eden Restored: Strategy-Inspired Green Resurgence

Centuries of vitality-sapping farming in Ethiopia have destroyed nearly every inch of vegetation, leaving wide swaths of bone-dry desert. Heavy flooding has etched deep gullies into the land, sweeping topsoil downward and away with nothing to halt its progress. With not even a drop left for farmers to water their crops, their animals or themselves, the ensuing drought and famine has been catastrophic.

But in just 6 years, villagers have planted indigenous trees and vegetation, transforming the severely eroded terrain. Rainfall now absorbs into the ground, feeding a clear stream that flows year-round, aided by the cover of dense vegetation. This has saved the region from desert-induced annihilation and instilled hope for a future of continued sustainability.

A thousand miles north in Abraha Asfaha, another miraculous resurgence has taken place. Where five years previous, heat and wind had induced drought, a government program instigated relocation for local villagers, who were given permission to set aside and remediate the land as the Chinese had. Now, villagers find water at the bottom of their wells, in spite of poor rainfall.

“In the ravines they built small dams which are now fed by underground springs… Rain that fell weeks ago slowly seeps through the subsoil, replenishing the supply of water. ‘The land has become fertile again,’ the village chief reports. ‘There have been enormous improvements. Our fruit trees were shriveled up, but now they’re growing again. There’s even a larger number of species. Those are really positive results. We now have food security. Our children can go to school. We have a better life. We no longer need to ask the government for support, thanks to the changes that were implemented.'”

‘People aren’t thinking about this ecological function. They’re ignoring science…’

Studies focusing on the relationship between the soil, moisture and organic matter helped scientists, ecologists and engineers form strategies to produce other success stories, such as one in Rwanda, where over-farmed hillsides caused serious erosion. In a desperate gamble to grow more food, poor farmers drained the protected Regazi Wetlands. But not only did this damage the wetland’s fragile ecosystem and wildlife, as it began drying out, it impacted power stations downriver, including the hydroelectric power system in Rwanda’s capital city Kagali three hours south. The Rwandan government was forced to rent diesel power generators to remedy the situation.

In bringing back the wetlands, as well as restoring fertility to the villagers’ lands, those responsible for its demise were solicited to help. Today, carbon-free electricity is replacing the diesel generators, stabilizing electricity prices throughout the region. Rwandan President Paul Kagame:

“We had to take a careful look at what had been happening to damage it, this system, and how to reverse that with human action. And it’s important to understand how human actions can destroy, or reverse what has been destroyed (to) even protect our environment.”

Identifying the Goal: Is It Temporary Production or Ongoing Sustenance?

Liu contends that our source of wealth is a functional ecosystem, not the products derived from them.

“It’s impossible for the derivative to be more valuable than the source. … And yet, in our economy now, as it stands, the products and services have monetary values, but the source – the functional ecosystems – (have) zero. This cannot be true. It’s false! We’ve created a global economic institution based on a theory of flawed logic. Carry that flaw in logic from generation to generation, we compound the mistake. “We’ve only just begun to understand the real value of natural capital. Surely investing in the restoration of damaged environments is a cost-effective way of solving many of the problems we face today.”

But farmers the world over sometimes need convincing. The problem, Liu says, is that they usually believe “production” is the goal, when the crucial, pressing need is sustainability so that the entire planet can be functional. In 1995, Jordanian farmers scoffed at the suggestion that trees be planted in order to build a more sustainable agricultural platform. It was confusing at first, but the premise held that investing in the program would come to fruition, literally, in their own foreseeable future, with the promise of ongoing agricultural enrichment for upcoming generations.

It meant the area’s farming-and-grazing status quo had to stop temporarily, but homesteaders were financially compensated. As villagers headed up the mountains with shovels, their new objective was to create a “hat” of trees at the top, terraces to form a “belt” and “shoes” – the foundation of a constructed dam at the bottom. Hills and gullies were designated as protected “ecological zones.” And it worked.

Permaculture: The Art of Working With – Not Against – Nature

Geoff Lawton introduced the permaculture concept in Australia, where rebuilding functional ecosystems from the ground up restores them to their fullest potential. It can create an agricultural heartland even in the desert in as little as three-and-a-half years, and being fully self-sufficient year-round, cycling its own nutrients without the need for irrigation or artificial fertilizer.

“Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems (to) have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people — providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.”1

Lawton says there’s potential for abundance even in arid climates like Jordan’s Petra, now a stark shell of what was once thriving, known as “the land of milk and honey.” With its “ecological range of diversity and abundance, there’s potential for water flow, regional climate and microclimate moderation, completely different hydrology and the potential for well-designed productivity, (can lead) to permanence in human culture.”

Without restoration, the cycle of poverty continues to be passed down from generation to generation. When the trend is reversed, quality of life is improved, followed by improved diet, healthcare and educational opportunities.

Nature: NOT an ‘Enemy’ To Be Conquered or Manipulated…

In just the last ten years, 100 million tons of herbicides have been dumped onto our crops, polluting waterways and the soil where our food grows. A genetically engineered crop called “golden rice” has tainted the entire food industry throughout Asia, thanks to a sizable investment of cash from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which socked $20 billion into the enterprise.

Slash and burn agriculture, such as what’s done in Bolivia to make room for farming, involves burning ‘biomass’ – forests full of trees and fauna – for short-term monetary gain. But the most valuable commodity is being destroyed in the process destroying the most valuable thing in their system – the ability to help create biomass in other areas. It could create multiple industries in both areas and be mutually beneficial for everyone. Massive soy-growing plantations in Brazil are so dependent on the promise of economic wealth that local farmers are murdered and their lands confiscated, all to increase multi-nationally-owned soybean operations that decimated nearly 3 million acres of rainforest in just one year.2

Small- and Large-Scale Sustainability Practices – for Your Family, Community and the Globe

The life-giving effects of sustainability practices can be seen on several large scales now, but the principles are only as deep and complex as the soil. Compost feeds not just the plants, but the soil – or more specifically the soil organisms – is where 50 million genuses of bacteria and 50 million genuses of fungi thrive under the right conditions. According to Liu:

“Farmers in the Loess Plateau have continued to prosper, and the soil has been accumulating organic material from plants and animals. This holds the moisture and contains carbon… Living soils like this retain on average three times more carbon than the foliage above the ground. If we were to restore the vast area of the planet where we humans have degraded the soils, just think what an impact it would have in taking carbon out of the atmosphere.”

The entire Chinese continent has benefited from the lessons learned on the Loess Plateau. You can see it in the marketplaces, Liu says. Incomes have risen three-fold. We can make it happen here, as well.

The Ecosystem Isn’t Just Broken Over There… Look In Your Own Back Yard!

The tendency most of us have in so-called “developed” countries is to think those images of widespread ecological damage is far, far away and doesn’t involve us. But it does! Worse than simple farmers destroying the landscape through ignorance and tradition, the stripping and poisoning of our own natural resources is being done not unwittingy, but intentionally; not for the good of whole continents in the foreseeable future but for the financial profit of a few, now.

Perhaps you can’t do anything about that, and remedying those situations must be left to others. But you can make a difference now for yourself, for your family and community that might have residual effects.
•Growing your own vegetables is a growing concept for thousands of Americans. It can help you save money, involve everyone in the family and help create a store that can last through the winter.
•Organic gardening isn’t something extra you do – in fact it’s quite the opposite. It’s what you don’t do that makes the difference: no chemicals, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides on your plate! When you take control of what you eat, you’ll naturally enjoy better health, ensure and protecting future generations.
•Composting is another way to make what you already have work for you in the future. Save those scraps, from egg shells to coffee filters, and use them to feed your vegetable garden.

When shopping for food, be informed regarding where that food was produced. A guide to help you can be found by clicking here!

If you take advantage of the farm-fresh sustainability that’s becoming more prevalent as people take control of what they’re consuming, you’ll realize many benefits. First, you’ll know where the foods you and your family eat comes from, ensure optimal nutrition, and protect the health of future generations

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High blood pressure (BP) or hypertension is considered a high risk factor for heart attacks and strokes as well as kidney failure. Many have high BP, but most don’t know as it doesn’t usually have its own symptoms.

Blood pressure readings are in two sets of numbers. The top number, systolic pressure, indicates pressure on the artery walls when the heart beats. The lower number, diastolic pressure, shows the pressure on artery walls between heart beats.

A normal reading is 120/80. Above those numbers up to 140/90 is considered pre-hypertension while above 140/90 is hypertension. But people with normal health in the pre-hypertension zone are not considered at risk for strokes, heart, or kidney failure.

Those who are overweight or diabetic are more at risk with higher than normal BP. Over half of the high BP population is diabetic. Men are more likely to have high BP, and those who smoke and drink alcohol excessively are more likely to have high BP.

Pharmaceutical medications with decongestants, NSAIDs (non-steroid ant-inflammatory drugs), such as ibuprofen, steroids, birth control pills, and antidepressants are likely to raise blood pressure. Mainstream medicine considers salt/sodium consumption as a main factor of high BP.

But processed and fast foods account for over 80 percent of the sodium intake using toxic processed salt, mixed with other health damaging additives such as HFCS and trans-fatty acid oils, which are more responsible for causing high blood pressure than pure, unprocessed sea salt.

Foods that can help reduce high blood pressure
(1) Cayenne is in chili peppers. Using those with food is good for reducing blood pressure, even though it may not feel that way.

Herbal masters Dr. Christopher and Dr. Schulz recommend taking a teaspoon of at least 40,000 heat units of cayenne pepper powder mixed in water two times daily to support complete heart health and more.

(2) Hibiscus or Jamaica (hu-my-ca) tea on ice is well known as a refreshing beverage in the Caribbean islands, South America, and Mexico. It has been clinically proven to lower high BP. You can dowse the flame out of your mouth from cayenne with a Jamaica iced tea and double the benefits.

Dried hibiscus flower petals are used to make the tea. Some health food stores may have them. Stores specializing in Hispanic foods most likely will. Or you can order them online.

To prepare: Simply cover the bottom of a large pan thickly with the petals, then pour hot (not boiling) water over them. Cover and let it steep for a half hour. Strain while pouring into a glass container then refrigerate and use when desired.

(3) A Louisville medical center study found that snacking on raisins three times daily could reduce BP among those in a prehypertension group. Amazingly, they even used processed food snacks containing raisins. [2]

(4) The American Heart Association has discovered through research that eating three kiwis a day reduces BP.

(5) The American Chemical Society claims purple root vegetables, such as purple potatoes, have chemical properties that reduce BP.

(6) A Florida State University study found that watermelon lowers BP. In addition to watermelon’s potassium contribution, they found a specific amino acid that contributes to lowering BP. [2]

(7) Speaking of potassium, don’t forget to eat bananas. The Harvard Medical School reported a UK study that determined foods containing potassium nitrate were even better than supplements using potassium chloride for lowering BP.

(8) Hawthorne berries have both herbalists and mainstream medicos agreeing on its blood pressure lowering ability. Its tea has been a Chinese household heart tonic for centuries. If you can’t find a Chinese food specialty store, go online or use Hawthorne extract supplements. Details here (http://www.naturalnews.com/035685_hawthorn_berries_heart_health.html).

(9) We can’t forget chocolate, can we? It should be organic and dark or bittersweet without milk and with very little sugar. Yes, it has been researched; there are compounds in cacao that dilate blood vessels and lower blood pressure (http://www.naturalnews.com).

Sources for this article include:

[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.1in3people.com/facts/index.jsp

http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/dash-diet

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