Hey Ladies, Got Muscle????

Seem like many women have been asking me the same question this past week.  How do I get rid of the flab.  How do I tone up?  The picture above is me.  I'm lean and I do have muscle, however, I'm not as lean and muscular as some of my physique athlete competitors.  That's OK.  I'm no longer looking to do figure competition. At the age of 46, my goal is to be as healthy and physically fit as possible.


Getting back to the question that keeps popping up, in order to get rid of the flab and "tone up", you need to not spend as much time doing cardio/aerobics and spend more time in the weight room at the gym, and I'm not talking about the Nautalus or Cybex machines.  You need to hit the iron.  Dumbbells, Barbells and Cable. 

If you are using dumbbells, let's say for example you're doing bicep curls with 5 lb dumbells and you've been knocking out  15 - 20 reps of those, you're not building muscle.  Actually, you're not doing much of anything.  It's time to move on.  Don't be afraid to get aggressive with the weights.  Pick up a set of 10 lb dumbbells and if you're still able to do 15 reps easily with those, go for the 15 pounders.  You should be doing 10 -12 reps.  You should feel a burn and fatigue.  That's working the muscle.  To get muscle, you need to build it and to build it, you need to get aggressive with the weights.


Then the next comment I hear is, "but I'm afraid I'll get big and bulky".  No you won't.  That's the biggest myth out there.  We don't have testosterone.  We're not going to get big and bulky and I can assure you, you won't look like a female bodybuilder either.


Muscle is metabolic.  Muscle burns fat.  Strength training increases the metabolism 72 hours after exercise unlike cardio.


The other thing you need to remember to do is EAT.  Women tend to eat a diet high in carbohydrates and don't eat enough protein.  You should be having protein with every meal and never eat a carbohydrate without a protein. 


The easiest, most convenient way to get protein in your diet is with a protein shake.  You can supplement your diet with these by having one as a mid morning snack and be sure to have one after your workouts to help your body recover from the workout.  My protein supplement of choice is Eat Smart.



iSatori EatSmart, 30 Servings, Strawberry Cheesecake




Next time you're at the gym, remember to hit the iron to build a beautiful, sleek,body.

Get in the Best Shape of Your Life with James Villepigue

Listen to my FitTalk Show Interview with James Villepigue

  James Villepigue

www.jamesvillepigue.com

www.bodybyjames.com

www.alphamalechallenge.com

A few weeks ago, I was on the phone with James Villepigue and he said to me “the best workout is the one you’re not currently on”.  Think about those words and the truth behind those words.

This is something James would know about.  James has been involved in the health and fitness industries for over 20 years. With one million copies of James’ books sold, he has helped many hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world—of all ages and from all walks of life—achieve extraordinary results to their body’s & their lives.

If you’re looking to sculpt your perfect body regardless if you’re new to fitness, a pro, male or female, James Villepigue’s Body Sculpting Bible series of books, The Body Sculpting Bible for Women and The Body Sculpting Bible for Men will help take you to your next fitness level.  The Body Sculpting bible books provide not only a great workout program, but also a diet that will help you shed those stubborn unwanted pounds or give you the body of a physique athlete. His Body Sculpting Bible franchise has been revered as one of the most successful fitness book lines in history.

James also co-authored the best selling book, Alpha Male Challenge, which was recently featured on FitTalk with his co-author, Mr. Rick Collins.  The Alpha Male Challenge is aimed at restoring men to true Alpha Male status – a state of optimum physical, professional, mental and social performance. This challenge is more than just a diet and workout program for men.  It’s a mindset.

I recently had James Villepigue as a guest on my FitTalk Show to talk about his books and how to they can help you get in the best shape of your life.

Weight struggles and an eating disorder

James was overweight as a child and spoke very candidly about it and how it affected him.  He was bullied and made fun of.  He developed an eating disorder and become bulimic for several years simply because he didn’t know any better.  You don’t generally think of boys/men having an eating disorder, let alone, bulimia.  James was losing a lot of weight in a short period of time.  He went from 270 lbs down to 135 lbs in a year.  He was sickly.  People thought he was doing drugs because he was so skinny.  James had had it with being heavy.  He hated being disrespected and being mistreated by not only his peers, but adults and teachers who were treating him differently from other kids who were athletes, in good shape or average.  In the eyes of other people, James was below average.

Through his experience as an overweight child, James identifies with the current child obesity crisis.  “It’s so sad.  Kids are going through this all the time.  We have an epidemic in the country not just with adults, but with children being obese.” 

Fortunately, James turned himself around and began losing weight in a safe manner.  This is what spawned his passion.  He wanted to help people.  He began to read, got certified as a trainer and went to school.

The Body Sculpting Bible

James went on to create The Body Sculpting Bible series of books.  The Body Sculpting Bible books are based on periodization training.  This is a training style that elite athletes were doing and not something the mainstream knew about.  Although the Body Sculpting Bible is a 14 day program, please don’t think that it’s a quick fix and that you’ll be in shape in 14 days. 

Periodization training is scaled up or down in the way of time.  James changes the routine every 14 days to prevent the body from adaptations and keeping the results flowing.

Weight loss and the subconscious mind

You want to be aware of resistance against weight loss self sabotage.   Be aware of your thoughts on a consistent basis.  It’s easy for the negative thoughts to sneak in and dictate where your day goes.  When you have negative thoughts, you’re directing your subconscious mind to continue on that path. If you change those thoughts to positive ones, you’re directing the subconscious mind to continue in that direction.  The subconscious mind controls your behavior.  James recommends that you map out your wants, your goals and why.  Be specific about weight loss.  I want to lose body fat.  I want to lose 10 lbs in 30 days.  Don’t just say you want to lose weight.

5 Muscular Tiers of Training

James says there are 5 muscular tiers of training that work together.  They are Resistance Training, Cardio Training, Nutrition & Supplementation, Rest & Recovery, and Mental Mindset.  These 5 pieces are crucial in order to obtain the results you expect. 

What you want to do is create a well-oiled machine which will create amazing results provided you don’t cut yourself short.  If you ate perfectly, don’t blow off your training that day or vice versa.  As for rest, you may get only 4 hours of sleep and think that you’ll be fine in the morning.  By doing that, you’re not allowing your body to recover from the workout.

When you throw your body out of whack, you will halt your results.  When you have the 5 Muscular Tiers in balance, then you have a well-oiled machine that is working efficiently and it’s a no-fail type of plan.

The Zone Tone

The mind directs our bodies.  When you’re mindless when you’re training not focused on what you’re doing with every rep and set of your workout, you’re losing energy and not getting the results you should be getting.

Zone Tone teaches you to really make the mind-muscle connection.  Over the years, James has been teaching people this through meditation, visualization, and mental imagery.  By doing this, it has helped people become more aware of the various muscles in their bodies.  Teaching people how to contract those muscles, so that when they go to the gym, they would be able to compound their efforts 5 times more had they not known how to contract the muscle.  When they were in the gym doing a specific exercise for a specific muscle, they would know exactly what to feel.

Have a Plan of Action

Most people who walk into the gym have no idea what they’re going to be doing.  They have no plan of action.  As James describes it, it’s like getting in a car in New York and saying you’re going to drive to California and just winging it.  You may get somewhere, but not to California, and if you do get to California, it may be a long, long, time from now.  When you got to the gym and you wing your workouts, how can you expect to reach your destination to achieve your goal if you don’t really know what it is and how to get there?

James maps out your plan of action in his books, The Body Sculpting Bible and Alpha Male Challenge.  Everything is mapped out for you so from the moment you walk into the gym you know exactly what you’re going to do when you hit the gym.  Follow  the workout, do it, be done, train with focus and intensity. 

Changing up your workouts

If you have been following the same workout program for more than three months and have made no changes to it and continue doing the same exercise, with t he same weights, same reps, etc., your body won’t change.  Making changes to your workout will not only give you better results, but will make a yawn, ho hum workout into one that is not only challenging, but fun.

All of the workouts in James Villepigue’s books not only give you a plan of action, but change so that you are challenged and you will get maximum results.

The Truth About Stretching

Some people say that stretching is unnecessary.  Some people think you should stretch before you workout. Some people say you should stretch after your workout.  I asked James to help set the record straight about stretching. 

Stretching is essential.  Before a workout, your muscles are like taking a rubber band out of the freezer.  They’re not as flexible or pliable.  Before your workout it’s important to get your muscles warmed up and more pliable, however, it’s not necessarily done through a static stretch.  The problem with a static stretch is that if you’re trying to stretch a cold muscle, you can injure yourself.  With a static stretch, you’re also sending a signal to the muscle telling it to relax.  So if you do this before a workout, will your muscles perform at optimum levels?  Probably not.  James recommends doing a dynamic warm up before your workout bringing blood and nutrients into the muscle.  Save the static stretching after the workout when the muscles are more pliable and resilliant.

Alpha Male Challenge

When Rick Collins and James Villepigue teamed up to create the Alpha Male Challenge, they wanted to create something that was tips from the tops in the industry.  Not just a book that says “this works”.  They brought the premiere experts in exercise science, psychology, nutrition, etc., to give their stamp of approval on this book saying “yes, this works and here’s why.”

The Alpha Male Challenge is not only innovative, but revolutionary. The plan provides 27 individual workouts in 10 weeks.  They created a 60/20/20 training principle which they call Alpha Waves.  One wave is allocated to building muscle, 60%, while 20% is directed to strength and 20% to power.  As you move into the next Alpha Wave a few weeks later, 60% is allocated to building strength, 20% towards power and 20% to preserve the muscle you worked to build.  You’re always building and preserving what you did.  

The workouts have plyometric, strength building, muscular building, and muscular endurance exercises.  The workouts don’t make you just all show.  They make you show and go, go, go, so you don’t just look the part, you cant the part.

Is the Alpha Male Extinct?

Testosterone levels of American men have been on the decline over the past 10 years.  Our fathers and grandfathers were physiologically more manly than today’s man.  Studies on this had brought about a “call to action” by the authors of this book, James Villepigue and Rick Collins. 

Let’s face it, men want to be manly.  The Alpha Male is NOT the stereotype that the media created.  He is not a bully or a club wielding man who abuses women or takes advantage of others to get ahead.  James and Rick define what a “True Alpha” is.  So what is a “True Alpha Male?”  It’s a man who has respect, who is a leader among leaders, who doesn’t need to abuse or take advantage of other to get ahead.

The book has attitudinal training such as how to build confidence, chivalry, resilience and empathy.  Men forget how to be men, particularly with the whole metro-sexual trend that was going on. 

Men need to increase and maintain their testosterone.  Testosterone is the hormone that makes men, “men”, and it affects men physically as well as psychologically and a lot of people don’t recognize that.  It doesn’t mean that you’re going to be an aggressive or overly dominant male.  If men want to be in better shape, or a better mood, they need to maintain or increase their Testosterone levels which is done naturally.

Nutrition for the Alpha Man and Woman

Like your workouts, if you really want to be on top of your nutrition, you need to have a plan of action.  You really should be preparing your foods for the week ahead.  By doing this, you’ll stay out of trouble eating the wrong things.  Yes, this does take work and not only will this keep you out of trouble, it will help you eat more frequently throughout the day to make your metabolism more efficient. 

You want to eat every 2 ½ - 3 hours to avoid running on empty and slowing doing your metabolism.  A lot of people are stressed, short on time, and end up eating one big meal at night, and by doing that, you are basically sending a signal to your brain that you’re in starvation mode.  Your body, in an attempt to protect itself from starving, is going to slow down your metabolism.  The last thing you want to do is have 1 big meal which causes an insulin rush or spike of blood sugar in your body and ultimately, your body is going to lay down more body fat.  The idea is to feed your body quality nutrients throughout the day so that your body is running more efficiently and you’re not sending the wrong signals to your brain.

James provided a simple tip when it comes to eating.  In the morning, eat like a king; in the afternoon, eat like a prince; in the evening, eat like a papuer.

You can also eat according to your activity level.  If you know you’re going to be active, eat more carbohydrates 3 hours later.  If you know you’re going to be sedentary, eat more protein 3 hours later.

Alpha Male Diet

The Alpha Male Diet is more stylized towards a Paleolithic diet which means you’re eating as if it were 10,000 years ago  before agriculture set in.  This is the way our bodies were designed to eat.  Lean meats, fish, berries, nuts, etc.  With the introduction of agriculture, over the years, we’ve been bringing all these cereal grains, high fructose corn syrup and sugar into our bodies and that’s when obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease started coming about.

The Alpha Male Challenge talks about the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 ratio – carbs to protein to fat.  Making sure you’re getting the right quality of these foods and eating them in the right timing which is important for losing body fat, building lean muscle and getting in the best shape of your life.

Putting it all together  – The 5 Muscular Tiers

If you walk into the gym with your plan of action  your workout, and you really put your mind into it and really work your muscles with each exercise, giving it everything you got, and properly fueling your body with the right nutrients, non only pre and post workout, but throughout the day, allow proper rest and recovery, you can’t help but build lean muscle and burn body fat, look better, feel better and be healthier.

For more Alpha Male Challenge check out my Is The Alpha Male Extinct? interview with co-author Rick Collins 

 I've done the Body Sculpting Bible Program and The Alpha Male Challenge Program and got great results with both programs.  Ladies, although the Alpha Male program is written for men, don't let that stop you.  

Strong Kids Healthy Kids with Fredrick Hahn

 Listen to my Blog Talk Radio Interview with Fred Hahn on FitTalk




Fredrick Hahn
Strong Kids, Healthy Kids 
Serious Strength.com
During the past four decades, obesity rates have soared among all age groups, increasing more than four-fold among children ages 6 to 11. Today, nearly a third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. That’s more than 23 million kids and teenagers. 

If we don’t act to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic, we’re in danger of raising the first generation of children who may live sicker and die younger than the generation before them. Preventing obesity during childhood is critical, because habits that last into adulthood frequently are formed during youth. Research shows that an obese older teenager has up to an 80 percent chance of becoming an obese adult.

This is a topic I’ve been wanting to talk about for a while, and I had the pleasure of having Fredrick Hahn, author of the best selling book, Strong Kids, Healthy Kids on my FitTalk show. 

Fred Hahn shatters the current ideas behind the child obesity epidemic and offers a simple and powerful solution to make your child strong, more athletic, healthy, lean and powerful. Fred has been a professional trainer for over two decades and is certified by the American Council on Exercise. He is the founder and head of the renowned personal training studio Serious Strength, Inc. and has been working with kids in his Mighty Tykes and Teens Program for the past seven years. He has been interviewed by Dr. Mehmet OZ and Bob Greene on Oprah and Friends, The Today Show, CNN, WABC-TV, and featured in Allure, Family Circle, Woman’s World and Time Out New York just to name a scant few. He blogs for the Huffington Post and is a featured contributor to the Nutrition and Metabolism Society.

Inactivity isn't the cluprit

The information being given about child obesity isn't scientifically sound.  The common idea that adolescent obesity is caused by eating too much fat and being sedentary is false.  Fred explained that it's not a lack of activity.  Often, TV, video games and such are blamed for the problem, but we don't blame reading books, practicing musical instruments, and building toy models.  We've latched on to a concept that is faulty because it sounds as if its true, when science and research tell us it's not.

"Overfat" children aren't overfat because they are inactive.  Research shows that overfat children are just as active as their leaner counterparts.

Fred uses the term "overfat" rather than "obese" when talking about overweight children.  This means that the child has too much body fat for his/her body size.

So what's really causing obesity?
One of the biggest contributors to child obesity is diet.  The biggest problem is that children, as well as adults, are consuming more sugar than ever and aren’t aware of the amount of hidden sugars they are getting in their diet.  

What really matters is not necessarily how many calories a child eats, (although to some degree it does matter), but the TYPES of calories your child is eating.  According to Fred, children are eating too many carbohydrates which increases the total blood sugar in your body.  If you have too much blood sugar in your body, then the body has to secrete a large amount of insulin in order to deal with that blood sugar.

Insulin and body fat

Fred explained that some people's bodies in response to what is a glucose challenge - meaning - having a lot of sugar roaming the body that has to be put into the cells - are insulin insensitive.  Here's the problem.  While insulin's main role is to regulate blood sugar, one of it's other main roles is to store body fat.  When you put a lot of carbohydrates into a child's body, and that child happens to be less insulin sensitive another, that child's body will store more of the calories taken in as body fat rather than be use as energy.

More carbs convert to more insulin you secrete – over time more insulin insensitive you become because there’s so much insulin being secreted, little be little in some children, as well as adults, they become obese because the body doesn’t know what to do with all the insulin, which in turn, causes the body to store calories as body fat rather than use it as fuel.  That’s why children who have a propensity to this, an hour later, say they’re hungry again.

Strength Training for Children

One thing I have always been an advocate of is strength training which Fred is.   You’re never too young or too old to strength train, however, I think when it comes to children, there’s a lot of misinformation out there about it.

Strength training is one of the most potent and powerful modalities of exercise for a child.  You can improve a child’s strength, bone density, muscle mass and athletic performance.  Strength training also improves your child’s resistance to injury when engaging in sports.

In his book, Strong Kids, Healthy Kids, Fred dispels the myth that strength training stunts a child’s growth.  This is absolutely false.  Impact forces can impair growth plates by breaking or damaging a bone.  You can’t play sports gently in a low force manner, however, you can lift weights in a low force manner while at the same time, build strength, bone density and muscle mass.  Strength training for children is recommended by several prominent organizations provided it is supervised and performed in a slow and controlled fashion - 5 seconds to lift the weight and 5 seconds to lower the weight.

How much time should a child strength train?

If you are a non athlete (not participating in sports), a minimum of two 20 minute strength training sessions per week is recommended.  For athletic kids, you’re better off having them strength train once a week for 20-30 minutes.  The reason for this is that the benefits of strength training comes when you’re resting.  Recovery is really when you’re gaining the benefits of lifting so that when your child is ready for the next session, he will be stronger and will be able to lift more weight.  Progressive strength training over time is what makes a child stronger and stronger.

Is your child ready to strength train?

The appropriate age for a child to strength train is more psychological than it is physiological.  For example, if a child is old enough to take instruction and pay attention to what you are explaining to them, than they’re good to go.

Fred used his daughters as an example.  He has two daughters.  One of them took to strength training at the age of 6, while the other daughter, at the age of 8 thinks the whole thing is silly.  Psychologically, she’s not ready.  She may be at the age of 10.

Making strength training a fun, positive experience

Fred suggests that you engage in the activity with your child.  Let your child see you doing push ups or sit ups and let them see you enjoy it.  With younger children, rather than count to five, you can say whatever their favorite characters are, so you can say, “Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man”.

Yes, your child will adapt to strength training.  Kids love their bodies and they love the concept that they are stronger, better, can run faster, etc.  You’re only doing this for 20/30 min twice a week so it’s not like it’s lasting long and you’re boring them.

The book will help you become your child’s personal trainer that will instill a good, healthy, habit for life.  Strong Kids, Healthy Kids, provides parents with all the  information they need on how to set up an exercise program for their child from “Choosing the Right Weight”, “upping the ante”, a list of basic exercises, and photos of children performing the exercise. 

Nutrition for you and your children

Fred recommends a a nutrient rich diet consisting of “real foods”.  What are “real foods”?  Anything that has ever walked, crawled, flew or swam, such as beef, chicken, fish, etc., or has grown in the ground naturally that you can pick and eat.

You can’t walk onto a wheat field, grab a few stalks of wheat and eat it.  If you have to refine or process it, then it’s a food you should avoid or eat very little of if at all.  On the other hand, you don’t need to do anything to an orange, apple, green bean, etc.

This type of eating is Paleolithic meaning that if you went back 1,000 years ago, foods were eaten in their natural state.

Today’s current food pyramid promotes carbohydrates as the main staple of food.  This is wrong.  The main staple of what we should be eating are real food choices such as meats, fish, poultry being your staple and seasonal fruits and vegetables.

High Fructose Corn Syrup – A Neurological Nightmare on Health Street

High Fructose Corn Syrup is something I have written about in my blogs.  It’s in everything and it’s making us fat.  Fred refers to it as a “Neurological Nightmare on Health Street.”  In just about anything and everything we eat, from condiments, salad dressing, sodas, fruit juice, breakfast bars; you name it, if it comes in a wrapper, can or box, it contains high fructose corn syrup.  It makes everything sweeter.  Your child is so exposed to High Fructose Corn Syrup that when he/she eats a piece of fruit, it won’t be taste as sweet and makes everything else taste like cardboard.  What is happening is that you lose your taste for what is sweet enough.  Your body becomes addicted to sugar – the quick fuel source.  It also wreaks habit on what we spoke of earlier, insulin sensitivity or the lack of. 

You really need to get in the habit of reading the ingredient labels.  If a product contains high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup or fructose, put it back on the shelf. 

Your children will want to know what happened to their favorite snacks and beverages when you start to replace them with healthier choices.  Fred says, rather than telling your children they can’t have it anymore, you want to educate your children.  Explain to them that you found out that it makes “your blood sad” and that this will make it better.  Kids are like sponges when it comes to learning things, particularly when it comes to their bodies. 

By the way, when you eat real foods, they don’t contain high fructose corn syrup.

Water, Water, Water

Strong Kids Healthy Kids goes into extensive detail about the importance of water.  For most children, their intake of liquids comes from sugary drinks like juices and sodas and barely any water.  The body needs a certain amount of hydration in order to function optimally.

Your child’s blood is 90% water, brain is 85% water, muscle is 75% water, skin is 71% water, bone is 30% water and body fat is 15% water. 

Fred and I recommend that you give your child water with some lemon, lime or orange in it for flavoring or you can get flavored sparkling water. 

The book also contains kid-ready recipes that are quick, easy and simple to make helping to take out some of the guess work about what type of food to prepare for your family.

Fred’s take away message:

I asked Fred what is the one message you really want to get through to people.  Here is his answer.  “Take the time to do your best to feed your child real food.  That is above and beyond exercise, although exercise is an important component, it isn’t any where nearly as important as feeding your children real food.  If you can do a kitchen/pantry makeover, get rid of the breakfast cereals, the grains and sugar.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner should be meats (beef, fish, chicken, etc.).  Proteins and healthy fats.  Give your child a healthy breakfast rather than feed them a box of cereal.

100,000 years ago we were eating real foods and that’s what we need to be putting on our children’s plates today.  Health problems are from feeding kids un-real foods.

We are what our bodies do with what we eat.

If you wish to contact Fred, he can be reached via e-mail at fhan@seriousstrength.com

Disclaimer: Please note, Fredrick Hahn is not a doctor.  This information is intended for children who are considered healthy by their physicians.  It is not intended to treat children who suffer from metabolic abnormalities or diseases that are known to cause or contribute to weakness or obesity.  Although the information in this interview  will help any child, always consult with the appropriate physician for advice and guidance.  Always consult an appropriate and qualified physician prior to beginning any exercise or diet program for your child.

Child Obesity Takes Center Stage

With Child Obesity in the national spotlight, this is an ideal opportunity to talk about some of the issues concerning it. 

It’s not baby fat, it’s obesity

According to an article published in the February, 2010 journal Clinical Pediatrics, research suggests that the "tipping point" in obesity often occurs before two years of age, and sometimes as early as three months, when the child is learning how much and what to eat.  The Clinical Pediatrics study suggests obesity prevention efforts should begin before age two, when children reach a "tipping point" in a progression that leads to obesity later in life.  This study indicates that we may need to discuss inappropriate weight gain early in infancy to affect meaningful changes in the current trend of obesity.

What could possibly be causing obesity in infants?  Could it be that they are being fed more calories than they need?  Food is given to crying babies to comfort and quiet them. For instance, if a baby is crying, a new mother’s instinct is to give her baby a bottle thinking it is hungry when perhaps it isn’t. 

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar

Perhaps baby food has evolved over the years becoming more and more processed containing corn syrup and more sugar?  No doubt more and more children are exposed to processed foods, snacks, fast foods and ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup over the past 10-20 years.  Do parents even bother to look at the fine print of ingredients in a product they are feeding their children?

NOW is the time to act

I’m not going to regurgitate all the child obesity statistics.  This is an issue about health. We know that today’s children are overweight, and that they are dealing with diseases that were once known as “adult diseases”. 

It is up to as a parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to take action now.  Children eat what we feed them and it’s up to us to stop feeding them fast food, sugary snacks and junk food. Get active with children.  Take them to the park to the playground, or go skating with them, play tennis, etc.  The list of activities you can you can DO with children are endless.

The Let’s Move Campaign

This past week, First Lady, Michelle Obama, launched her Let’s Move Campaign to help solve the child obesity epidemic.   This is certainly a step in the right direction to stop talking about the issue, but to take action and do something to help solve the problem. As a Fitness Professional/Natural Health Advocate, I applaud Michelle Obama for helping to bring SOLUTIONS to Child Obesity.

The Let's Move campaign has 4 Pillars.

1st Pillar-Helping parents make healthy family choices.  Parents need the tools to make it easier to understand how to help their kids stay healthy. Many parents know certain foods are bad for their kids, but don't know the solutions.

Children learn from the choices they see adults make.  If children see parents enjoying nutritious foods and physical activity, they’re more likely to do the same.   With greater understanding and opportunities for good nutrition and physical activity, parents can take simple steps so busy families can live healthier lives.

• Empowering Consumers - By the end of the year, the Food and Drug Administration will begin working with retailers and manufacturers to adopt new nutritionally sound and consumer friendly front-of-package labeling to provide 65 million parents in America and other caregivers with easy access to the information they need to make healthy choices for their children.

2^nd Pillar – Healthier Schools - Many children consume at least half of their daily calories at school. As families work to ensure our kids eat right and have active play at home, we also need to ensure our kids have access to healthy meals in their schools. With more than 31 million children participating in the National School Lunch Program and more than 11 million participating in the National School Breakfast Program, good nutrition at school is more important than ever. Let’s move to get healthier food in our nation’s schools.

·            Healthier US Schools Challenge Program establishes rigorous standards for schools’ food quality, participation in meal programs, physical activity, and nutrition education – the key components that make for healthy and active kids – and provides recognition for schools that meet these standards.

3^rd Pillar – Physical Activity - Children need 60 minutes of active and vigorous play every day to grow up to a healthy weight.(source) If this sounds like a lot, consider that 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 ½ hours to using entertainment media including TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies  in a typical day, and only a third of high school students get the recommended levels of physical activity. 

4^th Pillar - Accessing Healthy & Affordable Food - More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile from a supermarket. These communities, where access to affordable, quality, and nutritious foods is limited, are known as food deserts.  Lack of access to proper nutrition is one reason why many children are not eating the recommended levels of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Another issue is that healthier food choices are more expensive than unhealthy, cheap, processed junk foods.  As part of the President’s proposed FY 2011 budget, the Administration announced a new program – the Healthy Food Financing Initiative -- a partnership between the U.S. Departments of Treasury, Agriculture and Health and Human Services which will invest $400 million a year to provide innovative financing to bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help places such as convenience stores and bodegas carry healthier food options.  Grants will also help bring farmers markets and fresh foods into underserved communities, boosting both family health and local economies.  Through these initiatives and private sector engagement, the Administration will work to eliminate food deserts across the country within seven years.

If you are a parent, doctor, fitness professional, health advocate, check out the Let's Move website http://www.letsmove.gov/index.html and let’s do our part to ACT NOW and help make a difference to improve the health of our children.  This affects not only our children’s future, but our future and the future of our country.  

Sources:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100211121832.htm

http://www.letsmove.gov

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/09/obama.child.obesity/index.html

Another New Year's Resolution

Another year has come and gone and another New Year is before us.  Hundreds of thousands of people are feeling the effects of another holiday season of too much over indulgence and too little exercise.  Hundreds of thousands of people are yet again, making another New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. 

If you are one of the many who is yet again, making weight loss your New Year’s Resolution, ask yourself why you find yourself with the same goal at the start of every year.  Why will this year be different from all the others?

Don’t think of it as a New Year’s Resolution.  That phrase in itself has a negative connotation and doesn’t sound long term.  New Year’s Resolutions have a built in bad reputation for failure.  Their life spans are short, goals never quite reached.  I would suggest that you look at it from a different perspective.  Don’t call it a New Year’s Resolution.  It’s a proposal to YOURSELF, a life long commitment to YOU,

Everyone starts off motivated with good intentions of weight loss success, but they fall off the path somewhere.  Why?  What are the excuses that stopped you   in the past?  Have you really taken the time to sit down with a pen and paper and write down why your previous efforts didn’t succeed?  If you were to do that, you would get a good understanding of where your efforts got derailed and ask yourself what you could do differently this time around to prevent that from happening again.

Establishing good habits take time.  They don’t happen overnight.  The things you do habitually require no thought and they are actions you perform consistently day after day.  The same concept applies towards exercising on a consistent basis and improving your nutrition.

My diet and exercise habits didn’t develop overnight and it wasn’t easy in the beginning.  It was a conscious effort.  My nutritional habits are second nature to me now.  It requires no effort for me to avoid foods that aren’t nutrient rich. 

When it comes to exercise, a lot of people will come up with excuses as to why they don’t.  The number one excuse most people have is that they don’t have time.  I had the opportunity to interview Tom Venuto on my FitTalk Show and when we discussed the “I don’t have the time” excuse, Tom’s response to that was, "you have all the time in the world. You have the same time everyone else has. Twenty four hours in a day. The same amount of time as Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Warren Buffet and The President." What you haven't done is taken the time to sit down and prioritize your life - put health as a high priority.”

If time is an issue for you, one of the best ways to maximize your time and your efforts is to walk into the gym with a “game plan”.  There are thousands of workout programs out there and fitness professionals such as myself who can create a game plan for you.  When you walk into the gym knowing exactly what it is you need to do, i.e., what exercises, how many sets, how many reps, your workouts will be more focused and you won’t be wasting time trying to think about what to do next.  Your workouts will have a purpose.  Having a “game plan” will help keep you motivated to complete the workout you walked into the gym with.

Most programs are 3 months, 12 weeks, 90 days.  Once you have chosen a program, (book, e-book, fitness professional or an on line service such as the one I provide), commit yourself to the length of the program.  Set aside an appointment with yourself at the same time 3-4 days per week.  By doing this, you are creating a habit.  If you can stick to a 90 day program, you are on your way towards making exercise part of your lifestyle.

If you want to get a great e-book, I highly recommend Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat program.  I provide a personalized on-line services much like my in person client’s get. 

The next component is your nutrition.  I never refer to it as a “diet”.  Following a “diet” is never long term, or a lifestyle.  “Diets” tend to be quick fixes and most people have difficulty sticking to a “diet”.  What you want to do is think of yourself as making better food choices and it can be a gradual process so you don’t feel like you’re depriving yourself or going through withdrawals that some foods can cause once you suddenly omit them from your diet.

In order to make better food choices, you need to be aware of your current food choices.  This suggestion is nothing new; however, it’s tried and true.  Keep a food journal. Make an effort for 1 week to write down everything you eat and drink.  This will make you more aware of what you eat. 

When you find yourself snacking, be aware if you’re snacking in front of the TV, computer, etc.  Rather than bring a bag or container with you to your desk, living room, etc., put a single serving in a bowl and eat only the serving in the bowl.  Better yet, substitute the snack for a better choice such an apple with a handful of nuts. 

If you are a soda drinker, and you notice that you are having at least 1 can of soda a day, rather than quit soda cold turkey, try cutting back on the amount of sodas you drink per week.  That’s one simple change that can help make a difference.  Over time, you will be able to give up soda. (Regular and diet are both bad for you).

When you look at foods, ask yourself if the choice you’re making has any nutritional value.  Are the foods you eating have ingredients you can’t pronounce or is it in its natural state (i.e., fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, chicken, etc.).  Just like your workouts, if you stick with making better, nutritional food choices for 90 days, you will develop new habits that will get you closer to your weight loss goals.  Another tip, if you prepare your meals in advance and carry them with you, it will help you avoid eating foods that aren’t in line with your goals.

Finally, you want to build muscle and burn fat.  Like anything else, it’s a process.  There is no quick fix.  No magic pill.  If there was, obesity wouldn’t be an issue.  Also, the results you get are what you put into it as a lifestyle.  Just as being fit and healthy is a lifestyle choice, being unfit and overweight is a lifestyle choice too.

Here’s to a lifetime of good health through better nutrition and an active, fit, body.

Recommended resources

 Tom Venuto Burn The Fat E-Book

ShariFitness On Line Personal Training & Coaching

Law of Attraction and Health

Your Health, Fitness and the Laws of Attraction

The world is a crazy place and we are all being inundated with negativity these days through the media. Every day all you hear about is the economic crisis, job layoffs, government bailouts of huge corporations, rising gas prices, and home foreclosures. Perhaps you may or may not be one of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by these events. The news and the current times are scary, depressing and stressful and these events can put you as an individual into a negative vibration where you will be attracting negativity into your life.

It doesn’t have to be this way and this is the time to look at this as an opportunity to reinvent yourself. Well, one way to do that is to get “clear” on what it is you really want and to dig deep inside of what it is you are passionate about and what your purpose is to create your reality, the life you want.

What do I mean by reinventing yourself. Let’s say you’re unemployed and you’re feeling bad about it on so many different levels and you are home all the time, feeling lazy physically and mentally. You’re not able to think clearly and see this as a time of opportunity. This country was built on entrepreneurs because they were able to see opportunity and stay in a positive mindset. Now is the time to pursue your passion.

Here’s a true story. I have a very close friend of mine whose wife divorced him and a month later lost his job last year and spent the year trying to find work through traditional methods. To help get himself through this difficult time, he went to the gym every day and always stayed in a positive frame of mind and his health and fitness was the best it had ever been in his 40+ years. My friend never found a job, and the unemployment ran out, but you know what, he reinvented himself. From spending time in the gym and getting to know the people who worked there, he found his passion and saw an opportunity. He became a fitness professional and is now employed. This also allows him to pursue his other passion as an actor and model.

You really need to get “clear” and let go of all limiting beliefs which causes resistance. Your Temple, the precious human body, and it’s health, fitness and wellness is at the core or center of getting clear within yourself of what your passion and or purpose is. If your health, fitness and wellness is not up to par, it becomes difficult to get “clear” of what it is you want and attract the things you want.

Poor health or self image makes it hard to feel positive about things because you feel so bad physically and emotionally. If you are lethargic all the time, feeling unmotivated or unproductive because your energy levels are low, it makes it hard to focus and concentrate on the things you really want. If you look at yourself in the mirror and are not happy with the image you see, it affects your self-confidence making you feel you are unworthy of things. Your mind is cluttered with negativity.

Exercise releases “endorphins” which is a chemical in the brain that is responsible for putting you in a positive mood. It’s almost as if you’ve taken a “happy” pill. Another chemical that is released from exercise is Serotonin which helps combat depression.

The foods you eat can impact the way you feel. Foods that are processed and are high in sodium and fats can make you feel sluggish and bloated or can cause heartburn or indigestion in some cases turning us into “couch potatoes”. When you start to feel bad physically, in turn, you feel bad emotionally and mentally, which again, does not put you in a positive frequency. There are simple things you can do such as reaching for an apple instead of chips.

You talk to just about anyone out there, next to wanting to be financially abundant, the number one thing people want to is to lose weight, feel better and look better. But when you talk to people and ask them what they are doing about it, chances are they aren’t doing much of anything. And it’s not like they don’t know what it is they have to do to make improvements in this area. When you ask them why they aren’t doing anything to make the improvements they want, they will come up with all kinds of excuses. The excuses are forms of RESISTANCE. No body truly desires to be overweight, obese, lethargic, sick. Yet, we all know that being sedentary, sitting on the couch in front of the “plug in drug” with a bag of chips or getting your next meal from the drive thru of your nearest burger chain, is only going to continue to contribute to weight gain and a decline in your overall health, fitness and wellness. So why do people RESIST making better food choices or getting off the couch and exercising? Because it’s easier to stay in your holding pattern. To not step outside your comfort zone. It’s comfortable and familiar even though you know deep down it’s wrong and it’s not what you want.

Getting started isn’t easy, but once you get started, you’ll start to feel better. You’re not going to see results overnight, but mentally you will start to feel better and if you are feeling better mentally, that will put you in a positive vibration. It doesn’t have to be anything complicated. The simple act of getting outside and walking or running is a good starting point or doing simple bodyweight exercises that require no equipment. I know when I’m exercising, it’s almost like a form of meditation for me and I start getting inspired thought which gets me clear and focused on what I want. As a matter of fact, I recently got an inspired thought and I am once again reinventing myself within my profession and I am sooooo excited about it that my clients are feeding off my excitement and enthusiasm.

When you start feeling better physically and emotionally, you start to feel better mentally. You are more confident, happy, energetic and people are drawn to that “feel good” energy. You are able to get “clear” of the things you really want making it easier to attract the things you want through the people you interact with and take inspired action. Aaahhhh, inspired action. How refreshing. Actually doing something about what you want as opposed to just talking about it. Not living your life as a “what if”. And it all started with something as simple as taking care of YOUR Temple, your precious human body.