Your Digestive Health – What is your body doing with the foods you eat?

I just returned from a week long visit with family. I got to spend some time with my brother who is only 1 year older than me.  My brother works hard running his business and has a wife and two children and doesn’t really take time for himself.  Although my brother is not overweight or obese, he complained that he’s starting to develop a “gut”.  He also told me that he pops TUMS like they’re candy from having heartburn and indigestition, and his energy levels are low.

The first thing I told my brother is that he needs to stop using over the counter Anti-acids as they will do more harm than good for his digestive system and immediately asked him what his diet was like.  Turns out my brother’s diet consists of simple carbohydrates from mostly white flour products and was lacking in many of the nutrients his body needs.  His main diet staples are, takeout/fast food, pizza, bagels, pasta, break and cereal.  Apples, berries, oats, brown rice, greens, healthy fats from nuts and fish, good sources of lean proteins were absent from his diet.  It was no wonder my brother was having digestive issues and lacking energy.

I realized that my brother was like most people who didn’t know what a simple carbohydrate was from a complex carbohydrate and didn’t really put much thought into what he was feeding his body with.  It’s not what you eat, it’s what your body does with the foods you eat.

All this white flour my brother was consuming was causing the yeast in these products to produce gas and bloating, indigestion..  Hence, acid reflux.

I then asked my brother if he was taking a multi-vitamin, to which his answer was no.  With that, I told my brother to put down the anti-acids and introduced him to digestive enzymes, probiotics and whole food vitamins. 

Digestive Enzymes

Digestive enzymes are naturally produced within your body. But sadly, there are far too many people whose enzyme stores become depleted for one reason or another. Then you can't digest your food optimally. The cycle of occasional bloating, indigestion, and other minor digestive issues begins.

To help introduce my brother to the world of natural health, I referred him to someone I reference a lot in my articles and research, Dr. Joseph Mercola.  I sat with him at his computer and showed him Dr. Mercola’s article on Digestive Enzymes to give him a better understanding of how his diet was affecting his digestive system. In the article, Dr. Mercola gives a quick quiz of symptoms and my brother answered yes to all.  

Check out the article about Dr. Mercola’s article about digestive enzymes and yes, I use them and have found them to be very beneficial for my high protein diet.  Benefits of Digesive Enzymes 

Whole Food Vitamin Supplements

I also recommended for my brother what I use and what I recommend for all my clients, a good quality Whole Food Multivitamin which will help him get the nutrients his body has been missing and help provide him with the energy he’s been lacking.

A Whole Food vitamin is very different from the synthetic vitamins you see in the stores.  Whole-food vitamin supplements are what their name suggests: Supplements made from concentrated whole foods.  Whole-food supplements supply our bodies with nutrients we are not getting from our diets—all the vitamins, minerals, trace minerals and phytonutrients that foods possess in a way that nature intended—in a whole-food form. 

These whole-food vitamins contain the synergists—cofactors—that exist within the whole-food complex. Without which, the body continues to be starved of micronutrients needed for healing, repair and prevention of illness.  Vitamin supplements (which are only PARTS of foods) contain only vitamins, leaving out these natural, life-supporting nutrients.

Basically, your body more easily absorbs whole-food vitamins and supplements over synthetic.  Whole-food supplements offer a concentrated source of nutrition, which includes vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, phytonutrients and enzymes to aid digestion and the list goes on and on. Whole-food supplements, in my opinion, are clearly the superior choice for supplemental nutrition.

Again, I referred my brother to Dr. Mercola’s site about Whole Food Vitamin Supplements for more information.  Here is the article about Whole Food Vitamin Supplements I referred my brother to. What are Whole Food Multivitamins and Minerals

After educating my brother about his diet, how it’s been affecting his health, helping him order the products I take and recommend from Dr. Mercola, he asked if I can do a supermarket tour with him so he would know exactly what foods he needed to buy in order to get on the right track.  Aahhh… nothing like some quality, Brother-Sister bonding all in the name of good health.

By the way, I checked in with my brother and he said he's starting to feel better :)

Click here to check out Dr. Mercola's Products. 

(note: the above links are sponsored links however, I do use these products, trust them and recommend them)


(disclaimer: Please note that I am not a doctor and not prescribing anything.  This is for informational purposes only.  You should always speak to a doctor to rule out any serious medical issues)

Weight Loss and Good Health Doesn't Come in a Pill

When it comes to weight loss and good health, everyone is looking for the quick fixthe magic pill.  If such a thing existed, someone would be incredibly wealthy and obesity would no longer be an issue. 

Want more proof that weight loss and good health doesn’t come in a magic pill? With most drugs, they treat the symptoms, not the cause.  According to scientists, anti-obesity drugs are unlikely to provide long lasting benefit.  Scientists at the University of Liverpool argue that anti-obesity drugs fail to provide lasting benefits for health and wellbeing because they tackle the biological consequences of obesity, and not the important psychological causes of overconsumption and weight gain.

Anti-obesity drug developers focus primarily on weight loss as their end goal, and do not take into consideration the motivational and behavioural factors that most commonly cause obesity. Obesity typically results from eating too much food combined with too sedentary a lifestyle. However, obese people may also have a complicated psychological relationship with food that makes it difficult for them to control their appetite sufficiently to manage their weight.

An anti-obesity drug cannot replace the health benefits of exercise.  An anti-obesity drug cannot teach you how to make better food choices.  An anti-obesity drug isn’t going to help ease the underlying causes of emotional eating. 

Anti-obesity drugs can work in different ways; for example, by suppressing appetite, altering metabolism or inhibiting the absorption of calories. There have, however, been serious concerns over the safety of the most commonly prescribed drugs, leading to the recent withdrawal of the European market leaders Sibutramine (Reductil, Meridia) and Rimonabant (Accomplia).

When patients are prescribed anti-obesity drugs, are the doctors referring them to a nutritionist to become more educated about food and caloric intake?  Probably not.  Are these patients being referred to fitness professionals to get a structured exercise program to help them burn calories and improve their health?  I think not.  Natural Health solutions are probably not discussed with an overweight patient prior to prescribing them an anti-obesity drug. 

In most cases, obesity and weight gain is due to poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle.  Then there are the psychological aspects towards eating such as emotional eating which can be addressed through therapy or hypnosis.  There is also what Dr. Brian Wansink, Ph.D refers to as “Mindless Eating” and talks about this a great length in his book, Mindless Eating.  And lastly, yes, there are some people who suffer from metabolic disorder. 

The key to weight loss and good health is so basic and simple for most people via good nutritional habits and exercise.  Calories in vs. calories out.  End of story.  We all know we need to do this in order to lose weight and become healthier yet, people tend to make this much more complicated than it needs to be.  Yes, weight loss will take time, and no, it’s not going to happen overnight.  Too many people find it difficult to be consistent and committed towards changing lifelong bad habits into lifelong good habits and give up too quickly and easily.  The rest of it lies within the subconscious mind and that’s where therapy or hypnosis can help. I have discussed this aspect in my article Struggling With Weight? You May be Getting In Your Way.  Being more mindful of what you are eating and how much you are eating can help get you more in control of consuming excess calories.

I’m not saying that anti-obesity drugs don’t have their place.  They do, provided the causes of obesity are addressed and not just treating the effect.

Reference: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100316112448.htm

Let The Revolution Begin!

A revolution has begun amongst those of us who are health and fitness advocates, and celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver is leading the way with his new ABC Show called “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution”. 

Admittedly, I don’t watch television.  However, I do feel that this is quality television that is worth my time and everyone else’s time to be watching. For those of you who have been asleep about the obesity epidemic amongst adults and children, this show certainly is a wake up call to our nation.

The premiere episode takes place in Huntington, WV, which is reported to be the unhealthiest city in America.  Jamie is on a mission to help educate the town about how their poor lifestyle choices are affecting the town’s health, and the importance of eating a healthy diet and how to prepare healthy meals.

The Revolution is met with resistance

Jamie is not received very well in the town.  In fact, he is met with a lot of resistance; basically viewing him as if he were their enemy.  It’s so sad to see a town that already knows that their poor lifestyle habits have placed them on the map as “the unhealthiest city in America” have this kind of reaction.  I couldn’t help but ask myself why are these people so reluctant to change and improve their health?  Why do they look at Jamie Oliver as their enemy?  Why are they being so resistant? 

Hate to say this, but Huntington, WV is just like any other city in America.  People are resistant to change.  It’s hard and it takes work.  People know they shouldn’t be eating the junk they eat and yet continue doing so despite any current health problems or health risks.

Jamie, who has an abundance of resources at his disposal, certainly is fighting an uphill battle with the people of Huntington.  Watching the walls and red tape that he encounters and his charge to lead the way to overcome those obstacles is inspiring to someone like me who is trying to help spread the same message.   

The Edwards Family

One subject that the show touches on, but not in much depth is child obesity.  Jamie befriends The Edwards Family and meets their teenage son, Justin.  Justin and Jamie bond immediately as Justin sees Jamie as someone who can help him and wants help.  Justin confides to Jamie that he’s tired of being heavy and bullied by the other kids at school about his weight.  If you watch closely enough to the episode, it is very clear that overweight kids know they are overweight and desperately want help.  They want to learn how to improve their health and lose weight. 

Jamie shows the Edwards family just how unhealthy the foods they eat are.  The mother of the family, Stacie Edwards, becomes tearful and emotional when she becomes aware that what she is feeding her family has no nutritional value and that she is putting their health and their future at risk.  Jamie buys them a week’s worth of healthy groceries, teaches them how to cook and provides them with healthy recipies they can cook.  Unfortunately, when Jamie returns to visit the family a week later, he is suspicious that they went back to their unhealthy eating habits.

School Lunches

The school nutritional regulations are atrocious and make no sense.  The schools feed the kids the most unhealthy, processed foods.  Making the switch over to feeding the children more healthy and nutritious meals shockingly doesn’t meet school nutritional guidelines.  The red tape and regulations are killing our kids.  The sad truth is that for many kids, the only meal they get is their school lunch.  I guess that explains why kids will eat something they know is gross and bad for them, simply because they are hungry.

Getting kids to eat healthier is not impossible, however, as Jamie experienced, you really need to get the parents and schools on the same page about nutrition as ultimately, we are the ones feeding our children and teaching them about foods, nutrition and health.

Visit Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution site and join the revolution! http://www.jamieoliver.com/

To get an idea of what kids are being fed in schools, check out this clip from the show.

Avoid This Food For a Lean Body

Guest Blogger Jamin Thompson
Author - The 6 Pack Secret

If there's anyone who knows about 6 Pack Abs, it's my friend, Jamin Thompson and his picture surely proves it. 

The timing of this article couldn't have been more perfect.  One of my clients recently discovered rice cakes and he was eating several of them a day thinking that these made for a great healthy, low calorie snack.  Years ago, I too had the same misconception about these. 

My friend and colleague, Jamin, recently wrote an article about rice cakes and I am proud to share his article on FitTalkNews as a guest blogger.

Enjoy ~

I was sitting here today thinking to myself, what's the very worst food you can eat if you're trying to lose weight, burn fat, tone up, etc?

One food that is often eaten by dieters, but ironically works against them in losing weight is rice cakes. Yes rice cakes! You are probably eating one right now thinking that you are burning fat and toning right up! Yes, rice cakes are relatively low in calories, but the real downside is that they spike blood sugar and insulin levels.

This is not what you want if you are looking to lose weight, burn fat, or tone up! If you are on a weight loss diet, fat loss diet, etc, your main goal should be to slow the digestion and release of carbohydrate into the blood and to try and controlling blood sugar. This is a critical element of any nutrition program. Amazingly, rice cakes increase blood sugar levels by 50 percent more than eating an equal amount of table sugar!


Rice cakes and other foods that result in rapid digestion and release of sugar into the blood promote overeating, obesity, insulin resistance, and other metabolic disturbances contributing to disease. Have you noticed that with every rice cake you eat, you may feel hungrier and hungrier by the bite?


The glycemic index is a measure of how a given food affects blood-glucose levels, with each food being assigned a numbered rating. The lower the rating, the slower the absorption and digestion process, which provides a more gradual, healthier infusion of sugars into the bloodstream.


On the other hand, a high rating means that blood-glucose levels are increased quickly, which stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin to drop blood-sugar levels. These rapid fluctuations of blood-sugar levels are not healthy because of the stress they place on the body.


One of sugar's major drawbacks is that it raises the insulin level, which inhibits the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system and shuts down the fat burning hormones. This is not something you want to take place if your goals are to become healthy, lose fat, and tone up.


An influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body's blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep blood-sugar at a constant and safe level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so that when you eat sweets high in sugar, or rice cakes for instance, you're making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which have been linked to cardiovascular disease and increased weight gain.


Complex carbohydrates tend to be absorbed more slowly, lessening the impact on blood-sugar levels. An example of a complex carbohydrate with a slow digestion process is plain oatmeal. In contrast, keeping blood sugar in check is associated with improved weight and fat loss, decreased appetite, and reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer.

TIP: Only consume rice cakes post workout when your body is primed to absorb and use the sugar for growth and recovery.

Jamin Thompson
Author
6PackSecret


Click Here! to visit Jamin Thompson at his site

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (VIDEO): First Graders Can't Identify Fruits, Veggies

Jamie Oliver walks into a first grade classroom, up to a table display that is draped with a sheet. As he pulls the sheet up to reveal piles of fruits and vegetables underneath, you can hear gasps of horror ripple through the classroom.


This image sets the scene for his newest series, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution , in which the celebrity chef (of The Naked Chef fame) aims to subvert America's ingrained eating habits. He starts out in Huntington, West Virginia, which has been called the unhealthiest city in America, hoping for a food revolution there that will create a chain reaction across the nation.


Oliver tests the waters with the first graders by seeing how well they know their fruits and vegetables. "Who knows what this is?" Oliver asks, holding up a bunch of tomatoes.


WATCH to see how they fare:





Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution premieres on Friday, March 26, on ABC.


This clip certainly demonstrates just how nutritionally uneducated we are.  It's sad that many parents do not have access to feed their children healthy, nutritious fruits and vegetables and many children have never seen a fresh fruit or vegetable.  Michelle Obama made reference to Food Deserts in her Let's Move Campaign. 


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.


Ask yourself, can your child identify a group of tomatoes if he/she saw one?  Although I don't have children, I know I will be watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution series with great interest.


Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/26/jamie-olivers-food-revolu_n_478824.html

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.  

What Defines a Nutritionist?

Written by guest blogger Amanda Clary


Although the standards for licensed nutritionists vary from state to state, most states have specific certification requirements and licenses for nutritionists.  Nevertheless, this doesn't stop some unscrupulous “nutritionists” from calling themselves a nutritionist, despite the fact that they have no formal education or training. Usually, these individuals adhere to a certain theory of diet that they advocate to their clients.


Some people selling supplements or offering questionable dietary advice call themselves a nutritionist but do not hold any type of certification.


Alternatively, they may hold a “certificate” from a “professional organization” that is generally not considered reputable in the world of dietetics and nutrition (the AACN is one example of such an organization).


In some states, there are legal consequences to calling oneself a nutritionist without proper certification. But how do you know if you are practicing within the scope of the law or outside of it?


All states have a different view of what a certified nutritionist is and what the scope of their practice should be. Despite the specific differences, the general idea is mostly the same.
Therefore, we'll use the state of North Carolina to examine what constitutes the practice of a certified nutritionist, and what falls outside that definition.


In North Carolina, a certified nutritionist:
* Evaluates and maintains standards in food and nutrition services
* Assesses the nutritional needs of groups and of individuals
* Helps groups and individuals meet dietary goals and objectives, while meeting nutritional needs
* Provides disease counseling from the point of view of diet/nutrition
* Develops and manages nutrition care systems
What falls outside of their scope of practice?
* Selling vitamins or other retail food/supplement items
* Offering nutritional advice not based on current information or scientific principles
* Presenting controversial information without acknowledging that there are legitimate differences of opinion
* Influencing a client towards certain services or products that may indicate a conflict of interest
In the state of North Carolina, practicing nutrition outside the boundaries of official nutritionist certification can lead to conviction of a misdemeanor crime.


At best, the nutritionist who has violated the state's rules will face a probationary period in which the state monitors their activities. At worst, a nutritionist may be permanently prevented from practicing in the nutrition/dietetics field in the state. Considering that forty-eight of fifty states have similar requirements, you should check your qualifications carefully to see if they meet state statutes before advertising your services as a nutritionist.


About the Author
Amanda Clary writes a non commercial blog focused on her experience on helping her family and friends to eat healthy. She is a "Nutritionist for Hobby" and writes on the nutrition training blog to help people learn how to get certified and learn all the aspects related to this job (Skills, requisites, everyday problems, upgrading, etc...).

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.