Mental Attitude for Training, The Mind, Body & Spirit.

Mental Attitude for training.

To get the best out of your training every time you prepare to train, make sure you have cleared your mind of all the negative.

Having a clear mind and letting go of daily stress will help you preform better in your training session. 





We've all heard that stress is one of the leading causes for heart attack and stroke but many of us never really think about what else it's doing to our bodies. Just because your heart is functioning as it should does not mean you are not effected by the stress.

Stress produces cortisol and cortisol helps fat stay right where it's at and locks up fat loss. Stress also causes hypertension, and elevated blood pressure especially during resistance exercise is very dangerous.

Recent studies have also shown that stress reduces the production of ATP within the Mitochondria of the cells and limits your anaerobic endurance. Reduced levels of ATP will make your training session a real struggle. Cortisol also slows down the healing process and can bring on symptoms of over-training and cause disruptive sleep patterns making it even more difficult to train properly.

So when you walk into the gym make sure you take a moment and clear your head of daily stress and focus on the job at hand.

The truth be told, the stress you created is all in your head and only you can allow it to consume you or LET IT GO!

I highly recommend reading a book by Dr. Wayne Dyer entitled,
"There's a Spiritual Solution for Every Problem". This book has nothing to do with religion, it simply tells you how to let go of the stress that is effecting your life.

Remember being fit in the gym is just 1/3 of being totally fit. Remember to exercise the mind and spirit as well. You are only as strong as your weakest link.

The Danges of Soy

The Dangers of Soy Protein.

There is so much confusing information about Soy many think it's a great food source, then there are those that know the truth about this toxic food. Please read the following article and think twice before eating anymore soy products.

Soy Danger #1:
Hidden Toxins That Make You Store MORE Belly Fat

EVERY living organism in nature has some sort of defense mechanism.

While animals use obvious weapons like claws and teeth to survive, certain plants like soy use special toxins that are linked to several health problems, which can potentially screw up your hormones.

Here are 6 examples…

Natural toxins: Impair your digestive system.

Phytates: Prevent you from absorbing certain minerals.

Enzyme inhibitors: Hinder protein digestion.

Goitrogens: Interfere with your thyroid function and metabolism.

Phytoestrogens (Isoflavones): Genistein and daidzein, which mimic the fat storing hormone estrogen. They're also shown to increase your risks of hypothyroidism by 3 fold. (1)

Haemaggluttin: Causes red blood cells to clump together and inhibits oxygen uptake and growth.

Now you can probably see why Asians have been using a process called "fermentation" for years now. It gets rid of most of the anti-nutrients, allergens and hormone-disrupting compounds found in raw soy beans.

But in North America, no one seems to care! And companies carelessly put hormone-disrupting raw soy in soymilk, soybean oil, soy patties and tofu – which increases fat storage, drains your energy, and HARMS your body.

Soy Danger #2:

Genetic Modification That DESTROYS Your Digestive Health & Immune System

What you may, or may NOT know, is that 93% of the soy grown in the US has been genetically modified by the food giant Monsanto.

You might be downplaying this like it's no big deal, but researchers have discovered that the Bt toxin inside GMO soy that's supposed to repel bugs accumulates inside your gut, slowly leaching TOXIC pesticides into your body. (2)

In fact, latest statistics show this dangerous and fattening toxin can be found in the gut of 93% of pregnant women and 80% of unborn babies... (3)

(It's no wonder GMO foods have been banned from several countries now, even though the FDA does NOTHING about it...)

Soy Danger #3:

Heavy Chemical Processing That Harms Your Body and Ages You FASTER...

Soybean oil, soy protein and other popular forms that are touted as "healthy" are all heavily processed, which presents ALL kinds of problems.

Here's why: natural plant oils inside soy plants are very fragile, so they instantly become damaged and inflammatory the second they're exposed to heat, oxygen, or even sunlight.

That's why soy products contain so many inflammatory compounds like trans-4-hydroxy-2-hexenal (HNE), a byproduct that SPEEDS up the aging process.
This same compound is found in large amounts inside the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease. (4)

And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse: many soy products are processed and extracted with hexane, a dangerous byproduct of gasoline refining.

Soybeans are left soaking in a toxic hexane bath for hours one end in order to squeeze every tiny bit of oil possible. After that, the hexane is completely removed by evaporation.

At least that's what is supposed to happen. In reality, studies by the EPA clearly show that hexane can still be found in soybean oil and isolated soy protein. (5)
That's because the FDA doesn't bother setting a maximum residue level in soy foods for dangerous chemicals like hexane, which means it could be very harmful for you and your family.

The Need for Vitamin D

The Need for Vitamin D

Unless you are out in the sun on regular basis, adequate amounts of Vitamin D can be hard to come by. This is mostly due to the fact that it is more difficult to get this vitamin from the diet than it is to get adequate amounts if, say, calcium or iron. This is because there are very few dietary source of it to be had, fish like salmon being one of the best ways to get it. Vitamin D is often added to products like milk and many people use Vitamin D supplements, but absorption of this nutrient can also be a problem. So it’s important to know what signs of Vitamin D deficiency to look for. These are examined below.

Muscle Weakness

Since adequate amounts of Vitamin D are needed for the development and maintenance of muscles, then muscle weakness can be one of the signs that you are lacking in the this nutrient, especially if you have not made any changes to your diet or exercise regimen to otherwise account for this.

Depression

While depression has many possible causes, there have been many studies linking this emotional disorder with inadequate levels of Vitamin D. According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, women in particular are more vulnerable to depression with this lack.

Pain

If you find yourself chronically achy or sore without any apparent reason for it, this could be another sign that you are Vitamin D-deficient. It appears that the link between lack of this nutrient and chronic pain is particularly strong in those of African American descent.

Brittle Bones

Vitamin D is needed for bone growth and strength and, without it, bones can become brittle. This can put you at a much greater risk for fractures – in fact, it can more than double your risk if your vitamin levels are particularly low.

High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is a common problem in America and it puts those who suffer from it at a great risk for heart attacks and strokes. While the cause is not known, several studies have uncovered a link between Vitamin D deficiency and elevated blood pressure.

Sleepiness

Vitamin D deficiency also appears to affect your sleep cycles and in the Journal of Clinical Sleep, a study was published in 2012 that found a correlation between low Vitamin D levels and increased frequency of daytime sleepiness.

Irritability

If you feel grouchy most days and have no reason to be, this might also be because of insufficient Vitamin D. Deficiencies in Vitamin D can affect the levels of serotonin in your brain – and serotonin is one of the hormones that heavily influences the mood.
If these symptoms match what you have been experiencing, it might be a good idea to go into your doctor or practitioner and voice your concerns. Bloodwork can reveal if your Vitamin D levels are adequate and from there, you and your physician can come up with a plan of care to help you improve your levels if needed.

1 Set for Muscle Growth! Was Mike Metnzer Wrong???

Was Mike Mentzer Wrong?

The 1 Set for Muscle Growth Debate



The late Mike Mentzer was a modern-day philosopher; he was an outside-the-box thinker and went against the traditional bodybuilding of performing high-volume exercise. Heavy Duty Training was Mentzer's first book, in which he detailed the principles of high-intensity weight training. Weight training, he insisted, had to be brief, infrequent, and intense, in order to attain the best results in the shortest amount of time.

Mentzer's early 1990 Heavy Duty Training program involved 7-9 sets per workout on a three-day-per-week schedule. He ultimately modified that routine until most of his clients were doing only 2-5 sets per workout and training once every four to eight days. One former Mentzer pupil reports doing 1 set per week, with the whole body trained by only three movements over three weeks. To this day, bodybuilders and trainers are still debating: is 1 set to maximum failure enough for muscle growth, or do bodybuilders need more?

Interesting, when talking to Dorian Yates about this, he told us he did fewer sets than most people, but he did more than 1 set per body part. Dorian is a high-intensity disciple, as he does a few warm-up sets of the exercise in a pyramid fashion, and then he goes directly into his heavy set; after 1 heavy set, he would move to another exercise.

Dorian also believed that after you have annihilated that muscle after 1 set to absolute failure, there was no need to do another set. An interesting quote Dorian shared was, “I have great genetics; I think high-volume exercise would have made me a great bodybuilder, but it was high-intensity principles that allowed me to achieve the Olympia crown six years in a row!”

So was Mentzer's theory of doing few sets for muscle growth infrequently correct? It seems like there is confusion, as some bodybuilders swear by the high-volume principles and there are others like Branch Warren who live and die by high-intensity exercise. So what does the research suggest?

Well, first, if you examine the impact of 1 set verses multiple sets for strength there is some controversy. In some studies, no significant difference between single and multiple sets has been observed.1,2,3 However, evidence from a number of more recent studies supports greater strength gains with multiple sets.4,5 However, a recent meta-analysis (i.e., a sum collection of all the studies) reported that training with multiple sets yielded a 46 percent greater gain in strength, compared to single sets.6

Although studies examining strength gains have shown multiple sets to be better for strength gains than single sets, the verdict for single versus multiple sets for muscle growth has been unclear. Some studies have shown greater hypertrophy with multiple sets,7 whereas others have not.8,9 So was Mentzer correct in that all that was needed is 1 set to maximum failure for muscle growth?

Single versus Multiple Sets for Muscle Growth Scrutinized...

In the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, a meta-analysis was performed to examine the sum of all the literature on single versus multiple sets for muscle growth. Researchers wanted to examine if single sets were as effective as multiple sets for muscle growth, after examining the previous studies published. When all the studies were calculated, there was a 40 percent greater gain in muscle mass with multiple sets, compared to single sets.

Although single sets did result in an increase in muscle hypertrophy, multiple sets resulted in a greater effect size. The author hypothesized that protein synthesis responds in a similar manner to the number of sets (i.e., an increasing response as the number of sets are increased, until a plateau is reached), although he mentioned that there is there is no research examining this.

Very interestingly, he reported that there was a trend. The response appeared as to how many sets yield the greatest impact on muscle hypertrophy started to level off around 4-6 sets, as the difference between 2-3 sets and 4-6 sets was smaller than the difference between 1 set and 2-3 sets. So the study suggests that 4-6 sets per body part was the maximum stimulus needed and that more sets did not necessarily yield greater results.

Interestingly, these results are similar to a previous meta-analysis on strength, where there was an increasing response to an increasing number of sets, with an apparent plateau around 4-6 sets per exercise.6 So it seems Mike Menzer was right in at least one respect: bodybuilders may need fewer sets than they think to build muscle. There seems to be somewhere between 4 and 6 sets per body part, based on what the researchers found, but this is subjective for all people, as some people are fast responders whereas others are hard gainers.

References:

1. Hass, CJ, Garzarella, L, De Hoyos, D, and Pollock,ML. Single versus multiple sets in long-term recreational weightlifters. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 32: 235-242, 2000.

2. Ostrowski, KJ, Wilson, GJ, Weatherby, R, Murphy, PW, and Lyttle, AD. The effect of weight training volume on hormonal output and muscular size and function. J Strength Cond Res, 11: 148-154, 1997.

3. Starkey, DB, Pollock, ML, Ishida, Y, Welsch, MA, Brechue, WF, Graves, JE, and Feigenbaum, MS. Effect of resistance training volume on strength and muscle thickness. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 28: 1311-1320, 1996.

4. Humburg, H, Baars, H, Schro¨ der, J, Reer, R, and Braumann, K-M. 1- set vs. 3-set resistance training: a crossover study. J Strength Cond Res, 21: 578-582, 2007.

5. Kemmler, WK, Lauber, D, Engelke, K, and Weineck, J. Effects of single- vs. multiple-set resistance training on maximum strength and body composition in trained postmenopausal women. J Strength Cond Res, 18: 689-694, 2004.

6. Krieger JW. Single versus multiple sets of resistance exercise: a meta-regression. J Strength Cond Res, 2009 Sep;23(6):1890-901.

7. Rønnestad, BR, Egeland, W, Kvamme, NH, Refsnes, PE, Kadi, F, and Raastad, T. Dissimilar effects of one- and three-set strength training on strength and muscle mass gains in upper and lower body in untrained subjects. J Strength Cond Res, 21: 157-163, 2007.

8. Munn, J, Herbert, RD, Hancock, MJ, and Gandevia, SC. Resistance training for strength: effect of number of sets and contraction speed. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 37: 1622-1626, 2005.

9. Ostrowski, KJ, Wilson, GJ, Weatherby, R, Murphy, PW, and Lyttle, AD. The effect of weight training volume on hormonal output and muscular size and function. J Strength Cond Res, 11: 148-154, 1997.

The Benefits of L-Glutamine

The Benefits of L-Glutamine



Glutamine/glutamic acid, along with glucose, is one of the principle fuels for the brain cells. It stimulates mental alertness, improves intelligence, normalizes physical equilibrium, detoxifies ammonia from the brain, improves and soothes erratic behavior in elderly patients, improves the ability to learn, aids in retaining and recall in memory, helps with behavioral problems and autism in children, stops sugar and alcohol cravings, may improve IQ in mentally- deficient children, enhances peptic ulcer healing, and may be used to treat schizophrenia and senility.

Glutamine is the most abundant free amino acid found in the muscles of the body. Because it can readily pass the blood-brain barrier, it is known as brain fuel. In the brain, glutamine is converted into glutamic acid—which is essential for cerebral function—and vice versa. It also increases the amount of Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is needed to sustain proper brain function and mental activity. It assists in maintaining the proper acid/alkaline balance in the body and is the basis of the building blocks for the synthesis of RNA and DNA. It promotes mental ability and the maintenance of a healthy digestive tract. When an amino acid is broken down, nitrogen is released. The body needs nitrogen, but free nitrogen can form ammonia, which is especially toxic to brain tissues. The liver can convert nitrogen into urea, which is excreted in the urine, or nitrogen may attach itself to glutamic acid. This process forms glutamine. Glutamine is unique among the amino acids in that each molecule contains not one nitrogen atom but two. Thus, its creation helps to clear ammonia from the tissues, especially brain tissue, and it can transfer nitrogen from one place to another.

Glutamine is found in large amounts in the muscles and is readily available when needed for the synthesis of skeletal muscle proteins. Because this amino acid helps to build and maintain muscle, supplemental glutamine is useful for dieters and bodybuilders. More important, it helps to prevent the kind of muscle-wasting that can accompany prolonged bed rest or diseases such as cancer and AIDS. This is because stress and injury (including surgical trauma) cause the muscles to release glutamine into the bloodstream. In fact, during times of stress, as much as one third of the glutamine present in the muscles may be released. As a result, stress and/ or illness can lead to the loss of skeletal muscle. If enough glutamine is available, however, this can be prevented.

Supplemental L-glutamine can be helpful in the treatment of arthritis, autoimmune diseases, fibrosis, intestinal disorders, peptic ulcers, connective tissue diseases such as polymyositis and scleroderma, and tissue damage due to radiation treatment for cancer. L- glutamine can enhance mental functioning and has been used to treat a range of problems, including developmental disabilities, epilepsy, fatique, impotence, depression, schizophrenia, and senility. It preserves glutathione in the liver and protects that organ from the effects of acetaminophen overdose. It enhances antioxidant protection. L-glutamine decreases sugar cravings and the desire for alcohol and is useful for recovering alcoholics. Many plant and animal substances contain glutamine, but it is easily destroyed by cooking. If eaten raw, spinach and parsley are good sources. Supplemental glutamine must be kept absolutely dry or the powder will degrade into ammonia and pyroglutamic acid. Glutamine should not be taken by persons with cirrhosis of the liver, kidney problems, Reye’s syndrome, or any type of disorder that can result in an accumulation of ammonia in the blood. For such individuals, taking supplemental glutamine may only cause further damage to the body. Be aware that although the names sound similar, glutamine, glutamic acid (also sometimes called glutamate), glutathione, gluten, and monosodium glutamate are all different substances.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS! Part 3 of 3. Conclusion.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS!

Part 3 of 3. Conclusion.

There is one thing I hope you take from this article, you do not have to starve yourself to death to look good. You simply have to eat the right foods at the right time of day based on your activity levels for the next 3 hours. If you remember in Part 1 I spoke about the Golden Rule, "Eat for what you are about to do, not for what you have already done." The second thing I hope you will remember is, "Eating fats will not make you fat"! Eating the wrong foods at the wrong time WILL!

Here's what you need to know in order to establish you caloric requirements for the day.
 
1. Body weight
2. Lean body mass weight
3. Body fat % and lbs of body fat you carry.
4. Your body type (endomorph, ectomorph or mesomorph)
5. Daily time and activity chart
6. Gender
7. Age
8. Activity history and basic medical back ground.
9 Hydration level

I personally like to add a comprehensive blood panel to check for possible metabolic dysfunction or hormonal issues that may be causing problems.

Once you take in all the data you can sit down with a nutritional consultant and establish your daily BMR and calorie expenditure for the day. Once that has been established you can then design your custom nutrition program based on your needs and desire to obtain that lean stealth look.

Meals should be eaten every 3 hours, why? To keep your blood sugar stable and keep your muscles fed with protein.

The volume of food for each meal will be based on the type of activity you will have for the following three hours of your day. Too many carbs during an inactive time of the day is something you need to avoid, in fact lower calorie meals should be eaten before your periods of inactivity. Breakfast should always be no less than 1/5 of your calories or 20% for the day, get your blood sugar levels to normal range and get your metabolism running in high gear.

The highest calorie meals should be eaten before you most active periods of the day. IMO Protein consumption should be distributed evenly with each meal throughout the day, your carbohydrates and fats should fluctuate based on your energy needs during the day.

Another big tip: Take 1 gram of L-Glutamine with each meal and your hunger levels and cravings will all but disappear.

If you recall I also said I would discuss the fat intake today. What you are about to read may very well go against what your current nutritionist or personal trainer may recommend. So please discuss this with them before you change you eating program.

There are fats that in fact will speedup your metabolism and speed up fat loss. However it will require some discipline on your part to stick with the program.

Recent medical studies and several Universities have done extensive research on the use of fats to increase the metabolism and in fact turn on the fat burning machine within our body.

Some people struggle with weight loss simply because they are using the wrong foods for energy and we have ALL been mislead by the medical industry on how evil fats are to the human body, when in fact the truth is the complete opposite of what's been preached since the late 1960's. What I mean by wrong foods is simple, many people have digestive resistance to carbohydrates and in particular GLUTEN. You very well could be one of the millions of people that would do far better on weight management on a diet low in carbohydrates and higher in healthy fats.

Fact: Coconut Oil (in it's raw form) Is by far the healthiest fat you can possibly consume. Contrary to popular beliefs Coconut oil is 100% MCT oil and does not serve as an Omega 6 fatty acid. Too much Omega 6 can and will cause inflammation in the body. Coconut oil aids in reducing inflammation and also serves as an excellent energy source the brain and yes even muscle tissue as well.
So if you think you may be sensitive to carbohydrates you really need to have your program constructed using fats in your meals over complex carbohydrates. The biggest group of people that benefit from a program like this are typically have type O blood but is not limited to just this particular group.

Coconut oil is quickly converted into an energy source called ketones. The awesome thing about ketones is they cross the blood brain barrier and feed our brain the valuable nutrients it needs to function normally. The second benefit is it turns on the fat burning furnace in our muscles.

The key to success is to maintain ketosis for extended periods of time and allow the body to burn the stored fats that are typically left untouched when carbohydrates are present in the diet.

I know I mentioned I would talk about caloric requirements and I did, I just did not give you any numbers or percentages just yet. The fact is every single person will have different needs based on their nine (9) question we ask when you visit us. Yes even the percentages of proteins to carbohydrates to fats will vary based on a number of factors. This is what makes your programs with us so unique. I often here people comparing notes on their diets and that get confused because what they are eating may be the complete opposite of what the next person is eating. There are just too many variables to give a base program that will work for everyone.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS! Part 2 of 3.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS!

Part 2 of 3.

I left off yesterday making the statement that it's more calorie management than it is calorie restriction.

The key to fat loss is to feed enough nutrients to the body so it will not feed on itself, maintaining normal blood sugar throughout the day and allowing the muscle to burn the fat. The basic rule is you must burn more calories than you eat in order to lose weight. TRUE, however it's more complicated than that if you want to lose just fat.

Here's where knowing what to eat and when to eat plays a valuable roll in fat loss. There are a million different diets out there and guess what there are a million that don't work! The key to fat loss is NOT a diet, it is a life style change and educating yourself on the proper foods and beneficial supplements that will make your fat loss permanent.

First and most importantly you must feed your body the proper amounts of protein throughout the day. Protein should be consumed in amounts proportionate to your personal needs.
For example; A 25 year old male with body weight of 215lbs and has a bodyfat percentage of 12% can easily consume 25-40 grams of protein per meal where a female same age at 125lbs and 18% body fat should consume 15-25 grams of protein per meal.
The key is to keep the body in a positive nitrogen balance so your body will burn fat and leave the muscle alone. Eating to much protein at one sitting can cause your body to store the excess calories as fat. Not all proteins are created equal while some are excellent other proteins can cause health issues. That's why you should understand the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) of the foods you eat.

The next step is learning what the Glycemic Index is all about.

The Glycemic Index (GI) relates to the way your body’s sugar levels respond to certain foods. Foods are given a rating from 0 –100 on the glycemic index with glucose in the highest position. High Glycemic Index foods (such as simple carbohydrates) will increase the body’s sugar levels rapidly whereas low glycemic index foods will increase the body’s sugar levels slowly. A good understanding of the glycemic index can assist in weight loss and help control diabetes.

The glycemic index is complicated and cannot be generalised to all people. Different people will have different reactions to food. The body’s response to food will relate to several factors including; age, activity level, insulin levels, time of day, amount of fibre and fat in the food, how refined (processed) the food is, and what was eaten with the food. In addition to this, other factors such as the ratio of carbohydrates to fat and protein as well as how the food was cooked (eg. Boiled compared to fried or baked) and metabolism will determine the way your body’s sugar level responds after eating. Foods that have a low glycemic index will have little effect on the body’s sugar levels. Comparatively, foods that have a high glycemic index will have an instant affect on blood sugar levels. Ratings on the glycemic index have resulted from numerous studies; however, individuals should test their own reactions to food in relation to the glycemic index.

Here is a link to a Glycemic Index Chart online, although I do not agree with it 100% it is fairly close and will give you an idea as to how your blood sugar goes up and down based on the foods you eat.

http://www.glycemicindex.ca/glycemicindexfoods.pdf

As I stated before just counting calories does not work you have to know what the calories you are eating are doing in your body. That's why it's important to educate yourself on the foods you eat.

We will get into more details at the March 20 Seminar on Carbohydrates and their glycemic rating.

Tomorrow I will talk about healthy fats and how they can aid you in dropping unwanted fat pounds. I will also talk about the percentages of proteins, carbs and fats you should be eating (This will surprise you) and I will also talk about one of the most important things that most nutritionist leave out when they design a nutrition program for someone.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS! Part 1 of 3.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS!  

Part 1 of 3.

So many of us get so caught-up in losing weight we fail to completely understand the consequences of not eating enough food each day. You see it's not so much of caloric restriction as it is calorie management. So many times we feel like if I just stop eating I will lose weight. Well I wish it were that easy, if it were we would all be in great shape.

The trick to dropping unwanted body-fat may sound a bit confusing at first but once you understand how the metabolism works you will have a much better understanding.

Here's the facts

First we must understand why we eat and when we eat.

The obvious, "I'M HUNGRY" is NOT why you should eat. In fact if you wait until you are hungry you have waited far to long to eat and proper caloric management is disrupted.

(GOLDEN RULE: EAT FOR WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO DO, NOT FOR WHAT YOU HAVE JUST DONE)

I'm sure you've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day....and this is true. But have you ever really wondered why?

Let's examine the word, "breakfast" separate the word and you have two words and it simply means, "break the fast"!

Most people will eat their last meal between 5-8PM and then we relax a while and typically go to bed between 10PM and 12AM. Then we sleep between 6-8 hours. In many cases allot of us have not eaten for 10-12 hours by the time we have gotten out of bed in the morning.

Understand this, if you have a healthy metabolism your blood sugar will be very low in the morning because you have not eaten for a long time. We are not always hungry simply because there is no caloric demand from waking up. Your body has been is a resting and rebuilding phase while you were asleep.

We all get our day started by waking up and hitting the floor with both feet just like everyone else does. But in many cases that's where the similarity stops. What everyone should do upon waking up is break the fast they have been in before they get hungry and keep feeding the body all day long so it never gets hungry and the facts are you will melt body-fat away.

However if you are like many Americans you will skip breakfast grab a drug called caffeine and get your day started with a stimulant. So let me tell you what happens when you chose either situation.

First lets go with the benefits of breaking the fast and eating breakfast.
1. (And this is KEY throughout the day) You will elevate your blood sugar to normal ranges. You see by not eating for 6-14 hours your glycogen storage will be low, yes you do still burn calories while you sleep. (I will get into that later) So it is important to get blood sugar into normal ranges first thing in the morning and maintain normal blood sugar levels all day long.

2. It prevents your body from going into the catabolic phase. Providing the body with proper nutrients upon wake-up will prevent the body from pulling nutrients from muscle tissue. You see our body behaves much like us, the last thing it wants to eat is fat, the nutrients your body craves are all found in the lean muscle tissue throughout our body. Once you blood sugar has bottomed out the body goes into starvation mode and will start wasting muscle tissue. The saddest thing about this over a long period of time is you are destroying your metabolism because muscle tissue and it's activity is the only thing that burns calories. Think about it for a minute, how many of you have had a steak with a ring of fat on the side and purposely eaten the fat first because you love fat? The answer is very few if any at all! The body acts the same way, just for different reasons. You see fat is our reserve energy source and if you do not feed the body the first thing that will happen is the body starts reducing its need for more calories by getting rid of the cause for more calories and that is your muscle tissue.
Here is the biggest problem we have, our body is very efficient at saving itself from us (LOL) by being able to store fat so easily and in many cases we are our own worst enemy and we aid our bodies into hanging onto stored body fat by starving ourselves.

3. Eating breakfast automatically elevates your metabolism for the rest of the day!

4. Eating breakfast also aids in brain function and sets the tone for a better day. Yes eating breakfast stimulates a hormonal release to energize your day.

The key is keep blood sugar in normal ranges and it becomes impossible to store body-fat.

Tomorrow I will explain why it's more calorie management than it is calorie restriction.

Here is what you will need to know more about.

1. The Glycemic index and how you can use it to maintain your blood sugar.

2. Proteins and the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER)

3. Fats and their key role to a healthy metabolism

4. Feeding the lean body mass, not total body weight (your true BMR)

Food for thought, is resistance exercise the key to maintaining low body fat more so than cardiovascular exercise???

The Cold and Flu Season is Upon Us. This will help!

The Cold and Flu Season is Upon Us.

Here are some simple things to help keep you breathing and speed up recovery.

Blocked nose or Stuffy nose is the common term used for the problem Nasal Congestion which if not treated at the earliest will result in sinus problem or even blockage of nose and several other serious issues. Reasons for this stuffy nose can be viruses, increased nasal membrane, allergic reactions and several others which if not resolved at earliest will surely give lot of discomfort to any individual.

Boost Your Immune System With Vitamins and Herbs

Can cold-busting vitamin C also help zap congestion? “Vitamin C has been demonstrated in some studies to shorten the duration of a cold and decrease the severity of symptoms — however, it doesn’t directly affect congestion,” says Stringer. So, if you’re battling congestion related to a cold, popping some extra vitamin C may help you get over your cold symptoms faster. But if your congestion is related to allergies, vitamin C won’t bring relief.

Drink hot liquids

Hot liquids relieve nasal congestion, prevent dehydration, and soothe the uncomfortably inflamed membranes that line your nose and throat. If you’re so congested you can’t sleep at night, try a hot toddy, an age-old remedy.

Use a Humidifier or Vaporizer

Battling a cold or the flu can leave you feeling dried out and dehydrated, so many people turn to humidifiers or vaporizers to relieve congested sinuses. “Extra humidity via humidifiers can provide a lot of relief,” says Stringer. Humidifiers help break up congestion by adding moisture to the air, which helps to thin the mucus in your nose.

Xylitol (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

Xylitol is a healthy sugar (yes I said a healthy sugar) It has a very low glycemic index rating in the mid-20's and is diabetic friendly. It has less than half the calories of regular sugar. The one thing that is awesome about this product is it has very strong anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. It will cure a sore throat or a tooth ache is just a few hours. It will also clear out you nasal and sinus cavity as well. Simply take one table spoon of Xylitol and drop it into boiling water 4-6 ounces. Then allow it to cool and gargle with it and drop it into your nose and ears. This will wipe out the infection quickly. You may repeat this several times a day, but a fair warning, too much xylitol will cause diarrhea because of its slow digestion. A small price to pay for breathing!

Garlic

Garlic acts as a natural anti-viral which is quite used in the treatment of viral infections like cold, influenza, sinus that causes stuffy nose to fight against the infection. Garlic contains a pungent taste which releases secretions that helps to drain the nasal passages and makes you breathe comfortably. It also helps to increase your immune system when taken regularly.

Ginger

Consumption of fresh grated ginger (1 teaspoon) with a glass of warm water can provide relief from the problem of stuffy nose. An individual can consume a tea prepared with a mix of ginger, lemon juice and honey to obtain effective results.

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

Apple cider vinegar helps to clear the stuffy nose by thinning the mucus quickly and drain out the sinuses, if it is taken straight without any flavorings. It helps to clean your nose and nasal passage for a comfortable breath.

Tomato Juice

Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C which will boost your immune system and also works to open up the sinuses to remove the mucus and also reduce the inflammation in the vessels.

Herbal Tea

Consumption of a tea prepared with the use of different herbs such as chamomile, peppermint and blackberry can provide relief from the problem of stuffy nose. Consumption of a tea prepared with the use of ginger and rosemary leaves can cure the problem of stuffy nose.

Hot Soups

Hot chicken soup is a best remedy for stuffy nose as it effectively heals the cold symptoms while giving relief from nasal congestion.  You can also drink vegetable soups to get healed up quickly.

saline nasal sprays

Use saline nasal sprays or make your own salt water rinse to irrigate your nose. Salt-water rinsing helps break nasal congestion while also removing virus particles and bacteria from your nose.

Drink more fluids

Drink plenty of fluids to help break up your congestion. Drinking water or juice will prevent dehydration and keep your throat moist. You should drink at least 8 to 10 eight-ounce glasses of water daily. Include fluids such as water, sports drinks, herbal teas, fruit drinks, or ginger ale. Your mother’s chicken soup might help too! (Limit cola, coffee, and other drinks with caffeine because it acts like a diuretic and may dehydrate you.)

Onion

Peel off and cut an onion. Smell it for 4-5 minutes. It will clear your nose, giving you relief from nasal congestion.

Pepper

Pepper is a great remedy to cure a stuffy nose. Put a teaspoon of black pepper along with a tablespoon of honey in a cup. Fill it with boiling water and let it steep for about 15 minutes. Now, stir it well. Drink this mixture to relieve from a stuffy nose.

Spicy Food

Increase your intake of spicy foods while you are suffering from stuffy nose. Include lots of red chillies, onions, ginger and garlic to your food. It will facilitate the easier flow of mucus from nasal passages, thereby relieving you from blocked nose.

Eucalyptus Oil

Eucalyptus oil is one of the most effective home remedies to relieve a stuffy nose. Pour a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil on a handkerchief or on a small piece of cloth and inhale its fragrance. You can also pour some on your pillow in order to get the benefit even when you are asleep.

Honey

Consumption of honey (2 teaspoons) on a regular basis can treat the problem of stuffy nose. An individual can consume a glass of warm water containing honey (2 – 3 teaspoons) to obtain better results. Honey can be also taken with milk to treat the problem of stuffy nose.
Lemon

An individual can apply a mixture prepared with lemon juice (2 teaspoons), black pepper powder (1/4th teaspoon) and a pinch of salt around the nasal area to treat the symptoms of stuffy nose.

Carbohydrate Addiction is Epidemic........

Carbohydrate Addiction is Epidemic........

And the Food Industry Promotes it right along with the FDA & the AMA!

A staggering two-thirds of Americans are now overweight, and one in four are either diabetic or pre-diabetic.

Obesity rates in children in several states are now above 30%!!!!!!

Carb-rich processed foods are a primary driver of these statistics, and while many blame Americans’ overindulgence of processed junk foods on lack of self-control, scientists are now starting to reveal the truly addictive nature of such foods.

Most recently, researchers at the Boston Children's Hospital concluded that highly processed carbohydrates stimulate brain regions involved in reward and cravings, promoting excess hunger.

As reported by Science Daily:

“These findings suggest that limiting these 'high-glycemic index' foods could help obese individuals avoid overeating.”

While I don’t agree with the concept of high glycemic foods, it is important that they are at least thinking in the right direction. Also, the timing is ironic, considering the fact that the American Medical Association (AMA) recently declared obesity a disease, treatable with a variety of conventional methods, from drugs to novel anti-obesity vaccines...

The featured research is on the mark, and shows just how foolhardy the AMA’s financially-driven decision really is. Drugs and vaccines are clearly not going to do anything to address the underlying problem of addictive junk food.


Brain Imaging Shows Food Addiction Is Real

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the effects of high-glycemic foods on brain activity, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). One dozen overweight or obese men between the ages of 18 and 35 each consumed one high-glycemic and one low-glycemic meal. The fMRI was done four hours after each test meal. According to the researchers:

“Compared with an isocaloric low-GI meal, a high-glycemic index meal decreased plasma glucose, increased hunger, and selectively stimulated brain regions associated with reward and craving in the late postprandial period, which is a time with special significance to eating behavior at the next meal.”

The study demonstrates what many people experience: After eating a high-glycemic meal, i.e. rapidly digesting carbohydrates, their blood sugar initially spiked, followed by a sharp crash a few hours later. The fMRI confirmed that this crash in blood glucose intensely activated a brain region involved in addictive behaviors, known as the nucleus accumbens.

Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism, weighed in on the featured research in an article by NPR:

“As Dr. Robert Lustig... points out, this research can’t tell us if there’s a cause and effect relationship between eating certain foods and triggering brain responses, or if those responses lead to overeating and obesity.

'[The study] doesn’t tell you if this is the reason they got obese,' says Lustig, 'or if this is what happens once you’re already obese.' Nonetheless... he thinks this study offers another bit of evidence that 'this phenomenon is real.'”

Previously, Dr. Lustig has explained the addictive nature of sugar as follows:

"The brain's pleasure center, called the nucleus accumbens, is essential for our survival as a species... Turn off pleasure, and you turn off the will to live... But long-term stimulation of the pleasure center drives the process of addiction... When you consume any substance of abuse, including sugar, the nucleus accumbens receives a dopamine signal, from which you experience pleasure. And so you consume more.

The problem is that with prolonged exposure, the signal attenuates, gets weaker. So you have to consume more to get the same effect -- tolerance. And if you pull back on the substance, you go into withdrawal. Tolerance and withdrawal constitute addiction. And make no mistake, sugar is addictive."

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

Previous research has demonstrated that refined sugar is more addictive than cocaine, giving you pleasure by triggering an innate process in your brain via dopamine and opioid signals. Your brain essentially becomes addicted to stimulating the release of its own opioids.

Researchers have speculated that the sweet receptors located on your tongue, which evolved in ancestral times when the diet was very low in sugar, have not adapted to the seemingly unlimited access to a cheap and omnipresent sugar supply in the modern diet.

Therefore, the abnormally high stimulation of these receptors by our sugar-rich diets generates excessive reward signals in your brain, which have the potential to override normal self-control mechanisms, thus leading to addiction.

But it doesn’t end there. Food manufacturers have gotten savvy to the addictive nature of certain foods and tastes, including saltiness and sweetness, and have turned addictive taste into a science in and of itself.

In a recent New York Times article, Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat, dished the dirt on the processed food industry, revealing that there’s a conscious effort on behalf of food manufacturers to get you hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive to make.

I recommend reading his article in its entirety, as it offers a series of case studies that shed light on the extraordinary science and marketing tactics that make junk food so hard to resist.

Sugar, salt and fat are the top three substances making processed foods so addictive. In a Time Magazine interview discussing his book, Moss says:

“One of the things that really surprised me was how concerted and targeted the effort is by food companies to hit the magical formulation. Take sugar for example. The optimum amount of sugar in a product became known as the 'bliss point.' Food inventors and scientists spend a huge amount of time formulating the perfect amount of sugar that will send us over the moon, and send products flying off the shelves. It is the process they've engineered that struck me as really stunning.”

It’s important to realize that added sugar (typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup) is not confined to junky snack foods. For example, most of Prego’s spaghetti sauces have one common feature, and that is sugar—it’s the second largest ingredient, right after tomatoes. A half-cup of Prego Traditional contains the equivalent of more than two teaspoons of sugar.


Novel Flavor-Enhancers May Also Contribute to Food Addiction

Another guiding principle for the processed food industry is known as “sensory-specific satiety.” Moss describes this as “the tendency for big, distinct flavors to overwhelm your brain, which responds by depressing your desire to have more.” The greatest successes, whether beverages or foods, owe their “craveability” to complex formulas that pique your taste buds just enough, without overwhelming them, thereby overriding your brain’s inclination to say “enough.”

Novel biotech flavor companies like Senomyx also play an important role.

Senomyx specializes in helping companies find new flavors that allow them to use less salt and sugar in their foods. But does that really make the food healthier? This is a questionable assertion at best, seeing how these “flavor enhancers” are created using secret, patented processes. They also do not need to be listed on the food label, which leaves you completely in the dark. As of now, they simply fall under the generic category of artificial and/or natural flavors, and they don’t even need to be tested for safety, as they’re used in minute amounts.

How to Combat Food Addiction and Regain Your Health

To protect your health, I advise spending 90 percent of your food budget on whole foods, and only 10 percent on processed foods. It’s important to realize that refined carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other processed foods quickly break down to sugar, increase your insulin levels, and cause insulin resistance, which is the number one underlying factor of nearly every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain.

By taking the advice offered in the featured study and cutting out these high-glycemic foods you can retrain your body to burn fat instead of sugar. However, it’s important to replace these foods with healthy fats, not protein—a fact not addressed in this research. I believe most people may need between 50-70 percent of their daily calories in the form of healthful fats, which include:


1. Olives & Olive oil

2. Coconut and Coconut Oils

3. Natural whole fat butter

4. Organic raw nuts, especially macadamia nuts, which are low in protein and omega-6 fat.

5. Organic pastured eggs and pastured meats

6. Avocados


A growing body of evidence also suggests that intermittent fasting is particularly effective if you’re struggling with excess weight as it provokes the natural secretion of human growth hormone (HGH), a fat-burning hormone. It also increases resting energy expenditure while decreasing insulin levels, which allows stored fat to be burned for fuel. Together, these and other factors will turn you into an effective fat-burning machine.

Best of all, once you transition to fat burning mode your cravings for sugar and carbohydrates will virtually disappear, as if by magic... While you’re making the adjustment, you could supplement L-Glutamine (1,000MG) before each meal and 3,000-6,000 MG at bed time. This will help reduce cravings.

Other tricks to help you overcome your sugar cravings include:

Exercise: Anyone who exercises intensely on a regular basis will know that a significant amount of resistance exercise is one of the best "cures" for food cravings. It always amazes me how my appetite, especially for sweets, dramatically decreases after a good workout. I believe the mechanism is related to the dramatic reduction in insulin levels that occurs after exercise.

Organic black coffee: Coffee is a potent opioid receptor antagonist, and contains compounds such as cafestrol -- found plentifully in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee -- which can bind to your opioid receptors, occupy them and essentially block your addiction to other opioid-releasing foods. This may profoundly reduce the addictive power of other substances, such as sugar.

What is the best time to Train?

The best time to train!

What time of day do you feel at your best?

The combination of scientific advances and our own analytical mind gives rise to a multitude of questions. Our inquisitive nature leads us down many roads of discovering the best and most efficient way of doing things. One question many of us have probably wondered about is how the time of day can influence our performance in activities.

One such activity to be analyzed is weight training. As we will see, though, the answer to the question of "when in the day is our weight training performance best?" is not clear cut. There are many paths to choose from, with different roads leading to various results depending upon the individual.

The human body has evolved to function and sustain itself automatically, so that the brain can devote more energy to higher-level tasks. We have all adapted to cues in our environment that help our body trigger activation of certain systems and processes, while suppressing others.

The biggest environmental cue our bodies recognize, and react to, is light. The regulation of our bodily systems based on time of day is referred to as our circadian rhythm.

It should be noted that everyone's biological rhythms are different, and I will discuss the influences on performance based on a person with consistent sleeping and waking habits. This consistency actually helps to prevent unwanted stress and injury, and improve your performance in various activities. Assuming this regularity, the biggest difference between peoples' circadian rhythm tends to be their waking time:

Larks Vs. Owls:

There are some that rise from sleep earlier-waking up enthusiastic and full of energy. Such people are called "larks." Another type of person, the "owl," wakes later and more slowly than most, taking a few hours to get functioning and feel alert. Generally speaking, the owl will perform better in the late afternoon, while the lark will perform better in the morning.

Both these types of people actually form a minority, though. Most people, about 60% to 70% of the population, are indifferent. This means they fall somewhere in between the lark and the owl.

Understanding the bodies circadian rhythm and your hormonal functions is important to actually knowing when the best time of training is for YOU.

The following compilation reviews points of interest for the average circadian rhythm:

Morning:

Testosterone is at its daily peak.
Mental alertness peaks late morning.
Memory works best.
Body temperature is still low.

Afternoon:

Pain tolerance is highest.
Possible point of low energy around noon.
Late afternoon, adrenalin and body temperature has a rising trend.
Late afternoon, there is an optimum period of mental/physical function balance.

Evening:

Coordination, stamina, body temperature at a peak.
Lung performance is best.
Flexibility and strength at their greatest.
Mental focus is waning.

Night:

Starting around 9pm, the body produces additional melatonin, preparing for sleep. Bodily processes should be slowing down in preparation for sleep.

Notice that many systems will not be at peak performance at the same times of day. Because of this, and with the addition of individual differences, it is difficult to give a time at which a person will be at their best. But with the given information so far, I would suggest late afternoon as a time of optimum performance in most of your body's processes.

From the given information on circadian rhythm, here are some suggestions based on unique goals:

1. Morning - Best potential for building muscle because testosterone is critical in protein synthesis and for rebuilding muscle fiber damaged in weight training. There is also greater mental focus, which may allow for greater mind-muscle connection and greater efficiency of muscle work done.

2. Afternoon - Best potential for breaking plateaus by employing muscle shocking techniques because pain threshold is highest and the limits of the body might be able to be pushed further than usual.

3. Evening - Best potential for strongest performance. This is the time of day when the body is in peak condition for physical activity.

Besides the purely physical observations about circadian rhythm that have been mentioned, there are other considerations that one might take into account when deciding the best time of day to weight train:

Morning:

Is fat loss or fat storage prevention a goal? Morning exercise may help in reaching this goal partly due to higher than normal testosterone. It also helps that your body has not had much food to process yet, and may turn to fat for energy instead.

1. Exercise has shown to increase serotonin levels. Low serotonin has been shown to be related to depression. Exercising in the morning could possibly help elevate mood slightly for the rest of the day. It should be noted, however, that significant changes in overall mood can take a long time to occur, and will happen as a result of a general increase in serotonin.

2. Is the gym open at the time you want? I know my gym currently does not open at an early enough time for me to schedule a workout.

3. If you are able to get to a gym in the mornings, there are generally less people there. You won't have to fight over weights or machines. You're more free to move about and choose the exercises you'd like with less interruption and possibly less embarrassment if you're the shy type and trying something new for the first time.

4. By doing a workout in the morning, it will be out of the way, out of mind. There will be less worry about missing a workout and less stress in anticipation of your performance if it gets done sooner in the day.

Afternoon:

*** A good balance between all the issues discussed in both morning and night sections. ***

Evening:

1. If working out too late, this can affect you're body's natural time of slowing things down for sleep.

2. Working out increases ability to absorb nutrients on a cellular level. If adequate nutrition is not in place after a workout, the body might soon be left hanging for an eight hour fast while you sleep.

3. Is the gym open late?

4. More people tend to be at the gym because they are done with work or school for the day. It may be harder to get in all the specific exercises desired in a reasonable amount of time, as there may be waiting times for equipment.

5. How worn out a person gets from there school, work, or other daily activities might also play a role in their evening weight training efforts.

The Best:

Based on both these more obvious considerations and from the circadian rhythm information, I would recommend that weight training in the afternoon would be best. It has a nice balance of all the aspects and issues presented. In fact, the only real drawback I could think of might be that it may be harder to schedule for some--due to other commitments like work or school.

For those that cannot do afternoons, just try to schedule training at a time that is either most comfortable, convenient, or when equipment is most freely accessible. What is most important is not placing undue stress upon yourself by worrying too much about when you train-your body will figure things out no matter what time it is.

The best advice given is to follow your bodies reaction to the training you put it through.

1. Do you feel like you are getting the most out of your workouts? If not maybe trying a different time of day to train may just do the trick.

2. In my opinion there really is no one perfect time to train for everyone. I've always trained when I felt ready to train. The key to long term success is basically to train consistently regardless of the time of day. There is no need to stress over the time of day not being perfect for your training.

3. Remember to get maximum benefits from training it's not all about the time of training, remember that proper nutrition, supplementation and rest are all equally as important.

This article is simply designed to give you the knowledge so you can make a more educated choice on when you should train. Just remember follow what works best for YOU and get in the gym and train!

The Dangers of Drinking Soda Pop!

The Dangers of Drinking Soda Pop!

Some people drink soda pop as if it is water, some even instead of water. Sure, the primary ingredient is water, but, with all the other “stuff” it contains it can have a…toxic…poisonous…lethal…venomous… seriously harmful effect on your entire body. Drinking soda pop is a sure-fire way to age faster. Here’s why:

Soda Pop (or carbonated soft drinks) has an alarming amount of sugar, calories and harmful additives in it that have absolutely no nutritional value. Studies have linked soda to osteoporosis, obesity, tooth decay and heart disease. Despite this, soda accounts for more than one-quarter of all drinks consumed in the United States….and we wonder why we can’t lose weight and why we have health problems. So very often our health problems do not BEGIN on their own. WE encourage illness and disease little-by-little every day by NOT preventing their cause. We know better, we try to fool ourselves, but our bodies’ cells can’t be fooled about what we put in our mouths. I hope the next time you look at a can of soda pop you take note of the ingredients and smarten up for the good of your own healthy lifespan and that of your children and grandchildren. …What you are about to read should turn you away from sodas altogether.

Here’s what’s in Soda Pop:

Phosphoric Acid: May interfere with the body's ability to use calcium, which can lead to osteoporosis or softening of the teeth and bones. Phosphoric acid also neutralizes the hydrochloric acid in your stomach, which can interfere with digestion, making it difficult to utilize nutrients.

Sugar: Soft drink manufacturers are the largest single user of refined sugar in the United States. It is a proven fact that sugar increases insulin levels, which can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, weight gain, premature aging and many more negative side effects. Most sodas include over 100 percent of the RDA of sugar.

Aspartame: This chemical is used as a sugar substitute in diet soda. There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilepsy/seizures. Further, when aspartame is stored for long periods of time or kept in warm areas it changes to methanol, an alcohol that converts to formaldehyde and formic acid, which are known carcinogens.

Caffeine: Caffeinated drinks can cause jitters, insomnia, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, elevated blood cholesterol levels, vitamin and mineral depletion, breast lumps, birth defects, and perhaps some forms of cancer.

Soda is one of the main reasons, nutritionally speaking, why many people suffer health problems. Aside from the negative effects of the soda itself, drinking a lot of soda is likely to leave you with little appetite for vegetables, protein and other food that your body needs.

How many sodas have you had today? How about your kids? The average American drinks an estimated 56 gallons of soft drinks each year, but before you grab that next can of soda, consider this: one can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial food colors and sulphates.

Teenagers and children, who many soft drinks are marketed toward, are among the largest consumers. In the past 10 years, soft drink consumption among children has almost doubled in the United States. Teenage boys now drink, on average, three or more cans of soda per day, and 10 percent drink seven or more cans a day. The average for teenage girls is more than two cans a day, and 10 percent drink more than five cans a day.

It also raises the question of how one determines a product's caffeine content. Nutrition labels are not required to divulge that information. If a beverage contains caffeine, it must be included in the ingredient list, but there's no way to tell how much a beverage has, and there's little logic or predictability to the way caffeine is deployed throughout a product line.

Let’s take a look at some of the major components of a can of soda:

Okay, so most enlightened consumers already know that colas contain a fair amount of caffeine. It turns out to be 35 to 38 milligrams per 12-ounce can, or roughly 28 percent of the amount found in an 8-ounce cup of coffee. But few know that diet colas -- usually chosen by those who are trying to dodge calories and/or sugar -- often pack a lot more caffeine.

A 12-ounce can of Diet Coke, for example, has about 42 milligrams of caffeine -- seven more than the same amount of Coke Classic. A can of Pepsi One has about 56 milligrams of caffeine -- 18 milligrams more than both regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi.

Even harder to figure out is the caffeine distribution in other flavors of soda pop. Many brands of root beer contain no caffeine. An exception is Barq's, made by the Coca-Cola Co., which has 23 milligrams per 12-ounce can. Sprite, 7-Up and ginger ale are caffeine-free. But Mountain Dew, the curiously named Mellow Yellow, Sun Drop Regular, Jolt and diet as well as regular Sunkist orange soda all pack caffeine.

Caffeine occurs naturally in kola nuts, an ingredient of cola soft drinks. But why is this drug, which is known to create physical dependence, added to other soft drinks?

The industry line is that small amounts are added for taste, not for the drug's power to sustain demand for the products that contain it. Caffeine's bitter taste, they say, enhances other flavors. "It has been a part of almost every cola -- and pepper-type beverage -- since they were first formulated more than 100 years ago," according to the National Soft Drink Association.

But recent blind taste tests conducted by Roland Griffiths at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore found that only 8 percent of regular soft drink consumers could identify the difference between regular and caffeine-free soft drinks.

The study included only subjects who reported that they drank soft drinks mainly for their caffeine content. In other words, more than 90 percent of the self-diagnosed caffeine craves in this small sample could not detect the presence of caffeine.

That's why the great popularity of caffeinated soft drinks is driven not so much by subtle taste effects as by the mood-altering and physical dependence of caffeine that drives the daily self-administration.

And the unknown could be especially troublesome for the developing brains of children and adolescents. Logic dictates that when you are dependent on a drug, you are really upsetting the normal balances of neuro-chemistry in the brain. The fact that kids have withdrawal signs and symptoms when the caffeine is stopped is a good indication that something has been profoundly disturbed in the brain.

Exactly where that leads is anybody's guess -- which is to say there is little good research on the effects of caffeine on kids' developing brains.

Bone Weakening
Animal studies demonstrate that phosphorus, a common ingredient in soda, can deplete bones of calcium.

And two recent human studies suggest that girls who drink more soda are more prone to broken bones. The industry denies that soda plays a role in bone weakening.

Animal studies -- mostly involving rats -- point to clear and consistent bone loss with the use of cola beverages. But as scientists like to point out, humans and rats are not exactly the same.

Even so, there's been concern among the research community, public health officials and government agencies over the high phosphorus content in the US diet. Phosphorus -- which occurs naturally in some foods and is used as an additive in many others -- appears to weaken bones by promoting the loss of calcium. With less calcium available, the bones become more porous and prone to fracture.

The soft drink industry argues that the phosphoric acid in soda pop contributes only about 2 percent of the phosphorus in the typical US diet, with a 12-ounce can of soda pop averaging about 30 milligrams.

There's growing concern that even a few cans of soda today can be damaging when they are consumed during the peak bone-building years of childhood and adolescence. A 1996 study published in the Journal of Nutrition by the FDA's Office of Special Nutritional s noted that a pattern of high phosphorus/low calcium consumption, common in the American diet, is not conducive to optimizing peak bone mass in young women.

A 1994 Harvard study of bone fractures in teenage athletes found a strong association between cola beverage consumption and bone fractures in 14-year-old girls. The girls who drank cola were about five times more likely to suffer bone fractures than girls who didn't consume soda pop.

Besides, to many researchers, the combination of rising obesity and bone weakening has the potential to synergistic-ally undermine future health. Adolescents and kids don't think long-term. But what happens when these soft-drinking people become young or middle-aged adults and they have osteoporosis, sedentary living and obesity?

By that time, switching to water, milk or fruit juice may be too little, too late.

Research presented at an American Diabetes Association gathering this summer found that women who went from drinking less than one, non-diet soda a day to one or more daily sodas were nearly twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes over a four-year period as women who drank less than one soft during a day. (The women who drank more soda also gained more weight over the same period.)

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism suggested that fructose, a sweetener found naturally in fruit juice and typically used in concentrated amounts in soft drinks, may induce a hormonal response in the body that promotes weight gain.

Soft Drinks, especially light-colored drinks, and canned iced tea appear to “aggressively” erode teeth enamel in laboratory tests—and it didn’t matter whether they were diet drinks or regular ones, according to a study published in General Dentistry.

Stress is a Choice and so is Success!

Stress is a Choice and so is Success!

Many of us hurry through life going from one place to the next, focused on conquering the next mountain, making the next deal, running the next errand, and believing we will never have enough time to do all the things we need to get done. Yet, there is all the time in the world if we just realize that we are the creators of this life we choose to live. That's right. Life is a series of choices and being free from stress is one of those choices.

Whether your business life is overly complicated or your personal life (or both), you have chosen this current system of chaos. The world is a tantalizing swirl of getting the next "fix," tempting us to fit more and more things, people and processes into our lives, personally and professionally. And because we are so busy being busy, it's easy to be lured into the fray, with our lengthy to-do lists. Yet, the greatest achievements have often come from the simplest of ideas and in the simplest forms.

To experience a simplified life, we first have to learn to slow down long enough to see through all the clutter. We need to realize that we are powerful magnets that attracted this life to ourselves—no matter what—good or bad.

1. Take the time to be YOU! Everyone needs (ME) time. If you don't take care of the ME, how can you expect anyone else to do it for you. The better you are to yourself the better you will be to others.

2. Stop setting deadlines that can not be met. Setting unrealistic goals will cause more stress and disruption in life. Learn to follow your dreams without setting a time frame around them. Stay focused on the end result regardless of the time frame it took to get there. The only way you can fail is to set an unrealistic goal, so learn to let the time structure go! Remember good things come to those who wait.

3. Turn on that positive energy! Learn to be grateful!
Create a gratitude list. Make a list of things you are grateful to have in your life. Feeling gratitude puts you in the right frame of mind and will allow you to move forward in a positive direction. Focus on the stress and that is exactly what you will get more of and that's STRESS!

4. Exercise can and will relieve STRESS.
Get into an exercise program and stick with it! Exercise is often the best medicine for getting rid of stress. Do your best to clear your head of anything else but taking care of the ME. Exercise to clear your head and rid yourself of the stress you've created.

5. You can focus on negative or you can focus on the positive the choice is 100% up to YOU! The energy you put out is the exact energy you will receive. Learn to be a positive person thankful for the blessings in your life and understand that time frames are the trigger points for stress. Rid yourself of as many time frames as you can and your stress levels will go away.

Learn to be grateful, learn to enjoy the simple things in life learn to look at life as a big learning experience and the stress in your life may very well disappear. The only time you fail at anything is when you give up! Success can and will happen every time without fail it just might not be in your time frame. So stop setting them and watch you stress vanish!

Remember you are only as strong as your weakest link. A complete person is strong of Mind, Body and Spirit.

Nutrition 101 Part 3 What is a Carbohydrate?

Nutrition 101

Part 3

What is a Carbohydrate?

What are carbohydrates?

Yesterday I defined what a calorie was and that it did not display nutritional value, calorie measurement marks the energy units in foods. Once you break foods down they go into 3 categories Fat, Proteins and Carbohydrates. Within each of these three groups there are a numbers of subset groups in each. Today we will focus on one category and that is Carbohydrates.

The simplest way to understand carbohydrates is to break down what they do for us. Our bodies break down carbohydrates in order to make glucose. Glucose is a sugar that our body uses to give us energy. Carbohydrates generally provide us with fiber, vitamins and minerals.

What Are the Different Kinds of Carbohydrates?

There are two kinds of carbohydrates: simple and complex. We get our simple carbohydrates from foods such as milk, milk products, fruit or table sugar. Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, come from starches like whole grain-cereal, whole grain bread, beans, potatoes, and starchy vegetables.

As I stated before there are subset categories in each of the three nutrient groups. Simple and complex is a basic subset yet we can further break these groups down into the types of sugars these foods contain. We can also measure them on a ratio scale like the Glycemic Index Ratio. This scale measures the speed at which the carbohydrate is broken down into fructose and glucose in the body. The higher the number the faster the carb converts to sugar in the body. The lower the number the slower the carb converts into usable energy. Too high of a number is typically found in simple carbs and the lower numbered carbs are typically found in the complex carbohydrates.

The trick to staying lean is to keep your blood sugar normal all day long by eating complex carbs based on your activity levels for the next 3 hours. By keeping blood sugar levels in normal range your body can not store fat and makes it difficult to burn muscle fiber.

That is why it is so important to understand what type of carbs you need throughout the day.

As I have already mentioned there are many subsets in carbohydrates so I will briefly give you the description of these different catagories. Carbohydrates may be classified into monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, and heterosaccharides. The most fundamental type is the simple sugars called monosaccharides, such as glucose, galactose, and fructose. These simple sugars can combine with each other to form more complex type. The combination of two simple sugars is called disaccharide whereas carbohydrates consisting of two to ten simple sugars are called oligosaccharides, and those with a larger number are called polysaccharides.

Carbohydrates are produced in green plants by photosynthesis and serve as a major source of energy in animal diets. They also serve as structural components, such as cellulose in plants and chitin in some animals. Their derivatives play an essential role in the working process of the immune system, fertilization, pathogenesis, blood clotting and development.

Bottom line is understanding carbohydrates can be made very complex. Each and everyone of us eat or have eaten carbohydrates on a daily basis. However simple carbs have become the general populations worst enemy. The introduction of fructose and in particular high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has become societies number one problem. You see our bodies are not designed to eat high amounts of the sugars and the proof is in the population. HFCS can be compared to crack rock cocaine in its ability to cause addiction. It triggers L-Dopamine response in the brain the exact same way as cocaine or a number of illegal and legal prescription drugs do. HFCS triggers the pleasure center in the brain and it shuts down the production of Leptin (a protein hormone that controls hunger). The more HFCS you consume you more damage you do to your body and its functions. The list of damage HFCS is far too long to list here in this article,

Fact: Obesity is at an all time high, diabetes and cancer are also at epidemic levels. 50% of all Americans are now overweight! Obesity rates in some states are passing 30% of the population.

Fact: Look back in history and you will see a distinct relationship between disease and sugar consumption. The history goes back several hundred years. However HFCS is the new kid on the block and disease and obesity have exploded since it entered our food supplies.

I will be posting a 5 part series on the history of Sugar and the health damages it causes.