Here are 5 fitness and nutrition tips to help you with your weight loss program. Follow these and you’ll boost your metabolism and burn more fat.

What would I do if I were you?

If I were you and I wanted to lose the fat I gained over the holiday break…whether it’s 3 pounds, 10 pounds, or 20 pounds or more…so, here’s what I would do if I were you…

1 – I’d return to the program that has worked best for me in the past. So let’s say that my best fat loss ever was 8 pounds in 4 weeks last summer…when I was eating right and doing 3 total body workouts per week followed by intervals.

Then I’d simply get right back on that program, pronto. Don’t worry about trying to set up some fancy program based on this research or that, just get back to what worked before.

2 – I’d drink six cups of Green Tea per day and 3.5grams of Omega-3 fatty acids per day (I’d get this from eating fish or from fish oil supplements). I’d eat at least 6 servings of vegetables per day and 6 servings of fruit. I’d snack on almonds. I’d eat only lean protein sources. Etc. Etc. And this is what I do, everyday. Maybe some pizza on the weekend, but other than that, stick to the plan.

3 – I’d do only the exercises that I hated…as long as I **** them because they are hard. For me, that’s squats, dumbbell rows, split squats, and other big muscle-group exercises. Just thinking about those exercises jacks up my metabolism.

For many people, chin-ups are a major challenge…and let’s face it, they are a total body exercise if done right.

In fact, all of the major exercises in the strength and interval workouts are “total-body exercises”. If you don’t think that chin-ups and DB rows are total body exercises, then you aren’t doing them to their full capacity. Maybe you don’t have the total body muscle control to work your whole body with these exercises.

If you’re confused by what I wrote, go ask a truly experienced lifter, in person, and they should be able to show you how you can make all lifts “total body exercises”.

4 – I’d add more bodyweight exercises to my training schedule. Bodyweight workouts won’t cause too much soreness, but they will allow you to give your body more metabolic turbulence, meaning more fat loss and more calories burned.

And you don’t have to drive to the gym to do these. In fact, you could probably get a total-body, bodyweight workout done in the time it takes you to get to the gym and back.

5 – I’d keep trying to get stronger. Training to get strong causes the greatest metabolic response in your body. That means, in less geeky language, that your body will burn more calories, and ultimately more fat, when you train to get stronger.

No more la-dee-daing and ******* around with the high reps, low weight stuff. Leave that to the bad workout videos from the ’80s.

By: Craig Ballantyne

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Muscle Workout

This is not going to be an article about all the good foods you should eat and the stuff you should avoid. Many articles, including some of my own, have already beaten that horse. Most people know that carrots are better than cheeseburgers and I’m not going to get into that again at this time. What I want to do instead is give you a different perspective on the value of nutrition in improving and maintaining brain fitness – and what that really means.

Data supports the value of healthy foods for improving performance on intelligence tests and for reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Foods like fruits, vegetables, red wine (or moderate use of other alcohols), chocolate, soy protein, fish, olive oils, and others you have heard about, seem to help your brain.

We don’t know what we don’t know

The difficulty comes when scientists try to break down these foods and purify the specific natural chemicals responsible for their good effects. Usually, these types of experiments fail, although there are a few successes. But do you really care that it’s the polyphenols in fruits or the bisdemethoxycurcumin in tumeric that seem to be the active players? It’s not like your going to take some blueberries into your home chemistry lab and isolate the ‘most important’ ingredient – you’re just going to eat a handful of blueberries.

Imagine an alien coming down to Earth and trying to figure out what the most important part of a car is. Is it the wheels, the spark plugs, the axle, what? Obviously, all these parts work together to make the car drive and none of them work without the others. You don’t need to understand how an internal combustion engine works in order to drive your car from point A to point B.

The real value of quality nutrition comes from all of the good foods working together. Usually when we try to take them apart, the effect disappears. I’m all for high quality multi-vitamin supplements and take them daily myself. However, when you see all of the ads for highly purified specific components touting to improve your memory, your *** life or whatever you have to be careful. We simply don’t know enough yet about all the different healthful components of our food. Any good nutritionist or reputable nutrition company will tell you that supplements are never substitutes for a quality diet.

When it comes to brain fitness, good nutrition is simply the way to supply raw materials to the brain so that it can do the job it is designed to do. Eat the right stuff and let your brain work it out. All of the foods listed above contain hundreds or thousand of different kinds of molecules that the brain uses to run smoothly. There is no single ingredient that is better than everything else.

Good food for good thoughts

The more quality materials you give your brain, the better it works. That translates to clearer thinking, better problem solving and increased intelligence and IQ. The more junk you give you brain, the more you gunk it up and that leads to lethargy, increased odds for dementia later in life and a general feeling of blah today – it’s that simple.

You have heard all the healthy food advice in the past. You know what’s good for you and what’s not. If you want to get smarter now and keep your brain sharp into your older years then quality nutrition is something you need. If you don’t care about maintaining your brain function then don’t worry about it. One of my favorite pieces of advice that I have heard is “only brush the teeth you want to keep”.

Here’s another way to think about it. The brain is constantly undergoing construction and demolition. You are building new circuits and taking old ones down all the time. If you are using high quality building materials and have quality tools (through good nutrition) then your new circuits will be stronger and last longer. As we age our construction equipment and tools age as well. But if we keep our repair shops stocked with quality raw materials (good nutrition) then we keep our tools in good working condition and continue to build good circuits. If we don’t (poor nutrition) then our construction equipment and tools begin to fail, our circuits don’t get built correctly, we start to forget things, don’t feel as sharp as we used to and we increase our chance of dementia.

Nutrition is a key part of the brain fitness formula. Simple errors in judgment about what to eat today, compounded over time can only lead to regret. Whereas, simple disciplines today to eat good stuff will lead to life-long vibrant brain health.

By: Simon Evans

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Fitness Nutrition

Increasing weight problem is alarming everyone all around the globe. There is no one happy about the way they look and their weight. Thus, there are so many techniques and diets to ensure weight loss. Only if you would look at the internet you would see that there is so much of information available that one really doesn’t know what to follow. The information from sources which are not regulated like the internet could be spreading wrong facts about diet, weight loss and other nutritional facts. The top nutritional myths that one needs to be cautioned about are:

1-There are certain foods that are said to have negative calorie value. Some of these foods falling under that list would be celery, cucumber or grapefruits. This is a myth. These food need to be chewed better and that burns calories but that doesn’t mean that these would burn the fats. Hence, consuming these foods would not help you burn the fats; though, these could help stopping the further accumulation of fats.

2-Eating mini meals would help you lose weight. This is a myth again. Either you eat 3 meals a day or eat 10 meals a day – as long as you are eating healthy and your calorie intake of the day is not exceeding the amount that you could burn with daily activities or the exercising regime that you might have – you would be quite in shape. Eating 3 meals or 6 mini meals would not make a difference.

3-The fresh fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than the frozen one – this is incorrect. The word fresh here is quite relative. Nowadays the fruits and vegetables are well harvested, processed and packed. This would ensure that their nutrients remain intact at that initial point when these were fresh. At the same time what you pick from the grocery store, are not as fresh as they might look. From the time of harvest till the time they reach the grocery store and till you buy and prepare them the nutrients are lost. Though, no doubt that the taste and texture of the fresh fruits and vegetable is better than the processed one.

4-There are positive and negatives about coffee due to the presence of caffeine. The biggest myth around coffee would be that the decaf has no caffeine.

5-Preferring margarine over butter. As butter can increase the bad cholesterol in the body, people switch to margarine instead – considering that to be a healthier choice. This is a myth. In fact margarine affects the health even more. It not only increases the bad cholesterol levels but at the same time it decreases the good cholesterol levels.

6-Bananas are fatty. This is a myth or rather it is an over exaggerated one. You need to have six average sized bananas to equal the calorie intake of a New York style pizza. In fact, this is a good food to better you immune system.

Like the above there are many more myths about the nutrients. It is very important that before you follow a diet or undertake health regime, the information followed should be from the right resources so that you are not blinded by the nutritional myths like mentioned above.

By: Zena M Andrews

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Muscle Building Tips

The goal of this article is to examine nutritional genomics as a potential tool for individual based nutrition therapy. The genes that were studied were all heart health susceptibility genes and their common genetic variants. The specific genes that were observed in this review were methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP), lipoprotein lipase (LPL), apolipoprotein C-III (Apo C-III), and interleukin 6 (IL-6). The function, genetic variants, and dietary interactions regarding each gene are discussed. Specific dietary recommendations were alluded to, but not confirmed, depending on the type of genes that one possessed.

In order to fully understand the paper, it is important to define the difference between the two sub-categories of nutritional genomics: nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics. Nutrigenomics speaks of the functional interactions that ceratin foods have on the human genome. For instance, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (found in fish oil) increase expression of genes that are involved in fat metabolism and energy, as well as decreasing expression of genes involved in inflammation. Nutrigenetics can be defined as how specific individuals with unique genetic makeups respond to particular foods. For example, the -13910C to T genetic variant effects lactose tolerance. The T allele allows for better metabolism of lactose, while the C allele causes lactose intolerance.

The MTHFR gene is paramount in the metabolism of homocysteine. Studies show that mildly elevated plasm total homosysteine is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The MTHFR gene catalyzes the reduction of 5, 10 methylenetetrahydrofolate to 5-methyltetrahydrofolate. Formation of this 5-product by MTHFR provides units for homocysteine conversion to methionine, therefore if a genetic mutation effects this efficiency of this conversion, elevated levels of homocysteine will be present in the blood. Several polymorphisms of this gene can effect the enzyme efficiency of this gene. It was found that an increase in folate intake by people with these genetic defects will decrease the chance for cardiovascular-related diseases.

The CETP gene is involved in lipid metabolism. This hydrophobic glycoprotein, which is secreted by the liver, decreases the cardioprotective HDL fraction and increases the pro-atherogenic VLDL and LDL fractions in plasma. It is therefore detrimental to increase the activity of this gene beyond normal levels, in regards to cardiovascular health. Several genetic variants, such as the Taq1B variant, cause a reduction in CETP mass and activity. People without out beneficial genetic variants of this gene would benefit from a diet that counters elevated levels of active CETP in the body. Specific dietary advice was not given in this case.

The LPL gene is also involved in lipid metabolism. Specifically, this glycoprotein is involved in the hydrolysis of the triglyceride core of circulating chylomicrons and VLDL. A more active LDL gene is correlated to lower levels of blood triglycerides, which makes it an atheroprotective enzyme. People with the 44Ser-Ter(X) SNP have a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. The identification of any other genetic variant besides this one in a subject, therefore, is a sign for nutrigenetic companies that this person may need additional nutritional considerations. In order to increase LPL expression in individuals who do not carry favorable genetic variants, fish oil has proven to be beneficial in ramping up this genes efficiency. Mulberry, banaba, and korean ginseng have also been shown to increase expression of the LPL gene.

The Apo C-III gene is involved in regulating triglyceride metabolism by affecting lipolysis and receptor-mediated uptake of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Any genetic variant that increases the efficiency of this gene can cause an abnormal amount triglycerides to remain in circulation. This is a definite risk-factor for cardiovascular disease. The most recognized variant of this gene is the SstI variant, which is associated with a 38% increase in blood triglyceride levels. It was found that a diet high in monounsaturated fats is a good way to reduce plasma LDL-C, which is a product of over-expression of the Apo C-III gene. Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) were also found to decrease the efficiency of the Apo C-III gene in SstI variants.

Interleukin 6 genes are important in immune and inflammatory responses in the body, as well as the up-regulation in synthesis of C-reactive proteins. A functional polymorphism as position -174G to C has been associated with an altered expression of the IL-6 gene. Increased levels of IL-6 has been linked to cardiovascular disease, namely, atherosclerosis. Diets that focus on weight reduction have been shown to negate the effects of unfavorable genetic variants of the IL-6 gene. Also, fish oil, alpha-linolenic acid, and vitamin E supplementation have been shown to reduce inflammation. This is especially important for people with genetic variants that increase IL-6 because it increases bodily inflammation.

This is a great paper underlining some of the basic genes that a nutritional genetics company looks for in patients who are concerned about heart health. Specific genetic variants at each gene locus have been found to increase or decrease the risk for attaining any number of cardiovascular diseases. Fish oil seems to be the number one nutritional addition that people with increased risk factors can supplement into their diet, in order to avoid future cardiovascular problems. Its range of benefits span from decreasing the expression of unfavorable genetic variants to decreasing inflammation. As the study of the human genome continues it will be interesting to see how genetic engineering will factor into the mix. If scientists have already found out which genetic variants can increase or decrease health, genetically engineering humans to have favorable genetic variants to constitute their genome will prove to be beneficial to increasing the health of the human population as a whole. Additionally, customizing nutrition based on someone’s personal genotype will prove to be very beneficial.

-Vakili, BS. “Personalized Nutrition: Nutritional Genomics as a Potential Tool for Targeted Medical Nutrition Therapy.” Nutrition Reviews v. 65. July 2007: pg 301-315.

By: Chris Bielke

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Muscle Gain Truth

Understanding ocular nutrition and eye health can be one of the ways to support your vision. As early as in our 30’s, our eyes and vision can begin to deteriorate. Wind, dust, chlorine fumes, automobile fumes, smoking, freezing temperatures and physical injury are examples of threats to healthy eyes and good vision. Long hours spent at a computer screen and the vibration from driving have a cumulative negative impact on eye health over time.

Healthy vision is related to the health of the individual parts of the eye – the cornea, iris, macula, lens, optic nerve, pupil, retina and the vitreous humor. And making good ocular nutrition and eye health food choices are one of the ways that good vision can be supported. Information provided by the U.S. National Eye Institute and the results of other ocular nutrition and eye health studies have shown that using nutrition to improve and support eye health definitely happens.

Here are foods that are known to support and improve eye health:

Collard greens, kale and spinach – studies on ocular nutrition and eye health show that eating foods rich in carotenoids is associated with reduced risk of developing age-related macular degeneration. Foods rich in carotenoids are leafy green vegetables such as spinach, collard greens and kale. Macular eye nutrition becomes increasingly important as we get older.

Green vegetables and corn – another study on ocular nutrition and eye health has shown a reduced risk of developing cataracts for persons having diets higher in lutein and zeaxanthin. Foods high in these two carotenoids include broccoli, collard greens, corn, green peas, kale, romaine lettuce, spinach, turnip greens and zucchini. Lutein is also found in egg yolks. Persons with diets high in lutein and zeaxanthin were also less likely to need cataract surgery. In another study done on persons ages 40-59, those with diets high in lutein and zeaxanthin experienced a reduced risk of developing adult macular degeneration.

Apricots, bilberries and blueberries – apricots are rich in beta carotene and lycopene that help promote good vision. Beta carotene is converted by the body to vitamin A as needed, an important antioxidant that resists oxidative stress damage to cells and tissues including the eye lenses. Continued oxidative stress may result in the development of cataracts or damage the blood supply to the eyes and lead to macular degeneration. Eating blueberries has been associated with the reduction of eye fatigue.

Blueberries are related to cranberries, and both also help the body resist urinary tract infections. Bilberries are a form of wild blueberry that grow on small bushes. Bilberries were used by British pilots to improve their night vision during World War 2. Fresh bilberries and bilberry jams would be sources of this ocular nutrition and eye health food. Bilberry seems to improve eye health by increasing the blood supply to the eyes.

Our eyes are considered to be the most important of the senses. By knowing which ocular nutrition and eye health food choices support the eyes, you can include more of these foods in daily meal planning.

Copyright 2005 InfoSearch Publishing.

By: Olinda Rola

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Building Muscle Fast