Tip: Fixing up Metabolism

Metabolism is a  most common word now in the health and fitness field and most people still don't understand the basics. They just throw around  the word loosely. People are getting caught up on BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate); RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate), Metabolic Set point, etc. I will be dealing with these on a more detailed article later.

Metabolism is simply the amount of calories burnt for the body to function efficiently. That is the simplest definition though there are many things to still understand about how it functions. However it should be understood clearly that metabolism can be affected by conditions like environment, exercise, diet, etc.

My purpose in writing this post is that many have been saying they want to lose weight, or change body composition or the dreaded 'what diet should I be on?' question.

The first step is to assess your metabolism which is done by checking your body temperature. You can do this with a thermometer. The best time to do this is late afternoon or early evening since you have already started running through the day. Do this 4 days in a row. Check your readings with the table below

If it is 37C  (98.6F) you are at optimal and fine.

If it is 36C (97F) your metabolism has been reduced by 10%-20%

If it is 35.5C or below (<97F) your metabolism rate is in pretty rough shape.

If you find your self anywhere below 36C (97F) dont even think of starting a diet. Get back your optimal body temperature first. This requires eating more and supplementation for the first few weeks before you can even launch into a fat loss or body recomposition diet. Ideally, you might want to continue eating about 300- 500 calories more everyday for about 3-4 weeks. You might need a few more weeks but after three weeks measure your body temperature again and see if its pack to optimal and sustaining.

The reason to eat more is simple. You need more energy in the body to raise your metabolism to normal. Supplementation is necessary to cover nutritional deficiencies and in getting hormones to start working correctly again.

Before you get into any kind of weight loss diet , assess yourself first using the method given above and then start to focus on fat loss or diet.

The Overlooked Bases - II: Sleep

In the previous post we looked at hormones and how they majorly impact fitness goals. In this post we are going to look at another important factor -sleep- and how it can affect our goals, and what we can do to enhance our sleep patterns.

Sleep. One of the most blissful blessings that mankind has been given to enjoy. Most of us know what it is to enjoy a good sleep especially at nights. We wake up fresh, rested, mentally alert and our productivity for the day is high. We are more calmer, solve problems better and above all stay at peak health.

However, in spite of all its benefits, in the last few years sleep seems to have lost its purpose and priority. The right quantity and quality of sleep is being compromised. I am not talking about necessary situations that arise due to natural circumstances of life or the missing of sleep for a few days because of some heavy work load which occasionally comes up. I'm talking about sleep not being prioritised in the light of accepting heavy workloads in which people are ready to compromise sleep months at a time, staying up late nights watching TV, partying or hanging out with friends.
I don't have a problem with those activities but there is a lack of sleep epedimic which is coming about by not prioritising sleep. Some things lack of sleep leads to are:

1) Poor Health
2) Decreased and compromised immunity
3) Massive hormonal imbalance
4) Digestive system disorders
5) Lack of productivity
6) Decrease in mental alertness
7) Unable to lose weight or gain weight.

I remember having a conversation with a client who was struggling to lose weight.

Me: 'You are improving, but your progress is too slow. Since your training and nutrition is going fine you will have to work on your sleep.......'

Client: 'Oh forget about it till mid next year. I just have too much work'.

I felt really bad for him. I felt bad because this was in his hands to control yet he couldn't prioritise his health correctly. Not only was did he have a problem with belly fat, he also couldnt see the effect of what he was doing. He could fall seriously ill with massive problems and then not be able to work and also jeopardise his family. This is not a problem I had as a one off. This is a constant recurring problem I come across with a lot of people.

From my own personal experience I can give examples of proper sleep. If I get less sleep three to four days in a row my immunity drops and my fitness goals and productivity come to a halt. I also remember about 6 months ago, I needed to lose some weight and my wife needed to gain some weight. We were wrestling with these problems for well over a year and a half. We were exercising regularly and appropriately and also eating well but we just were not making progress. Finally, I
was led to check our sleeping habits. I corrected our nightly sleep patterns and introduced afternoon naps. Within 2 weeks our results came - I dropped weight rapidly and my wife started to gain weight. Also our immunity was at superb level.

Here are some essential things you can do to improve your sleep.

1) Work with your natural cycle and stick to timings as much as possible: The body slows down and starts preparing to relax around sunset and then go of to sleep. In the morning by the time the first sun rays start to enter the room you should be waking up well rested.

Here are some articles that can be helpful to further understand your biological clock

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/getting/bio-clock

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/your-bodys-internal-clock-and-how-it-affects-your-overall-health/254518/

2) Quantity and Hours of sleep: Its best to get 6-8 hours of sleep. Its best to go to sleep by 10:00 or 10:30 pm and get up by 6 am. As a general guideline, every hour before 12 pm does a lot more to enhance sleep and its benefits.

3) Lighting: As sleep times get closer turn down the lights. Finally, when you go to sleep turn off all lights. The room should be absolutely dark.

4) Temperature: The room should be cool. Not too warm and not too cold. Both the extremes will affect your sleep.

5) Activities before bedtime: Its better to start turning off electronic equipment before bedtime. Turn off the TV, computers and phones at least half hour before going to bed. You can take time to reflect on the day, write, read, plan a bit for the next day, spend time with family, etc..

6) No electronics in the bedroom: Do not keep phones, laptops, TVs in the bedroom. If these are on they have EMG waves emitting from them which interfere with the body pattern. Also the blue light stimulates the pituary gland which makes sleep difficult. Here is an old post of mine dealing with this.

Set this base of your sleep right and take back your health and achieve your goals and lifestyle.

Please feel free to leave comments and share this if you know anyone who needs this.

The Overlooked Bases- I: Hormones

There are overlooked bases when starting out on a fitness or strength building program. Not paying attention to these are what causes delays in goals or stagnating early into your training. In this part we are going to look at hormones.

Today, almost everything in our environment seems to be attacking our health. Most of the food we eat, organic or not, the air we breathe, most supplements and current social and work lifestyles seem to be draining our health. In this chemical and biochemical battle and misplaced lifestyle timing, our hormones take a beating. The onslaught of this outside attack sometimes shows up immediately but a majority of it shows up after a period of time which could be as short as two days or after a period of years.

What are hormones and what do they do?

Hormones are chemical messengers in our body that are secreted by glands in the endocrine system. They are made up of amino acids and are responsible for influencing growth, fertility, moods, emotions etc...

So as you can see these glands and hormones are vital to our well being. Unfortunately with excess pollutants and artificial and unnatural goods, cosmetics and foods, most of our glands and hormones dont work as efficiently as they should. Its a bio- chemical warfare in our bodies.

This is a reason why most times, you cant lose weight, you wont put on size if you need too, you have severe mood swings and sometimes you are just plain tired and depressed all the time. Instead of hormones being in a balance and the right hormones being in a higher count the hormones are imbalanced causing some hormones to shut out completely or the wrong ones to be in excess.

So what can we do?


Here are a few things you can do to boost your hormonal health right away.

1) Start getting a proper quantity and quality of sleep.

2) Cut out refined sugars whereever possible. I would even go so far as to say put an end to it.

3) Eat natural, whole, unprocessed foods.

4) Increase your water intake.

5) Get more sunlight.

6) Supplement correctly, wisely and responsibly.

7) Exercise regularly and choose a correct training plan for you (not the latest fad).

Fortunately the fix is quite simple - Get as close as possible to nature and natural things and consume natural unprocessed stuff. Live in line with the natural laws of life. Remember, simple might not always be easy. Its difficult to suddenly start getting a continuous schedule of sleeping by 10:30pm consistently if you are packed with work. Follow these steps and begin to cover your hormonal bases.

If you know anyone who will benefit from this post please don't hesitate to share it. Feel free to drop me a message if you have any questions to the topic.

Top 5 Weight loss Strategies

Losing weight sounds simple but it can get confusing if you don’t know where to start. This is the top 5 most important things you can do to lose weight and keep it off.

1. Eat Less – This one sounds obvious but it can’t be stressed enough. The only way to lose weight is burn more calories than you consume. One easy way of doing this is eating less. As a matter of fact the only way any of the popular diets cause weight loss is because you end up eating less while you follow them. It doesn’t matter if the diet is low carb, high protein or low fat. As long as you are eating less calories than your basal requirement you will lose weight. The easiest and most effective calorie reducing system I have come across is Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon.
2. Do High Intensity Exercise – High intensity whole body circuit training will ensure that you are burning lots of calories and working all the muscles in your body. This works better than traditional ‘cardio’ workouts for 2 reasons. First high intensity circuits burn more calories than ‘cardio’ can. Two, they build and tone muscle which keeps your metabolism up.
3. Get A Weight Loss Team – Social Support is the most important factor to realizing your weight loss goals. Get as many of your close friends and family on your side as possible. The more people that are pulling for your success the better. Make sure you always have at least two or three people to call that will help keep you on track when you feel like skipping a workout or cheating on your nutrition plan.
4. Eat more Fruits And Vegetables – This seems a bit simple but its one of the most effective things you can do to lose weight. Fruits and veggies take up lots of space in your stomach and fill you up without adding too many calories. They will also take the place of some high sugar and high fat foods you may have eaten instead.
5. Set Short Term Goals – Short term goal setting is often overlooked and is a powerful tool to realizing your eventual long term weight loss goal. Set multiple and attainable short term goals, and the shorter the better. At the start set goals for each day, morning evening and night. Set short term goals for finishing each one of your workouts, as well as for eating your fruits and vegetables. Set them each day, and mark it down each time you achieve one. As you build up your list of goals you have accomplished you will build up confidence and momentum towards your overall long term weight loss goal. Keep the list somewhere safe and keep marking down each goal as you achieve it. After a few weeks you should have a nice looking list of accomplishments to be proud of. Remember, every little bit counts.

Put these 5 strategies into effect and you will be well on your way to achieving your weight loss goals in record time.

3 Dietary Keys that were vital for my fat loss

Since I have just burnt off a lot of fat after my last goal, I decided to focus on a 3 dietary keys that helped me the most.

1) Eat Whole Food: This is so important. I stayed away from processed foods and sugars. I replaced all that with good wholesome food. This meant fresh vegetables and fruits, eggs, raw milk, good quality meat, nuts and seeds.Yes there were times I did do cheat meals but the whole foods gave me a whole new way to eat. Since it was more nutrient dense rather than calorie dense there was need for me to go snacking as often which cut off unnecessary calories.

2) Vegetables: If ever there was one powerful group of foods this one was it! Vegetables have a way of detoxing the body and blunting up insulin. Most of my carbs came from vegetables. Since they were also nutrient dense and rich in fiber, I was quite full and did not have a problem with other starchy carbs when I did eat them.

3) Practice of Intermittent Fasting: This is the biggest one for me. I will be covering a more detailed topic on this later. Intermittent fasting turned out to be a blessing which taught me a lot. I was freed from eating every few hours. It mentally strengthened me. It also helped me when I did do cheat meals and had to balance out the calories. I had more energy, got stronger and the way the food was used up by my body was boosted.

I would strongly recommend incorporating these three steps in your eating habits. If you need any help you can always post a comment on this blog or contact me.

The Basic Fantastic 4 Steps to turn into a Human Torch

Johnny Storm or the Human Torch! Whichever way you look at him one thing is for sure he's got a great metabolism.Its so good he just isn't a star, he turns into a super nova. He set one example for me:

'Its your body. You have a choice whether you want to be a load of lard or an energetic mobile fat blasting furnace with high metabolism.'

The turnaround starts with these 4 basic steps.

1.       Nutrition: Without nutrition in place there is no way you are going to burn fat. Nutrition is the most important factor to fuel the energy needed for the various processes of the body. Stick to real whole foods and avoid processed and refined foods. Keep yourself well hydrated.

2.       Build muscle: If ever there was one thing that burns fat rapidly, even while you are not doing anything its muscle. The more muscle you put on the more fat you will burn. This is why you spend more time building muscle by lifting weights that are challenging to you as it is essential to fat loss.

3.       Conditioning: Conditioning not only preps and develops your energy systems but taps into fat resources. Just 10 minutes of conditioning is enough. You pretty much wouldn’t want to do anything after those 10 minutes. The intensity of the 10 minutes will boost your recovery, improve your oxygen capacity and torch fat.  Conditioning can be sprinting, bodyweight circuits, sled pulling or pushing, swings etc.

4.       Rest and Recovery: You need time to rest and recover. If the body over trains it will create stress which leads to fat retention. Also do not unnecessarily worry about anything. The biggest contribution for stress is worry which releases unpleasant chemical reactions promoting fat retention and fat increase.

This post is short enough but probably a summary list will keep things even simpler for you:

1)      Nutrition: Eat real foods. Stay away from refined and processed foods

2)      Build Muscle: Lift challenging/ heavy weights

3)      Conditioning: Do 10 minutes of conditioning at least 3 times a week.

4)      Rest and Recovery: Sleep well and stop worrying.

In case you have any doubts please find a personal trainer. You are also free to contact me or leave questions in the comments box.

Special Report: Ori Hofmekler on a Raw Food Diet!

The Skinny on the Raw Food Diet

The Skinny on the Raw Food Diet by Ori Hofmekler

The last few decades mark an increasing interest in the correlation

between food enzymes and health. Researchers found an interesting association
between the body's enzyme pool and the aging process - which means, the older
one gets, the fewer enzymes the body will have and the more vulnerable to
disease one becomes. I have addressed this important topic in The Warrior
Diet

book. I have covered the importance of ingesting live enzyme-densefoods (including naturally fermented foods) under the title Enzyme Loading.
Nonetheless, I am quite concerned with the emotional impact of this topic on
health consumers. Those who read articles, such as the one published recently
at Weston A.
Price
may reach the conclusion that unless raw, sprouted or fermented, allfoods are not viable. If this is true, even raw nuts and seeds may not be good
enough in this respect. There is a growing crowd of people who currently follow
the so-called "raw food diet" based on the premise that eating raw
food only (including of course vegetables, fruits, legume sprouts, sprouted
grains, raw dairy and even raw meat and marine food) is the only way to grant
maximum nourishment. Since I've already addressed this topic in The Warrior
Diet
book, let me just note here that the raw food diet misleads people tobelieve that all cooked foods are inferior to all raw foods. The truth is that
in many cases, such as with cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage) and
nightshades (tomatoes, eggplants), the cooked versions of the above are more
digestible and by far more nutritive than the raw version. The active
phytonutrients in broccoli and tomatoes (indoles and lycopene, respectively)
can be released and absorbed hundreds of times more efficiently in the cooked
version.

As for enzymes, certainly enzyme loading from raw, sprouted or fermented

foods is highly beneficial but let's put things in proportion.

First, plant enzymes are not digestive enzymes. They work on a different

pH than the body's digestive enzymes and therefore cannot support digestion
directly.

Second, while some enzymes inhibitors may be harmful (premature sprouts

or uncooked legumes), other enzyme inhibitors can be highly beneficial, such as
some protease inhibitors (phytates) or aromatase inhibitors which have been
found to be potentially anti-cancerous. The notion that nuts and seeds must be
sprouted before ingestion is preposterous. Raw nuts and seeds are perfectly
fine to nourish the human body whether in a sprouted form or not. There are no
harmful inhibitors in mature nuts and seeds and any rancidity or inadequacy in
these foods can be instantly detected via smell or taste.

Third, eating raw meat may seem "Paleolithic and healthy" but

nowadays it can be detrimental. Besides hosting pathological bacterium, meat is
a host substrate for harmful viruses, most notable of which is the toxoplasma
virus that has shown to cause serious neuro damaging effects on animals and
potentially on humans. Eating raw meat today does not make sense, to say the
least.

Fourth, note that the article at Weston A. Price was written by two

ladies to promote the sales of their cooking book.

In conclusion, raw, sprouted and fermented foods are great but it

doesn't make sense to commit to eating these foods only. You can certainly
benefit from eating cooked foods as well with a big bonus of pleasing your
palate with a larger variety of meals.

Do you want to learn more about Ori Hofmekler’s Tenacious Fat Solution kit to help get rid of your stubborn belly fat?

The Tenacious Fat Solution Kit will help you remove hidden

obstacles to weight loss.

Our products have no sugar added (which is groundbreaking),

they are made with all natural products, they are low carb, and they taste
amazingly delicious!

Claim back your body!

Shadow Kickboxing

Hey Everyone!

Today I'm going to be talking about Shadow Kickboxing which I have found to be very effective in my training routine.

I'm sure you have seen those who practice martial arts, boxers or MMA fighters who spend hours just working on their technique, their speed, just throwing punches and kicks with imaginary opponents. That is shadow boxing/ kickboxing.

Anyone who is involved with contact sports as a hobby or professionally will be practicing Shadow kickboxing on a regular basis. It improves response time, speed, foot work, etc

I personally use shadow kickboxing as compared to shadow boxing. The only difference according to me is in shadow boxing you are working with boxing techniques but in shadow kickboxing you are working with punches, kicks, knees elbows, defense even take downs. What does this mean for me? While shadow boxing only conditions my upper body most of the time,  shadow kickboxing conditions my full body. Also it requires no equipment except your body and mind! You could get a pair of gloves if you choose too.

I use it as a:

1) Warm-up
2) A 'finisher' at my training sessions.
3) When I need to lean down quickly
4) Quick fire training when I'm short on time
5) 'Go to' exercise sequence
6) Improve conditioning, co-ordination and speed
7) Also as an assessment to check where my power level is being hindered due to weak or tight muscles.
8) A stress breaker

Most times I schedule for an intense 10 minutes of shadow kickboxing. It can also be combined with strength training. So I would start with 1 minute of punches and kicks and then drop down and do 10 pushups, rest for about 15 seconds, then back again to punches and kicks and start off right away with squats. The combinations that can be worked are plenty so there is no getting bored.

Safety:

1) Always stretch  for at least 2 minutes
2) While learning, start slow. Like everything else in training, technique and form are important. Get comfortable with technique then build speed.
3) Never hyper-extend or lock out your joints when throwing a punch or kick
4) Find a comfortable speed and then increase as you get get comfortable
5) When kicking it is not so much the height that matters, but the technique, power and speed.

If there is one effective all round conditioning technique and you are short on time shadow kickboxing sure fits the bill.  I usually follow krav maga style as it is very reality based, and trains for real world self defense at the same time. Also I found that they have the best teaching style for learning basic strikes.



I leave you with this video of Krav Maga Master Richard Douieb to give you an idea of Shadow Kickboxing

Get Rid of Stubborn Body Fat and Live Happier and Longer

Hi Everyone!

In this post I bring up a topic of Ori Hofmekler on Stubborn Body Fat. Ori has a great understanding and knowledge of nutrition.

Ori is definitely a person who knows what he is talking about and after enlightening the world to his book 'The Warrior Diet' and its concept, he comes out with strategy of hitting stubborn body fat. In further posts I will be posting more articles of Ori and also videos. For today, this is a video I found on YouTube and used the principles from this video and the book 'The Stubborn Belly Fat solution' to successfully enhance my fat loss. The information on the video and the book will not only help remove stubborn fat but can also save your life.

After implementing the principles, I noticed an increase in fat loss and that I was getting stronger and more energetic. My muscle gains were rapidly improving. To review the book click here

Beating Obesity

Yesterday, I read an article in the Times of India confirming yet again obesity is an epidemic in India. The sad part is my hometown of Bangalore ranks at the number 2 standing in the country. I really felt that I should write this post today knowing that I could possibly reach a lot more people who are struggling with obesity across the world.

What is Obesity?

According to the WHO obesity is defined as 'the abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to an individual's health.'

Are you Obese?

Sadly most people have a very wrong idea of obesity. Obesity doesn't necessarily mean you keep look like this:

Would you accept it if I said this could also be obese?

I know better because I battled the same thing and have a lot of clients who are not bursting at their seams but look very normal and are still obese. Did you know that under-nutrition and obesity can live side by side? There are countries facing that epidemic right now. How is it possible? Lets go back to the definition:

'the abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to an individual's health.'

That means in a body composition of a person if the number of fat cells are abnormally in excess that is obesity. Which is why most fad and weight loss programs just drop body weight and turn a huge fat person into a skinny fat person (read my post on Fat Loss made Simple if you don't understand). One of the first things that gets hit in the body once there are excessive fat cells is the immunity system and energy levels leaving you more prone to disease and lifestyle related diseases.This is why its important to have body compositions tracked. The BMI (Body Mass Index) might not always give you the right indication.

Obesity is caused by:

1. Unhealthy Eating Habits
2. Sedentary lifestyle
3. Negative Lifestyle habits ( this includes everything from irregular sleep and work stress to smoking and   hard drinking)

Risks of Obesity:

1. Coronary heart disease
2. Type 2 diabetes
3. Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
4. Hypertension (high blood pressure)
5. Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
6. Stroke
7. Liver and Gallbladder disease
8. Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
9. Osteoarthritis
10. Gynaecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility)
11. Asthma

These conditions can cause or contribute to premature death and substantial disability.

Cardiovascular disease - mainly heart disease and stroke - is already the world's number one cause of death, killing 17 million people each year and diabetes has rapidly become a global epidemic - according to WHO projections diabetes deaths will increase by more than 50% worldwide in the next 10 years.

What do I do now?

1) First thing you do is locate yourself. Get your body composition checked. Get a body fat analyzer. If you don't have one go to my resources page and order one. 

2) Get professional help - go to a GOOD personal trainer and nutritionist. Get your diet on track, supplement if you need too and get some good exercise.

3) Track your progress regularly.

Obesity can be reversed and if detected early can avoid a lot of medical bills and lifestyle related diseases. Take care of your health, get the right information on what to eat and how to exercise and start living healthy.

5 reasons why Fat Loss Workouts are Important

Usually when a person walks in to a gym or wants fitness tips, the first thing they want is tips or workouts to reduce the fat. Other than looking better there are other more important benefits to fat loss workouts - actually they are more important necessities if you consider living healthier, longer and happier.

1) Removes overload of the body - If you had to carry a 50 kg load on your back up 3 flights of stairs what do you think would happen to you? I don't think your back and knees would be in very good shape after 10 steps would it? Now think about your body having to take the strain of excess fat. The joints are strained, your knees and ankles are hurting, the spine and posture are off, the heart is on overload, there is no proper blood flow since there is too much fatty acid and its probably causing a thickening of your veins and arteries with plague which is setting you up for a massive heart attack. Start burning off the fat and you are well on your way to reversing those effects.

2) Stops Excess Estrogen and its viscious cycle- In a previous post I mentioned fat gets you into a viscious cycle. Excess estrogen starts to build up and that in turn starts to produce more fat cells. The more fat cells the more estrogen. A good fat loss program will start to produce testesterone and reduce estrogen. Now you can break that cycle and enter a new one - one that starts to build and maintain muscle.

3) Increased muscle and strength: A good fat burning workout has to include a good strength training program. You get stronger and your muscles start to develop. Strength is the most important aspect of the fitness game and for the body to make place for new strength gains it will increase muscle to accomodate for that.

4) Improves Cardio Vascular and Energy systems-  The heart is a muscle and a strong one at that. However that doesn't mean you can abuse it. Conditioning and energy system training - also known as cardio for the most part- Strengthens the heart and lungs to work stronger and more efficiently. To burn fat conditioning and energy system training is used frequently. You develop more energy, stamina, lose fat and reverse the bodies fat retaining condition to more of a muscle maintenance and muscle building condition which in turn keeps the fat off and helps you stay lean. (Don't overdo the cardio to burn fat. There has to be a big place for strength training.)

5) Looking better, stronger, healthier- Do I really need to explain this? However your appearance in itself have a lot of things to say about you especially if you are in business. The first impression is usually the most important in any situation. Need to meet that new client? Get that important deal? Looking for a life partner. Many times before a person finds out what you have to say, they have already made their opinion of you on your appearance. Looking good helps your confidence and appearance. 

So there you have 5 reasons why you need to prioritize fat loss workouts. Get busy with your fat loss workouts.

   

Fat Loss and Dieting

After much in depth study, confusion, fads, diets, tonnes of information and Minimal time practical application with results on myself and clients, I have finally concluded that dieting for fat loss is really simple.

( just so I make myself clear simple is not always equal to easy!).

My personal example is along with a good weight training program and lifestyle change I lost 7 kgs in 2.5 months! I will be getting into the details of my story at a later post but for right now please get this:

GIGO = GARBAGE IN GARBAGE OUT

Your Fat Loss starts with changing your diet.

I can't tell you exactly which foods you should be eating and which you can't be since each are different individuals and different cultures. However, here are the diet guidelines I followed.

1) Start eating REAL food, stay away from processed foods: Eat real meat, vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy products. The more closer to the original source you get your food from, the better it is. 

2) Eat your vegetables: The best foods for a detox are vegetables. Even for a few meals in a day if you just live on vegetables, it will boost gut health. Salads are a great and tasty way of adding to the vegetable list.

3) Fatten up: Yes, I said it! Eat fats, the healthy kind. Stay away from marketing gimmick labels that say low fat. To get the fat balance right just stick with real meats, eggs, dairy products, nuts. The best oils you can cook in are olive oil and coconut oil.

4) Get rid of the sugar. Sugar is a white devil and the BIGGEST anti-nutrient in your diet. In my case I stopped nearly immediately and started looking for other sources. I do understand some people find it difficult to cut out sugar so make a start somewhere and start working towards healthy replacements of sugar. Raw honey, cinnamon, fruits are excellent sweeteners. I started with changing everything that needed sugar with raw honey. Or you can have fruits that are known for being sweet and just have your beverage without sugar or use that as dessert.Once your taste buds are activated with the sweet taste you really don't care about putting sugar in your beverage.

5) Stop snacking: If your main meals are already good, just stop snacking in between. You do not need excess calories. Usually most snacks are filled with a lot of sugar, unhealthy oils etc.

6) Supplementation: In most cases you are going to need the correct supplementation to jump start the body to correct itself and get it on track..........FAST! .To lose fat, I supplemented with a multivitamin- mineral, fish oil and fiber.Also I had to use vitamin C as it primarily helps with detox and for a short period vitamin E. I highly recommend the Nutrilite brand when it comes to supplements. Please remember supplements are just that- supplements. These can't replace your daily natural food.   

                     

These 5 pointers are things I have personally applied to my diet and watched my body fat drop and energy levels shoot up. I understand that some steps might be too drastic so I suggest make the changes slowly but start somewhere. 

Here are some tips that you could use to get you started with your diet change process.

1) Keep a food journal: To get you on your way, track what you eat whenever you eat. I know this sounds tedious but it will at least tell you where you and the changes you can continue to make.

2) Get guidance: Go to a good fitness trainer or nutritionist. They could point out exactly what your meal schedule should be and what should be added, subtracted or replaced.

3)  Stay accountable: Find someone who you can trust to keep you on track and who will also challenge you and motivate you to reach your goal.

Keep your meals clean and real most of the time. I do know that there are times where its really difficult to follow these rules - there are lunches and dinners to attend, sometimes you just have to eat out while you are on the go, etc. What I am saying is most of the time the choice is yours with what to feed yourself. Think about it in this way - Say you eat three meals a day, 7 days a week i.e. 7 x 3 =  21 times to eat. If you are not eating healthy most of those 21 times don't expect to lose fat and stay healthy. The more number of times you have an opportunity to eat you can either choose to eat healthy or not which will definitely affect your health and fat loss goal.

Defusing a ticking time bomb? (The Importance of Losing fat)

Which one of these scenarios seem really happy?

1) Collapsing at work or home.

2) Doctor giving you a report that you have only a short time to live.

3) Hospital bills eating into your finances.

4) Lying cut open on an operating table.

5) Living day in and day out with a life threatening disease.

Are you happy and smiling at these scenarios?

In each of these lets also add the faces of your beautiful family and children. Can you see their faces at each of these scenarios? Are they really happy and smiling?

Think about it before you answer..................... I'll wait. You are probably saying, 'Gideon, whats the matter with you? Those scenarios are disgusting and no one would be smiling at any of those' To which my reply is, 'EXACTLY! So why are you living like that?'

Many people are ticking bombs and the sad part is they don't even know it. Some are worse - they know it but are too lazy or at least that is their excuse. It really is sad because these people have a lot of unfinished responsibility, got beautiful families, got a whole life ahead of them and are heading towards disaster.

Issues of Unhealthy Body Fat.

1) Lifestyle related diseases are killers. Unhealthy fat stored in the body is a major cause of these diseases. Do you realize that the more unhealthy fat content you have shoots up the work load on your heart? It also stays in your body and causes hypertension, diabetes, obesity, cancers, etc.... This is why its so important to lose unhealthy body fat.

2) The more amount of fat around your waist the greater is the risk of lifestyle related disease. Remember however this is only one indicator.

3) The more fat you have on your upper body as well adds to the issue of problems with the knees, ankles and feet.

4) Excess fat also causes more estrogen to be produced in the body and more estrogen in turn signals your body to produce more fat and this enters a fatal cycle.

If you do not do something about your fat content the facts are straight forward.............You are a time bomb waiting to go off in any disastrous direction and you do not even know when!

The Good News:

I really am not a doomsday prophet. That is why I offer up the solutions I have seen work and has been proven over the years. Lifestyle related diseases can be avoided if corrective measures start early. They can also be controlled and now some studies are finding out they can also be reversed.

All it takes is prioritizing and a long hard look at your life to decide what you want. Fitness should be a part of your life because your body is designed for it. The first thing you should be aiming for is getting rid of the fat. Get your body fat checked. Its hard to know where you are headed until you

1) Locate yourself
2) Know where you are going.

Do a body composition check. There are a variety of ways the reliable and common ways being skin fold thickness measurements by body calipers and bio-electrical impedence devices. I use the Omron HBF 306 Body Fat analyser. Once you know that you can get a plan to burn fat. Ideally, body fat should be between  12%-18% for men and women should be between 21% to 24%. Fat loss is a simple procedure. It might not be easy getting there but it is simple. I have covered this is my post 'Fat Loss made simple'.

I really hope I this post motivates those who needs it to immediate action............burn off the fat, stay alive!

Time is ticking...............tick-tock......tick-tock........

Fat Loss made Simple

Just so you know right at the start - Knowing what to do to lose fat is simple. It might not be easy but the procedure is simple and no I'm not talking about a quick fix either. So lets start at some of the most common problems and then we can look at the solution.

Problems

 'It's easy to lose fat, its keeping it off that's the problem!'

1) Confusion

Body weight is not the same as body fat. Body fat makes up a part of body weight. The more fat you have the more unhealthy it is and is an indicator for more lifestyle related disease. The weighing scale is not necessarily your best friend when you are on a diet because you would not know exactly what weight you are losing - is it lean muscle or is it fat? 2 things that I use to measure my progress is a body composition monitor and a mirror. Its amazing how truthful the mirror can be and that's why sometimes it takes guts and honesty to look into the mirror and take a long hard look at your self. So now we know when we talk of losing weight we actually mean losing fat.

2) Not knowing what to do.

People have tried diets, exercises or maybe even honestly wanted to go on a diet and exercise but just not known how to work their schedule for it to make time. If you are looking at a realistic view of how long and a program of exercise and nutrition to fit your schedule. I would say invest in a good fitness trainer (read my article 'What does a fitness trainer do?'). The reason being you might start to lose fat but you can also quickly yo-yo back to being fat and worse still come back with fat content than when you first started.

Solution

Here is the fat loss process

1) Clean up your eating - The number one step is watch what you eat and how much you eat. You are not a Garbage bin. Stop cramming yourself with so much food - especially processed foods! Not only are you adding unnecessary calories they are calories that have no nutritional value whatsoever. We call stuff like that trash. As much as possible stick to meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts - anything natural. Once the nutrient value goes up you will be eating lesser but be a lot more satisfied. You hit two birds with one stone - You are full as well as you  have good nutrients in your system. Remember GIGO (Garbage in Garbage out)

2) Exercise - The best exercise protocol that works is Weight training along with conditioning (otherwise known as 'cardio'). Weight training keeps up or puts on lean muscle mass. The more lean muscle you have the higher metabolism to burn fat off and keep it off. Conditioning helps with burning off existing fat that has already been stored in the body.

3) Rest and relaxation- You need to get proper rest. That includes a proper amount of sleep everyday and just taking a break from stressful situations. If you are over-stressed or overworked the biochemistry of the body turns negative and releases chemicals that actually assist fat gain.

4) Supplementation - Supplements are the insurance policy to cover something in your diet that could be missing for various reasons. Do not take supplements as a quick fix. It doesn't work that way. If you do take it that way you are going to have serious trouble in reaching your goals. Take the right supplements. Usually a multivitamin and fish oil work pretty well.  

There you have it. Fat Loss at its basic. Go ahead and get started........