The Top 3 Things to AVOID at Restaurants to Stay Lean and Healthy

The Top 3 Things to to Stay Lean and Healthy,AVOID these at Restaurants

 The Truth about Six-Pack Abs

I have been traveling a lot away on business this year, and I have noticed that it is very eas to fall into the junk food trap when you are away from home.

Lets face it there are not many healthy options on the high street, so you find yourself just grabbing a quick burger.

In fact, eating out at restaurants frequently is one of the biggest reasons why so many people fatten up while traveling.

But there are a few tricks available to make eating out much more in keeping to your home diet.

These will help keep the calories down and stay in control.

The 3 most important things to avoid that are EVERYWHERE not just at restaurants are:

• the deep fried foods
• the refined starchy foods
• and any sodas, juices, or other sugary foods (except whole fruits, which are great)

This eliminates the major food sources that do the worst damage in our food supply - the evil trans fats, the inflammatory refined vegetable oils, refined starches, and processed sugars.

This means trying to cut out the table bread they usually leave for you to snack on, skipping the french fries (that come with every single sandwich on every menu known to man), and reducing all of the large portions of rice and pasta that are often loaded on the plates as well.

Instead, try to order just meat, side vegetables, and a salad, asking for the vegetables or salad as a substitute for the typical fries, rice, or pasta that the meal probably comes with.

Almost every restaurant I've ever been to will always allow me to substitute veggies or a side salad for the fries or chips that almost always come with sandwiches or burgers.

Side note:  It always amazes me how many people scrutinize me because I substitute veggies for fries by telling me that I'm "not living" because I won't eat fries...

Yet they are always the first to complain that they are overweight and have "tried everything", yet can't lose weight.  I'm not sure why so many people think eating french fries equals "living it up"... I'm all for moderation with many things, but if there's 2 things that should be almost totally removed from everyone's diet because these foods are simply that evil... it's fries and sodas!

Take a look at the typical difference this simple substitution makes between choosing smart and doing what most people do...

Most people will eat a meal out such as this:

• Sandwich or burger
• fries or chips
• soda or other sweetened drink

A MUCH smarter alternative for a leaner, healthier body is very simply this:

• Sandwich or burger
• veggies or salad
• unsweetened iced tea or water with lemon (and no diet drinks -- unless you enjoy drinking carcinogenic poisonous artificial sweetener chemicals).

These 2 simple substitutions save at least 400 - 900 calories EACH time you dine out (depending on drink refills and fries portion sizes)... AND you're cutting out the most harmful foods to your body as well by avoiding the trannies and high fructose corn syrup.

Also, it may be rare to find this in most restaurants, but if you can find some that offer much healthier grass-fed beef burgers, it's a much smarter decision compared to grain fattened beef.

Side note:  a little-known way to eat full portions of rice, pasta, and breads and actually get away with it without packing on the bodyfat is to make sure to schedule a high intensity full body resistance training workout before your scheduled meal time.

Sometimes it may be hard to fit the workout into your schedule right before the meal event, but if you can, the meal can be your "post-workout meal", in which case, your body can handle a higher amount of carbs than normal to help replenish the muscle glycogen depletion you had during the intense workout.

A cardio workout WON'T cut it for this... it must be high intensity resistance training to deplete enough muscle glycogen to handle restaurant portions of carbohydrates.

I hope these dining tips help you choose smarter and healthier next time you eat out. Feel free to share this article with your friends.

http://www.getabsatlast.com/

Eating what you want for one day a week can actually help you shed the pounds

Eating what you want for one day a week can actually help you shed the pounds.



Some times all this watching the calories and what you eat to lose weight can get a bit boring and get you down.
But do not despair today I have some good news for you.
Actually taking one day off a week from your diet actually helps weight loss, yes it’s true.

I usually take my day off on a Sunday but it doesn’t matter which day of the week you chose.

It give me the chance to stuff my face with ice cream, pizza chocolate and all my old favorite’s, to be honest at the end of the day I am a little bit nauseous and I do not want to see any more treats for the rest of the week.

So how can this help you lose weight? I hear you ask

Well dramatically increasing you caloric intake just once a week increases fat loss by ensuring that you metabolic rate (thyroid function, etc) doesn’t down regulate from extended caloric restriction.

In other words when you diet for an extended period your body adjusts to the lower food intake and you can find it very difficult to lose any more weight.

Who would have thought eating pure crap one day a week could actually help you shift the pounds.

Yipeeee anyone for ice cream?

http://www.greatnnatural.com/

Get your cardio done in under 20 minutes!

If your like me and do not enjoy endless hours of cardio training trying to burn off stubborn body fat then read on.

One thing I have never enjoyed or included in my routine is the hours of jogging either on road or on the treadmill, I find it so boring not to mention the damage the long term impact can have on your knee joints.

Don’t get me wrong running has helped a lot of people achieve their fitness goals but I found it is just not for me.

The truth is you really do not need to run at all to achieve a toned fit body.

There is another great way to complete a cardio workout in only 15-20 minutes and get your heart pumping plus work all your major muscle groups at the same time.


Yes I am talking about the good old tried and tested rowing machine.

Rowing machines have moved on a great deal from the old flimsy looking models people used to hide under their beds.

They are now state of the art machines which can be programmed to give you a very intense workout all in under 20 minutes.

You could easily include this before or after your weights session to really get your body to shed the pounds and build lean muscle.

Here's how a rowing machine could help your weight or other exercise fitness:

.Uses upper leg muscles

.Uses shoulders

.Tones majority of muscle groups and helps improve power

.Burns fat fast and therefore keeps weight down

.Increases lung capacity

.Impact free, so less chance of injuries

.Allows you to monitor your fitness levels, by comparing your previous times

.Panders to your competitive nature!

.Enables you to do speed work or slower longer sessions

.Rowing machines are hard work, so you feel mentally as well as physically that you’ve had a good workout.

.Easy to increase resistance

With all this going for them, why wouldn’t you want to include them as part of your training schedule?


http://www.getabsatlast.com/

Secret List of fat burning foods

List of Best Fat Burning Foods.




There are many foods which can aid the body in the natural fat burning process.
But before we get to the list of fat burning foods, it is important to understand the reasons we accumulate fat in the first place.

The process of fat accumalatation


A body needs food for acquiring the energy to feed/sustain its cells and for performing internal and external functions.

The energy present in a food can be measured loosely in terms of “calories”. The more calories that are present in a food, the more fuel/energy that the body can get from it. The body also needs to expend energy in order to digest the foods to get energy from them – so a small percentage of old fuel is burnt off in the process of acquiring new fuel.

The harder the food is to digest the more energy is expended by the body to digest it.

Macro-nutrients and their calories – There are three macro-nutrients, or fuel units, that can be present in a food – Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat. Fact, 1g of protein yields 4 calories, 1g of carbohydrate yields 4 calories and 1g of fat yields 9 calories. So basically fats can provide more (double) calories to the body compared to the other two nutrient units.

But please refrain from coming to the conclusion that fats are bad for you, they are not. Many healthy fats are essential for the harmonious functioning of the body and foods that provide these fats need to be an integral part of your diet.
The process of fat deposition in the body – When you consume foods, the body gets the fuel in the form of carbohydrates, proteins or fats. It starts generating energy from these fuels through the process of digestion and assimilation.

The body uses up a part of the fuel to fulfill its sustenance, and functional, requirements and the excess fuel is stored up eventually in the form of “Fat” in the “fat cells” of your body, some amount of fat is also stored around the kidneys and in the liver.


The reason for the “Flab” – One important point to understand is that a human body, under normal conditions, has “limited” fat cells and there is a limit to how much fat can be stored up in these cells. Once these cells reach their limit, the fats start getting stored up in muscle linings.

Fat cells are usually present in the regions of your chest, waist and hips. As more fats get deposited in these cells, the larger they grow in size and this enlargement is what shows up as flab around the chest, waist and hip regions in men and women. Once the fat cells reach the limit of their expansion, the fats start getting stored in the muscle linings of arms and thighs creating flabbiness in these limbs also.

How can foods help burn fat in the body?


Once you understand the process of fat deposition, you would question as to how a food can ever help in burning fat when it’s a source of calorie, and hence a possible source of fat creation rather than fat reduction. It’s true that all foods can be a possible sources of fat creation, but certain foods can help burn fat or reduce fat in the following ways.

• Some foods contain certain vitamins or minerals that help improve the metabolism, and improve the fat burning capacity, of the body and act as virtual fat burners.

• Some foods contain less calories while requiring more complex digestion and assimilation causing the expenditure of energy and thus acting as virtual calorie burners

• Some foods create a sense of satiation even when consumed in small amounts while also being low of calories

• Certain means of cooking reduces the calorie profile of the food and thus helps in reduce fat creation.

Eating these foods, in the right quantities, over a period of time will ensure that the fat profile starts reducing. When we talk about burning fat it also includes foods that help reduce the possibility of new fat creation, because this would indirectly help you burn fat at a faster pace through your activities (like
exercising).

A list of practical foods for burning fat (and reducing fat deposition)
A lot of people try to starve their nutrition in a bid to reduce fat. This approach can have spurious effects on the harmony of the body and is not a wise or healthy way to reduce fat.

The right way to reduce fats would be to eat foods that reduce the possibility of further fat deposition, or foods that assist in burning fats, while also taking up calorie-burning exercises (like aerobics, yoga and resistance/weight training) to use up the past-stored fat in your body. So here’s a compiled list of some easily available foods that can help in this process of burning fats or reducing the fat profile of your body.

Citrus Fruits


I would rank these as the best fat burning foods around. Eating a breakfast of citrus fruits, or other Vitamin C rich fruits, is one the best ways to start reducing the fat profile of your body. Citrus fruits provide the body with easy energy to hike up its metabolism while also supplying a rich amount of Vitamin C which is scientifically known to help burn fat as it’s a vital chemical used by the body in the process of fat metabolism.

Some citrus fruits you can try are Oranges, Kiwi fruit, Grape fruit, Tangerines, Kumquats, Clementine and Fresh Lime. While fruits like Strawberries, Apples, Tomatoes, Plums, Grapes, Cherries, Raspberries, are also good sources of vitamin C. Depending on your budget, and fruit availability, try to use a mix of these fruits for your breakfast to combine health with taste. You can also try out a “citrus fruit only” breakfast for a few weeks to see how effectively it helps in burning fat around your waist and hips. I’ve personally seen excellent results with this method of eating a fruit only breakfast.

Fruits in general are excellent foods for fat reduction because they are natural, they are rich in vitamins & minerals, high in water content and low on calories compared to refined foods. Fruits are known to improve body metabolism and reduce bad cholesterol. Papaya, bananas, mangoes, sapote, pomegranates and blueberries make for excellent snack foods as well as breakfast foods.

Oats


The benefit of eating cereals like Oats is that they contain a huge proportion of their calorie profile in terms of insoluble fiber. This insoluble fiber not only gives you a feeling of satiation and thus keeps you from feeling hungry for a long time but also does not contribute to any calorie addition to the body. In fact, any foods that contain a good amount of insoluble fiber would help you in the process of reducing the fat profile of the body. Raisin and Barn cereal is another good example of breakfast food that’s rich in insoluble fiber, so is cooked barley.

Vegetables

Except for certain calorie rich vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes or yams, most other vegetables have a low calorie profile while containing essential minerals and vitamin that improve the metabolism of the body. When you eat potatoes, if possible, cook them with their skin on because their skin is a good source of insoluble fiber. Veggies like broccoli, spinach, artichoke, lima beans, peas, cabbage and carrots are excellent sources of minerals while being low on calories. Veggies don’t contain fats either and their carbohydrate count is very low (even compared to fruits).
Cucumbers are excellent as a salad food, low on calories and rich in water content.
The best way to cook veggies would be to boil them or stir fry them with healthy oils like olive oil, sunflower oil, Soybean oil or sesame oil.

Lentils


These foods, also known as edible pulses, are not only filling and nutritious (in terms of minerals) but are also low on calories and rich in plant proteins/amino-acids. In countries like India, it’s very traditional to have lentil soups, broth and gravies with breads (wheat rotis) and rice. You can also make several food items using the flour of ground lentils. They are excellent sources of dietary fiber and are known to lower the bad-cholesterol (and thus contribute to heart health).

Poultry

If you are a non-vegetarian it would be a good option to eat more poultry than red meats. Poultry like chicken are low on fats and carbohydrates while have a good protein profile. Proteins are not only more complex to digest & assimilate (and thus require a higher expenditure of energy) but they also require more energy to be stored as fats. Go in for lean cuts and avoid eating the skin of the poultry as it contains a lot of fat. Red meats, or white meats, from lamb, beef or pork, can be consumed in moderate quantities a few times a week, instead of eating them regularly in your diet, because they have a high fat profile (but these meat are a good source of minerals and proteins that can assist in the over-all health of the body when consumed in moderation).

Eggs

An average adult can consume one or two eggs a day (whole eggs with yolk) and obtain necessary protein and minerals from it while also keep a low calorie profile. Eggs are not high on calories and are also low on unhealthy fats. The possibility of a variety of food preparations using eggs make them ideal as snack foods as well as regular meal foods. It’s been found, in many studies, that eggs don’t contribute to increasing your bad cholesterol profile but can serve to improve your good cholesterol (necessary for a healthy body) when eaten in moderation.

Almonds and walnuts

These are excellent snack foods and can help you feel satiated with just a fistful of these nuts. These nuts are a great source of healthy fats. It has been seen that people who don’t consume healthy fats are more likely to gain weight than people who do. This is the reason why it’s very imprudent to eliminate healthy fats from your diet in a bid to reduce weight. Remember that healthy fats are needed for a harmonious functioning of the body because most of the body’s cell structure is made from these fats.

Salmon

Fish is a good source of protein and healthy fats (rich in omega-3, omega-6 fatty acids), and makes for a great lunch or dinner meal. Salmon, mackerel, trout and tuna are not only tasty but are excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acids while also being low on calories and saturated fat content.

Water

Though water would not count as a food, because it has no calories, it would need to mentioned that water helps improve the over-all metabolism of the body and thus helps burn fat. And of course, water helps flush out toxins and thus improves the capacity of the body to stay healthy. Certain foods are rich in their water content and thus help in the process of fat reduction (also foods rich in water content make you feel satiated quickly), some examples are water melons, cantaloupes, cucumbers, snake gourd, papaya and chard.

The benefit of eating these water rich foods is that they supply minerals (electrolytes) along with water and hence do not cause “water intoxication” which can results from drinking too much water while not balancing out the minerals (especially during work outs).

In conclusion

Whole foods are better than refined or processed foods when it comes to reducing the fat profile of the body. If there is a choice between a processed foods (like pastries, pizza, pasta etc) and whole foods (like milk, eggs, chicken, vegetables and fruits), make it your second nature to make a bee-line for the latter. You can use the list of fat burning foods, given above, to come up with ideas for your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks on a daily basis to keep it enjoyable and healthy at the same time. Of course, don’t be hard on yourself – it’s totally okay to eat/drink foods that you like (that may not be totally healthy) once in a while in moderation, just don’t overdo it and make sure you workout or exercise to burn off the excess calories.

www.getabsatlast.com

The Top 3 Fat Burning Foods - Surprising Hidden Gems

In all of my years as a professional Nutrition Specialist, I've noticed that most people are shocked to hear some of my picks for the top fat burning foods that are best for weight loss and good health.

I won't bore you with all of the typical "healthy foods" that you hear about all of the time such as fruits and veggies... everybody knows those. Instead, I'm going to show you some shockers that most people don't realize are super healthy foods for fat loss.

1. Egg Yolks - yes, that's right... full fatty egg yolks with all of their fat and cholesterol. By the way, you've been mislead about the cholesterol in egg yolks -- it actually raises your GOOD cholesterol and helps balance proper ratios, so don't be afraid of the fat and cholesterol in these little nutrition power packed gems. And if you choose cage-free eggs from free roaming hens, the omega-3 content is higher with a more balanced fat profile.

Egg yolks are also one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet in terms of vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients. Trying to list all of the vital nutrients in egg yolks would take up an entire page so I won't even try that here. Just realize that egg yolks should NOT be avoided in favor of egg whites. Even the protein is more bioavailable when you include the yolks!

So don't be afraid to eat those delicious and healthy eggs and start burning belly fat faster.

2. Avocados - This is yet another "fatty food" that is also one of the best fat burning foods! Not only that, but avocados make just about everything creamier and more delicious. They are also power-packed with healthy fats, fiber, and antioxidants, as well as vitamins and minerals. The healthy fat in avocados also helps control appetite and fat burning hormones in your body.

Try adding avocado slices or guacamole to everything from morning eggs, salads, sandwiches, and burgers, and starting burning body fat faster! I would definitely consider avocados one of the best healthy super foods.

3. Grass-fed beef - While most beef you see at the grocery store is grain fed beef from cattle that are in poor health and has lower nutrition values and omega-6 to omega-3 fat ratios that are far out of whack, there is a better option... and that is Grass-Fed Beef!

Grass-fed beef is known to have much higher levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids and lower omega-6 fats (which most people get too much of anyway). Grass-fed beef also contains higher levels of many vitamins and minerals, as well as containing high levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is a healthy fat that is known to help muscle building and fat burning.

So don't be afraid to live it up a little and eat more beef, as long as you choose healthy grass-fed beef instead of grain fed beef. Enjoy and start burning more body fat with these so called "fatty" foods!

If you want to lose body fat faster, check out these 5 tips to Burn Stomach Fat the smart and effective way.
Enjoy, and good luck with your fitness endeavors!
Mike Geary

Author - The Truth about Six Pack Abs

A Type of Trans Fat That Burns Belly Fat?

A Type of Trans Fat That Burns Belly Fat?

As a Certified Nutrition Specialist, I usually shock people with this fact... it's true that there is a type of healthy natural trans fat that actually helps you to burn off abdominal fat.

Sounds far fetched, but it's true.

First of all, as I'm sure you've heard a million times by now, artificial trans fats in our food supply from hydrogenated oils are one of the most unhealthy foods (if you can actually call it suitable to eat) you can put in your body. Artificial trans fats cause everything from obesity to various cancers to heart disease, and more. They are pure evil, and everyone knows by now that this is a fact.

Stay away from artificial trans fats from hydrogenated oils at all costs!

However, what most people don't know is that there is a specific type of natural trans fat (yes, it occurs naturally) that can actually stimulate fat loss and lean muscle building.

This specific type of natural trans fat actually occurs in the meat and milk from ruminant animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, venison, bison, kangaroo, etc. It is called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and is not only known to help prevent cancer, but is also a potent fat burner.

CLA is highest when these animals are grass-fed instead of grain-fed.

Now before you think that you can just buy the CLA supplements that you'll see most supplement stores selling...

WARNING: Do not buy CLA supplements! The only form of healthy CLA is from grass-fed ruminant animals such as grass-fed beef, bison, lamb, etc. The CLA that's found in CLA pills is an artificially created form that is a different isomer than the natural CLA isomer found in grass-fed meat or dairy. The CLA isomer in the pills is NOT a healthy form, and will not benefit you.

Only the CLA that you get naturally from grass-fed ruminant meats actually has health benefits and can help increase fat burning (particularly from stomach fat) and building lean muscle, which helps increase your metabolism.

While most trans fats (the artificial ones) will just make you unhealthy and fat, now you know that there actually is such a thing as a healthy natural trans fat that makes you burn fat instead!

If you liked this unique tip to burn belly fat with grass fed meats, I have tons more Fat Burning Tips here to give you a leaner, healthier body.

Enjoy... and good luck on your lean healthy body!

Mike Geary
Author of the best-seller: The Truth about Six Pack Abs

Does Canned Food and Bottled Water Increase Your Abdominal Fat Through Hidden Chemicals?

...and 9 Tips to Minimize Your Exposure to these Harmful Chemicals

by Mike Geary - Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best-selling program - The Truth About 6-Pack Abs

You may have started hearing in the news about some of the hidden chemicals that might be lurking in your canned foods and bottled water and other drinks. Some of them are known as xenoestrogens, which have the potential to cause serious health problems over time, as well as increase abdominal fat from the estrogenic effect.

Today, I want to share with you some important details about one of the MOST problematic chemicals that you're being exposed to specifically from canned foods and bottled drinks, etc...

It's called Bisphenol A (BPA).

BPA can be found as a component of some types of plastic bottles, and also in the lining inside of canned foods.

Since BPA is a known "xenoestrogen", it's been linked in animal studies (at surprisingly small doses) to all sorts of various health issues such as cancer, metabolic disorders, heart disease, diabetes, and fertility problems and birth defects or miscarriages... and of course, any xenoestrogens in large enough amounts can trigger your body to hold onto abdominal fat (aka - stubborn belly fat).

The major offenders to look for are polycarbonate bottles (some plastics with the #7 symbol on the bottom are polycarbonate, but not all) and also canned foods, since the lining of most canned foods contains BPA, which can leach into food. The longer that a can of food sits on a shelf and the higher the temperature, the more BPA can leach into your food. The same can be said for polycarbonate bottles that contain food or drinks.

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), BPA was detected in the bodies of 95% of Americans in one CDC study (this is a worldwide issue though, not just limited to the US). This is nothing to shrug off either... look at this scary finding...

The Environmental Working Group reports, "analysis of our tests reveals that for one of every five cans tested, and for one-third of all vegetables and pastas (ravioli and noodles with tomato sauce), a single serving would expose a pregnant woman to BPA at levels that fall within a factor of 5 of doses linked to birth defects — permanent damage of developing male reproductive organs".

If that didn't get your attention, how about this...

The EWG also reports evidence of... "An investigation demonstrating that low doses of BPA spur both the formation and growth of fat cells, the two factors that drive obesity in humans (Masumo et al. 2002)."

This is not surprising, since as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, BPA is a known xenoestrogen, and any xenoestrogens can contribute to what's been referred to as "stubborn abdominal fat" as well as cancer and other health problems.

It's also important to note that any canned tomato products (canned ravioli, pastas, canned tomato pastes, tomato sauces, etc) are some of the biggest offenders with the highest BPA concentrations due to the acidic nature of tomatoes, which leaches more of the BPA.

So what steps can you take to minimize your exposure to BPA and it's negative effects on bodyfat and other health risks?

1. Try to always avoid canned foods as much as possible and choose frozen or fresh foods instead. Buy the ingredients yourself and prepare the meal the old fashioned way instead of resorting to canned foods. Also, a better alternative to canned foods is products in glass containers.

2. If you do resort to using canned foods instead of fresh foods, try to find labels that say that the cans are free of BPA.

3. If you need tomato products, always avoid canned varieties and search for tomato sauces, pastes, etc in glass bottles instead (unless the can specifically states that it is BPA-free). Or just make your own tomato dishes from scratch with fresh tomatoes.

4. If you use plastic wrap, plastic ziplock bags, plastic containers for food storage, etc, try to investigate on the label if the product is BPA-free or not. Some brands packaging will label if their products are BPA-free.

5. If you for some reason choose to use a microwave with your food (which by the way, microwaved food is thought to have negative health effects), then by all means, do not microwave the food in plastic containers as it can increase the leaching of chemicals including BPA.

6. If you drink bottled water, or water from reusable plastic bottles, make sure that it is not a polycarbonate bottle, or make sure that the label says BPA-free. Plastic that shows #7 on the bottom will sometimes contain BPA, but not always. If a bottle shows "PC" on the bottom, it is made from polycarbonate, so it will contain BPA. In addition, sometimes aluminum bottles will contain a lining that has BPA, so avoid these.

7. Avoid soda cans, as the EWG states analysis showed that 42% of soda cans contained BPA. Of course, if you care about your health and your body, I'm sure you never drink soda anyway -- it's pure evil for your body... and yes, that includes unhealthy diet soda too, with it's dangerous artificial sweeteners.

8. Never use plastic cups for hot liquids such as hot tea or coffee, as this can accelerate leaching of BPA and other chemicals, depending on the type of plastic.

9. As much as you can try to avoid BPA and other xenoestrogens, you will most likely still be exposed to some levels of xenoestrogens from various chemicals in your foods (from pesticide/herbicide residues, packaging chemicals, etc), chemicals in your water supply, chemicals from cosmetics, lotions, etc.

However, you can help to protect yourself and counteract these harmful xenoestrogen chemicals in your body with certain powerful phytonutrients in foods like onions, garlic, chamomile and green teas, and cruciferious vegetables. In fact, read this article to see how 3 specific veggies can help you to fight abdominal fat by counteracting xenoestrogens.

If you stick to most of these guidelines, you can help to protect yourself and your family from the health dangers of bisphenol-A (BPA). And you can also help protect yourself against the issue of "stubborn abdominal fat" that can be caused by the xenoestrogen effect of BPA exposure too... which I'm sure you'd rather avoid!

http://www.getabsatlast.com/

The Salad Dressing You Should NEVER Eat -- and my Alternative Super-Healthy Recipe

by Mike Geary - Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best-selling program: The Truth About Six Pack Abs

If you want to eat truly healthy, support your fat loss goals, and avoid some of the nasty additives in processed food, one thing you should eliminate is typical store-bought salad dressing.

I personally NEVER buy pre-made salad dressings from the store anymore, and here's why:

1. Almost all store-bought salad dressings contain fairly large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Unless you're in a health food store, it's almost impossible to find a salad dressing that doesn't contain large amounts of HFCS.

2. Almost all store-bought salad dressings contain heavily refined soybean oil and/or refined canola oil... both of which are VERY unhealthy. Yes, that's correct, canola oil IS unhealthy, despite the marketing propaganda you've been fed claiming that it's healthy. You can read more about why canola oil is NOT healthy here.

Due to the refining process of both soybean or canola oils, the polyunsaturated component of the oils is oxidized and makes these oils very inflammatory inside your body. In addition, soybean oil is WAY too high in omega-6 fatty acids which throws your omega-6 to omega-3 balance out of whack.

We know that olive oil is healthier, but when it comes to store-bought dressings... Even salad dressings that claim to be "made with olive oil" on the FRONT label are deceptive, because if you read the ingredients on the BACK label, they are almost ALWAYS made of mostly refined soybean oil or canola oil as the main oil, with only a very small amount of actual olive oil as a secondary oil.

So here's how to avoid all of these horrendously unhealthy store-bought salad dressings and make your own quick and easy SUPER-healthy dressing...

My Quick and Easy Recipe for Super-Healthy Salad Dressing

Geary's Healthy-Fat Blend Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Fill your salad dressing container with these approximate ratios of liquids:

•1/3rd of container filled with balsamic vinegar
•1/3rd of container filled with apple cider vinegar
•fill the remaining 1/3rd of container with equal parts of extra virgin olive oil and "Udo's Choice EFA Oil Blend"
•Add just a small touch (approx 1 or 2 teaspoons) of real maple syrup
•Add a little bit of onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper and then shake the container to mix all ingredients well.
This homemade salad dressing mixture is delicious and healthy, and I pretty much never get tired of it!

The reason I choose to blend the extra virgin olive oil half & half with the Udo's Choice Oil is that they make up for what each lacks... Although extra virgin olive oil is healthy and contains important antioxidants, it is mostly monounsaturated, and is low in the essential fatty acids (EFAs). The Udo's Choice Oil is higher in unrefined polyunsaturated oils with a good healthy balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.

There are several variations of the Udo's Choice Oil, and one of them (labeled DHA 3-6-9 Blend) even contains a DHA algae oil blended into the mix along with organic flax oil, coconut oil, evening primrose oil, rice bran oil, oat germ and bran oil, and a few others.

Overall, blending Udo's Oil with extra virgin olive oil makes nearly a perfect oil blend for salad dressings with a great taste and maximum health benefits. If you can't find Udo's Choice Oil Blends (you can find Udo's at almost any health food store), there are other EFA oil blends on the market...just make sure that they are COLD-processed to protect the EFAs. You should never heat an EFA oil blend!

Give this homemade super-healthy salad dressing a try! You'll do your body a favor by avoiding the harmful additives in store-bought salad dressings.

Enjoy!

http://www.getabsatlast.com/

Are Whole Eggs or Egg Whites Better for You?

Are Whole Eggs or Egg Whites Better for You?

 BY Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer Author - The Truth About 6-Pack Abs

I was on a weekend trip with some friends recently and one of my friends was cooking breakfast for the whole group. I went over to see what he was cooking and saw he was getting ready to make a big batch of eggs.

Well, to my shock and horror, I noticed that he was cracking the eggs open and screening the egg whites into a bowl and throwing out the egg yolks. I asked him why the heck he was throwing out the egg yolks, and he replied something like this...

"because I thought the egg yolks were terrible for you...that's where all the nasty fat and cholesterol is".

And I replied something along the lines of... "you mean that's where all of the nutrition is!"

This is a perfect example of how confused most people are about nutrition. In a world full of misinformation about nutrition, somehow most people now mistakenly think that the egg yolk is the worst part of the egg, when in fact, the YOLK IS THE HEALTHIEST PART OF THE EGG! It's a shame at how many restaurants you can walk into these days and see that the "healthy" breakfast menu always has egg white items instead of whole eggs. Are we really still in the "fat-phobic" 80's?

By throwing out the yolk and only eating egg whites, you're essentially throwing out the most nutrient dense, antioxidant-rich, vitamin and mineral loaded portion of the egg. The yolks contain so many B-vitamins, trace minerals, vitamin A, folate, choline, lutein, and other powerful nutrients... it's not even worth trying to list them all.

In fact, the egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition compared to the yolks.

Even the protein in egg whites isn't as powerful without the yolks to balance out the amino acid profile and make the protein more bio-available. Not to even mention that the egg yolks from free range chickens are loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

Yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg. In addition, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).

And now the common objection I get all the time when I say that the yolks are the most nutritious part of the egg...

"But I heard that whole eggs will skyrocket my cholesterol through the roof"

No, this is FALSE!

First of all, when you eat a food that contains a high amount of dietary cholesterol such as eggs, your body down-regulates it's internal production of cholesterol to balance things out.

On the other hand, if you don't eat enough cholesterol, your body simply produces more since cholesterol has dozens of important vital functions in the body.

And here's where it gets even more interesting...

There have been plenty of studies lately that indicate that eating whole eggs actually raises your good HDL cholesterol to a higher degree than LDL cholesterol, thereby improving your overall cholesterol ratio and blood chemistry.

And 3rd... high cholesterol is NOT a disease! Heart disease is a disease...but high cholesterol is NOT. Cholesterol is actually a VERY important substance in your body and has vitally important functions... it is DEAD WRONG to try to "lower your cholesterol" just because of pharmaceutical companies propaganda that everyone on the planet should be on statin drugs.

If you're interested in this topic of cholesterol specifically, I have another article listed at the bottom of this page about why trying to attack cholesterol is a mistake, and what the REAL deadly risk factors actually are.

In addition, the yolks contain the antioxidant lutein as well as other antioxidants which can help protect you from inflammation within your body (the REAL culprit in heart disease, not dietary cholesterol!), giving yet another reason why the yolks are actually GOOD for you, and not detrimental.

To help bring even more proof that whole eggs are better for you than egg whites, I recently read a University of Connecticut study that showed that a group of men in the study that ate 3 eggs per day for 12 weeks while on a reduced carb, higher fat diet increased their HDL good cholesterol by 20%, while their LDL bad cholesterol stayed the same during the study. However, the group that ate egg substitutes (egg whites) saw no change in either and did not see the improvement in good cholesterol (remember that higher HDL levels are associated with lower risk of heart disease) that the whole egg eaters did.

So I hope we've established that whole eggs are not some evil food that will wreck your body... instead whole eggs are FAR superior to egg whites.

But what about the extra calories in the yolks?

This is actually a non-issue and here's why... even though egg yolks contain more calories than just eating the egg whites, the yolks have such a high micro-nutrient density in those calories, that it increases your overall nutrient density per calorie you consume. Essentially, what this does is help to regulate your appetite for the remainder of the day, so you end up eating less calories overall. In addition, the healthy fats in the egg yolks help to maintain a good level of fat-burning hormones in your body.

Overall, this means that the extra fats (healthy fats) and calories from the yolk are so nutrient-dense that they actually HELP you to burn off body fat!

Also, your normal supermarket eggs coming from mass factory farming just don't compare nutritionally with organic free range eggs from healthy chickens that are allowed to roam freely and eat a more natural diet. Your typical cheap grocery store eggs will have lower nutrient levels and a higher omega-6 level and lower omega-3 level. On the other hand, the cage-free organic eggs from healthier chickens allowed to eat more natural feed and roam freely will have much higher vitamin and mineral levels and a more balanced healthier omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio.

I recently compared eggs I bought at the grocery store with a batch of eggs I got at a farm stand where the chickens were free roaming and healthy.

Most people don't realize that there's a major difference because they've never bought real eggs from healthy chickens... The eggs from the grocery store had pale yellow yolks and thin weak shells. On the other hand, the healthier free range eggs from the local farm had strong thick shells and deep orange colored yolks indicating much higher nutrition levels and carotenoids... and just a healthier egg in general.

This is due to the fact that a free-roaming hen allowed to roam on plenty of land will eat a variety of greens, insects, worms, etc transferring MUCH higher levels of nutrients to the eggs compared to an unhealthy hen that is trapped inside a dark factory farm hen house in horrible conditions and fed nothing but piles of corn and soy. It's a DRASTIC difference in the nutrition that you get from the egg.

So next time a health or fitness professional tells you that egg whites are superior (because of their "fat-phobic" mentality towards dietary fats), you can quietly ignore their advice knowing that you now understand the REAL deal about egg yolks.

And can we all please STOP with this sillyness about eating an omelete with 4-5 egg whites and only 1 egg yolk... If you want real taste and real health benefits, we'd all be better off eating ALL of our eggs with the delicious nutrient-dense yolks.

After all, do you REALLY think that our ancestors thousands of years ago threw out the yolks and only ate the egg whites? NOT A CHANCE! They intuitively knew that all of the nutrition was found in the yolks. But our modern society has been brainwashed with misinformation about fats and cholesterol.

Another interesting study about eggs...

I read a study recently that compared groups of people that ate egg breakfasts vs groups of people that ate cereal or bagel-based breakfasts. The results of the study showed that the egg eaters lost or maintained a healthier bodyweight, while the cereal/bagel eaters gained weight.

It was hypothesized that the egg eaters actually ate less calories during the remainder of the day because their appetite was more satisfied compared to the cereal/bagel eaters who would have been more prone to wild blood sugar swings and food cravings.

Oh, one last thing I almost forgot... I personally eat 4 whole eggs almost every day with breakfast, and I maintain single-digit bodyfat most of the year.

Enjoy your eggs and get a leaner body!

http://www.getabsatlast.com/

Study Shows 1 Obscure Trick to Make ANY Exercise Program or Workout MUCH More Effective

Study Shows 1 Obscure Trick to Make ANY Exercise Program or Workout MUCH More Effective

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Author of best-seller: The Truth About Six Pack Abs

I've read about this very interesting Harvard University study about exercise multiple times in the past, but I was just recently reminded about this study again while reading the fascinating book called 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman.

Pay attention, because this actually shows a pretty powerful trick that you can use to literally make ANY workout or exercise program a LOT more effective and results producing.

According to the book 59 Seconds, here's how this study was carried out:

Researchers at Harvard University studied over 80 hotel room cleaning attendants from 7 different hotels. The hotel room attendants naturally received a lot of exercise from their daily jobs, which included cleaning an average of 15 rooms per day at about 25 minutes per room. This work involves a good deal of exercise in carrying things, scrubbing, lifting objects, vacuuming, and so on.

The researchers knew the hotel maids led an active lifestyle from their work, but also questioned whether most of the maids may not realize that their work was actually good for their health. The researchers set out to study the effects on the hotel attendants of making them very aware of how beneficial the exercise they got while working was for their health, and to see if this increased the results that they actually received from the exercise.

Basically, the question was... Would telling them that their work was great exercise improve their health, lower their blood pressure, and help them to lose weight compared to the hotel attendants that didn't realize their work was in fact "exercise"?

The hotel attendants were split into 2 groups:

1. This group was informed about the benefits of exercise and told how many calories they were burning while doing their hotel cleaning work each day. They were specifically told how many calories activities such as changing sheets, vacumming, and scrubbing bathrooms were burning each hour.

The researchers also wanted this information to stick in their heads daily, so they gave the attendants a handout showing the quantities of calories they were burning doing each activity of their jobs. They were also shown a poster daily that reinforced how many calories they were burning.

2. The control group of hotel cleaning attendants was simply informed of the benefits of exercise, but were NOT told how many calories they were burning doing their work, and also were NOT told that their work actually constituted a good form of exercise.

The researchers studied the existing lifestyles of all of the participants in both groups as well as giving them various health tests, including weigh-ins.

The study was conducted for 4 weeks. The researchers made sure that none of the participants had actually changed their exercise habits, smoking, or eating habits outside of work. This assured that there was no external lifestyle factor that could have accounted for the results of the study.

In addition, the hotel managers assured that the workloads of both groups stayed the same throughout the entire experiment.

Here are the VERY interesting results:

It turned out that the group of hotel cleaning attendants that was informed daily about the calorie-burning effects of their normal work routines ended up losing a significant amount of weight, lowered their body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio, and decreased their blood pressure.

The control group of hotel attendants that was not told about the calories they burned while doing their work showed NONE of these improvements.

Wow... very interesting huh!

Remember that each of these groups received the SAME amount of exercise and did not alter their lifestyle, eating habits, drinking habits, smoking, or anything else. The only thing that was different between the 2 groups was simply that the one group was constantly being reminded of how beneficial the exercise during their work was for their health and how many calories they were burning, and therefore their minds were busy believing in the benefits of it.

This actually doesn't surprise me... this is classic placebo effect at work here, and reinforces how powerful our brains are in relation to the results we get from exercise, food, supplements, etc.

How to use this info to burn more fat in your workouts, build more lean muscle, and improve your health more from exercise and nutrition

There's a good lesson in this study. If you strongly believe in your mind that the workouts that you are doing are drastically improving your body, your results will increase dramatically from those workouts.

The trick I've used over the years is to really "get mental" during your workouts and believe strongly that the exercise you are doing is transforming your body into a lean chiseled machine. (This is assuming that you're actually doing legit workouts such as Truth About Abs routines and not just wasting time reading a magazine while pedaling away on a boring exercise bike or treadmill).

So, if you want to burn more fat, not only do you need to workout intensely (for your individual capabilities), but you also need to mentally visualize the results you're getting, the bodyfat you are burning, and really strongly believe in how powerful the workout routine that you are doing really is for your body.

Along the same lines, if your goal is to build more muscle, then you really need to strongly believe in your mind at how powerfully your workouts are helping you to build muscle.

And this can be applied to your food intake too!

Don't underestimate how powerful your mind really is... If you are eating healthy foods such as those detailed in my Truth About Abs manual, make sure that you are also actively thinking in your mind about how those foods are dramatically helping your body, making you stronger, making you leaner, improving your energy and health, and so on.

Don't ignore this... this will drastically improve your results if you actively think about how truly healthy the foods you are eating every day are and how they are changing your body. This is assuming that you actually are eating truly healthy foods every day.

Another benefit of this "mental programming" is that it trains you to actually want to avoid junk foods, because you want to be able to think about how everything you eat is improving your body instead.

So there you go... an interesting study that shows how you can legitimately increase your results from your exercise and nutrition by just actively thinking about the benefits of both every day!

Check out the best selling abs programme on the web today.

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My Top 55 Lean-Body Foods to Build Lean Muscle and Lose Body Fat

My Top 55 Lean-Body Foods to Build Lean Muscle and Lose Body Fat

by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Author of best-selling program: The Truth about Six Pack Abs

In most of my Lean-Body Secrets Newsletters, I like to provide a healthy snack or meal recipe that not only is delicious and healthy, but also helps to get you closer to that hard-body appearance that everyone is looking for, while also more importantly, improving your health for life. In this article, I'd like to give you healthy food ideas in a different way. This time, I figured I'd just give you some ideas of what I stock my fridge and cabinets with.

Remember, if you don't have junk around the house, you're less likely to eat junk! If all you have is healthy nutritious foods around the house, you're forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your grocery store trip. Now these are just some of my personal preferences, but perhaps they will give you some good ideas that you'll enjoy.

Some of these will be obvious healthy choices, such as fruits and veggies... however, others on this page I think will surprise you!

Alright, so let's start with the fridge. Each week, I try to make sure I'm loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. During the growing season, I only get local produce, but obviously in winter, I have to resort to the produce at the grocery store. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables like onions, zucchini, spinach, fresh mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. to use in my morning eggs. I also like to chop up some lean chicken or turkey sausage (make sure to look for nitrate & nitrite free) or grass-fed bison sausage into the eggs, along with some swiss, jack, or goat cheeses (preferably raw grass-fed cheeses when I can find them).

By the way I'm talking about whole eggs, NOT egg whites. Always remember that the yolk is the most nutritious and nutrient dense part of the egg, so only eating egg whites is like throwing away the best part... and no, it's NOT bad for you because of the cholesterol... whole eggs actually raise your GOOD cholesterol. Try to get free range organic eggs for the best quality. Here's an entire article I did on the topic of whole eggs vs egg whites.

Coconut milk is another staple in my fridge. I like to use it to mix in with smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes, but it's also full of healthy saturated fats. Yes, you heard me right... I said healthy saturated fats! ...Healthy saturated fats such as medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), specifically an MCT called lauric acid, which is vitally important for your immune system.

If the idea of healthy saturated fats is foreign to you, check out my article about why saturated fat is not as bad as you think.

Back to the fridge, some other staples:

•Walnuts, pecans, almonds - delicious and great sources of healthy fats. Try to get raw nuts if possible as the roasting process can oxidize some of the polyunsaturated fats in some types of nuts making those damaged fats slightly more inflammatory. Overall, nuts are still healthy even if they are roasted, but raw nuts are optimal.

•Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt (grass-fed and organic if possible) - I like to mix cottage or ricotta cheese and yogurt together with chopped nuts and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.

•Chia seeds and/or hemp seeds - I add these highly nutritious seeds to yogurt, smoothies, or salads for a great nutty taste and loads of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins and minerals. Don't use pre-ground versions of these seeds as the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals if you use pre-ground seeds. No grinding is necessary to properly digest these seeds.

•Whole eggs - one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing them).

•Salsa - I try to get creative and try some of the exotic varieties of salsas.

•Avocados - love them...plus a great source of healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or sandwiches.

•Butter - don't believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor to anything and CAN be part of a healthy diet... just keep the quantity small because it is calorie dense... and NEVER use margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack. Most important -- choose organic butter only, since pesticides and other harmful chemicals accumulate in the fat of the milk which is used for butter, so choosing organic helps avoid this problem. Also, choose grass-fed (pastured) butter if you can find it as it will contain higher levels of healthful omega-3 fats and the fat-burning conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).

•Nut butters - Plain old peanut butter has gotten a little old for me, so I get creative and mix together almond butter with pecan butter, or even cashew butter with macadamia butter...delicious and unbeatable nutrition! Using a variety of nut butters gives you a broader range of vitamins and minerals and other micronutrients, and gives you variety instead of boring old peanut butter all the time.

•Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots - for salads with dinner.

•Home-made salad dressing - using balsamic vinegar, spices, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo's Choice oil blend. This is much better than store bought salad dressing which mostly use highly refined canola or soybean oil (canola and soybean oil are both very inflammatory in the body). Here's an article showing why to NEVER use store-bought salad dressings.

•Sprouted grain bread for occasional use -- My personal belief from years of nutrition research is that we're not really meant to consume the massive quantities of grains (not even whole grains) that we do in this day and age... a small amount may be okay, but our digestive systems are still primarily adapted to a hunter/gatherer type of diet with only a very small amount of grains, therefore I try to only have breads and other grain-based foods on cheat days.

•Rice bran - If we're going to have some grain-based food, we might as well have the most nutrient dense part, and rice bran is one of those parts, since it includes the germ of brown rice too. Rice bran is loaded with vitamins and minerals but without the large amount of starch calories that rice has... and it actually adds a nice little nutty, crunchy taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking to add nutrients and fiber to the recipe.
Some of the staples in the freezer:

•Frozen berries - during the local growing season, I only get fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies. I also get frozen goji berries sometimes for a little "exotic" variety.

•Frozen fish - I like to try a couple different kinds of fish each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have to get bored. Just make sure to ALWAYS choose wild fish instead of farmed versions, as the omega-3 to omega-6 balance is MUCH healthier in wild fish. Also, as this article shows, there are some possible other health issues with farmed fish.

•Frozen chicken breasts - very convenient for a quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.

•Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground beef: Grass-fed meats have been shown to have as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury). Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels of fat-burning and muscle-building conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to typical grain-fed beef that you'll find at your grocery store. I recently found an excellent on-line store where I buy all of my grass-fed meats now (they even deliver right to your door in a sealed cooler) - www.healthygrassfed.2ya.com

•Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other "exotic" lean meats - Yeah, I know...I'm weird, but I can tell you that these are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you're serious about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef, chicken, and pork that's sold at most grocery stores.

•Frozen veggies - again, when the growing season is over and I can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner table.
Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:

•Various antioxidant-rich teas - green, oolong, white, rooibos (red tea) are some of the healthiest. One of my newest favorite teas is yerba mate, which is a south american tea that is loaded with antioxidants and other nutrients. I've found some delicious yerba mate mixes such as chocolate yerba mate, mint mate, raspberry mate, etc.

•Oat bran and steel cut oats - higher fiber than those little packs of instant oats, which are typically loaded with sugar. If I'm trying to reduce body fat and get extra lean, I make most of my breakfasts based on eggs and veggies and bison sausage, but if I'm on a muscle building phase, I increase carbohydrate intake and use more oat bran and oatmeal.

•The only healthy oils I have in my cabinets are virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil. Macadamia oil may also be a reasonable choice as long as it's not "refined". But other than that, all "vegetable oils" (which is usually soy and corn oil) are total junk and very inflammatory. Never use soy or corn oils! Also, always avoid canola oil, as there is nothing healthy about canola oil, despite the deceptive marketing claims by the canola oil industry.

•Cans of coconut milk (loaded with healthy saturated MCT fats) - to be transferred to a container in the fridge after opening.

•Brown rice and other higher fiber rice - NEVER white rice

•Tomato sauces - delicious, and as I'm sure you've heard a million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn syrup. You also want to make sure that the tomato sauce is made with olive oil instead of unhealthy soybean oil or canola oils. Also get tomato sauces in glass jars instead of cans, as canned tomatoes are notoriously high in the dangerous chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA) due to the acidic leaching of BPA from the can lining.

•Stevia - a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.

•Raw honey - better than processed honey... higher quantities of beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in studies to improve glucose metabolism (your efficiency in processing carbohydrates). I use a small teaspoon every morning in my teas. Yes, I know that even honey is pure sugar, but at least it has some nutritional benefits... and let's be real, a teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5 grams of carbs... certainly nothing to worry about, and a better choice than refined sugar.

•Organic REAL maple syrup - none of that high fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap...only real maple syrup can be considered real food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your muscles to aid muscle recovery.

•Organic unsweetened cocoa powder - I like to mix this into my smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks (delicious!).

•Cans of black or kidney beans - I like to add a couple scoops to my Mexican dishes for the fiber and high nutrition content. Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth enhancing antioxidants! Did you know that black beans and kidney beans have more antioxidants than blueberries...it's true!

•Dark chocolate (as dark as possible - ideally more than 70-75% cocoa content) - This is one of my treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of antioxidants at the same time. It's still calorie dense, so I keep it to just 1-2 small squares after a meal... but that is enough to do the trick, so I don't feel like I need to go out and get cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.
Lastly, another thing that's hard to go wrong with is a good variety of fresh fruits and berries. The staples such as bananas, apples, oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like to also be a little more adventurous and include things like yellow (aka - mexican or champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats, papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others. Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, black raspberries (the highest fiber berry) and cherries are some of the most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you can eat.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this special look into my favorite lean body meals and how I stock my cabinets and fridge. Your tastes are probably quite different than mine, but hopefully this gave you some good ideas you can use next time you're at the grocery store looking to stock up a healthy and delicious pile of groceries.

Get the no1 best selling abs program on the web today:

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Can This 1 Unique Spice Help to Fight Abdominal Fat?

Can This 1 Unique Spice Help to Fight Abdominal Fat?

This spice that I'm going to mention is one of the most overlooked, but healthiest spices in the world...

You might even call it a "fat burning spice"... in a roundabout way.

And yes, it can actually help you win the battle against abdominal fat if you use it daily...I'll explain why.

Here are some other benefits of this miracle spice:

•controls blood sugar levels
•helps maintain insulin sensitivity
•a VERY powerful antioxidant
•may have antibacterial and antifungal properties
•and dozens of other benefits
So what is this miracle spice that beats abdominal fat?

Well... it's good old tasty Cinnamon!

Although cinnamon does NOT directly increase fat burning (such as by increasing metabolic rate, etc), it CAN actually help you to burn off abdominal fat and get leaner in an indirect way.

Here's how...

Although cinnamon has dozens of health benefits, the main benefit that will help you to get leaner is through it's strong effect on controlling blood sugar levels in your body.

In a study published in 2003 in the medical journal Diabetes Care, groups were split into people taking 1, 3, or 6 grams of cinnamon per day in capsule form (the equivalent of approx 1/4th to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon).

The results of the study showed that all 3 amounts of cinnamon reduced fasting blood glucose levels by 18-29% after 40 days.

Cinnamon can also increase insulin sensitivity, which essentially means that it is helping your body to control blood sugar while simultaneously allowing your body to produce less insulin.

As you know, chronically high insulin levels can make your body pack on the blubber.

How to harness cinnamon to lose stubborn belly fat...

One possible way to benefit from cinnamon to lose more fat is to use cinnamon daily in your meals when you can, such as in yogurt or cottage cheese, in smoothies, oatmeal, or anything else you can think of where it would go well.

Also, you could use a cinnamon capsule before each of your meals, particularly if you're going to have more than 30 grams of carbs in that meal.

This could help to control blood sugar and insulin response from your meals and thereby control your appetite and cravings throughout the day... hence, helping you to lose body fat more effectively over time.

So now you can see that not only is cinnamon a powerful antioxidant that can help you stay youthful longer, it can also help you to control blood sugar and get a leaner body!

article by Mike Geary - Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
author of best seller: The Truth about Six Pack Abs

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The single best exercise for burning fat.

The single best exercise for burning fat?

Good question.

When it comes to fat burning exercises we can learn a lot from the world of bodybuilding.
I am not saying to rush out and join golds gym and try to get a body like Arnold or Phil Heath.
But the fact is when it comes to nutrition and dieting the world of competitive body building is light years ahead of the game.

In fact when in competition shape these athletes can range in the 2-4 % body fat range.
This is not particularly healthy in the long term but the fact that can achieve this is admirable.
The normal healthy range for top Athletes is 6-13 % for men and 14-20% for women,and for an “average” “individual 18-24% man 25-32% for women.

Anything over this is classed as excess fat.
Well now doctors have proved the more muscle mass we have the more calories we burn even when sitting still.
Its like having your own built in fat burning furnace.
So if your going to taget your muscles it stands to reason to target the largest muscle group in the body to get the best benefits and quicker results.

So what is the single best exercise for burning fat?
The humble squat.

Please check online the correct way to do them before performing these.

Try to include squats into your routing with or without weights two or three times a week, and as you build up your leg muscles you will relies you will burn more calories without even trying.
And the weight will stay off too.

PS also a great way to shape your booty as well as burn fat.

http://www.getabsatlast.com/

Good luck with your fitness goals

Part-time dieting is more effective than any quick-fix pill

Part-time dieting is more effective than any quick-fix pill

Interesting article.

Slimming pills may seem the fast track to weight loss if you’re ­struggling to stick to an eating plan.
But new research shows there’s an easier, healthier option: part-time dieting, or cutting ­calories for just two days a week.

For most people, diets are a ­seesaw. We start with the best intentions, but after a day feel so hungry we head straight for the biscuit tin.
It seems wrong, but this stop-start approach could be the most ­effective way to shift the pounds.
In a study at Wythenshawe Hospital, in ­Manchester, dietician Dr Michelle Harvie put 100 overweight women on two diet plans.
One group ate normally for most of the week, then dropped to 650 calories a day for two days, while the other group stuck to 1,500 calories every day.

The intermittent dieters lost around 13lb over six months — the same as the other group. Dr Harvie said: ‘On the two-day diet you can restrict your calories far more than you would if you were on a diet every single day.’ Proponents of this approach say we are ­genetically programmed to adapt to cycles of fasting and feasting. Our bodies react positively to the temporary withdrawal of food because the mind tells us that it won’t be long before more is to come.

Previous research on mice has shown that eating half as much as usual every other day can shrink fat cells and boost some of the mechanisms that break down fat.
However, some experts warn this part-time diet should be a short-term fix.

Catherine ­Collins, chief ­dietician at St George’s Hospital, in London, warns: ‘Skipping meals and eating one large evening meal can result in risky metabolic changes that could lead to ­diabetes.’

Get the no1 abs training program on the web at:

www.getabsatlast.com

The Energy Drink Scam

Do Energy Drinks Help You, or Can They Actually Make You Fat?

Today I have a little rant on energy drinks... I receive a ton of questions about all of these new "energy" drinks that have hit the market over the last few years.

They seem to be all the rage, and they promise you the world with outrageous claims of all of the super energy that you are going to have, and how you'll become the best athlete in the world, start lifting cars over your head, and get a perfect body.

So a couple questions arise: Are these "energy" drinks really any good for you? Do they actually increase your energy? Do they really have some sort of magical energy formula? Will they help you lose weight? First of all, let's look at what most of these energy drinks are usually made of.

Most of them are simply carbonated water loaded with gut-fattening high fructose corn syrup (or other added sugars), caffeine, the amino acid taurine, and some crappy artificially-derived vitamins added for show to trick you into thinking there's something healthy about these concoctions.

Let's start with the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Well, here we've got empty calories that will go straight to your belly fat, and that are possibly even WORSE for you than plain old refined sugar (although that's up for debate, but semantics in the big picture).

Some energy drinks use other added sugars instead of HFCS, but it doesn't really matter, because they are all gut-fattening empty calories with no nutritional benefit. Ok, so you say that they also have low-sugar or sugar-free varieties as an alternative to the HFCS-laden energy drinks. Yes, but now you have the problem of the harmful chemicals in the artificial sweeteners which have their own set of health dangers.

Another problem with artificial sweeteners is that there are some research studies that indicate artificial sweetener use leads people to inadvertently consume more calories and gain more weight in the long run... in addition to having a negative hormonal effect in the body. I won't go into all of the details on that topic because that would fill up an entire discussion by itself.

Just trust me that artificial sweeteners and artificial chemicals in food in general, are ALL bad news for your body! It's never a good idea to try to "trick" your body with artificial tastes. What about the caffeine? Well, first of all, caffeine doesn't in itself provide "energy". Technically, the only substance that actually provides energy is calories (from carbs, protein, and fat).

However, caffeine can be an aid for livening or waking some people up, by means of stimulating the central nervous system.

Instead of caffeine artificially added to some carbonated "energy" drink, I'd rather get my caffeine from a natural source like green, white, or oolong teas (or my new favorite - yerba mate teas), which actually provide very powerful healthy antioxidants too! Keep in mind though, if you're a regular daily coffee drinker, you probably have some level of addiction to caffeine and probably wouldn't receive too much benefit from the caffeine in an energy drink anyway.

Tip: try to drink more tea and reduce your coffee intake to only a couple days per week max to reduce your dependency on caffeine. Most teas contain much less caffeine than coffee, and some teas (such as green, white, and oolong) contain synergistic phytochemicals that work to slow the response of the caffeine that they do contain. This means you get a milder response from the caffeine in green, oolong, or white teas compared to the harsher jittery response that some people get from coffee.

Now what about that so called magical blend of taurine and B-vitamins that they load into these energy drinks? Well, big deal...you get taurine in almost any protein source.

And the vast majority of those artificially added B-vitamins are simply coming right out into the toilet in your pee. Vitamins are best obtained naturally from a REAL food source, not artificially added to some carbonated drink.

Your body just doesn't use fake sources of vitamins as readily as natural sources from real food. So as you can see, in my opinion, I give all of these energy drinks a big time THUMBS DOWN! Don't fall for the ridiculous marketing of all of these so-called "energy drinks". Instead, here's my recipe for my own home-made energy drink:

1. Make a big iced tea mixture using green tea, white tea, and yerba mate tea. I like to add a little fruit flavor, so I'll use 1 tea bag of a raspberry or blueberry hibiscus tea, and then use 2-3 green and/or white tea bags, and 2-3 yerba mate tea bags, and make a gallon container of iced tea. I just use a small amount of stevia to lightly sweeten the batch of tea.

2. I buy a container of organic coconut water from a health food store, or buy fresh coconuts to obtain the coconut water from the inside.

3. For my healthy energy drink, I mix a half of a glass of the white/green/yerba mate iced tea mixture and fill the rest of the glass with the coconut water. This is actually a delicious and truly healthy energy drink instead of the chemical-laden crappy energy drinks that everybody is getting suckered into buying these days. The green, white, and yerba mate teas contain a small dose of caffeine along with a diverse mixture of powerful antioxidants and synergistic phytochemicals.

Plus, the coconut water is a rich source of electrolytes and a diversity of vitamins and minerals. Coconut water is known to provide a good instant energy source, and also contains a small dose of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which are healthy fats that are readily used for energy and also aid your immune system.

So enjoy this natural healthy energy drink, knowing that you're doing your body good instead of filling it with chemicals with normal store-bought energy drinks. As usual, feel free to email this link to your friends and family or share it on your blogs, forums, or facebook pages to help your friends live healthier. If you liked this article, please feel free to share with your friends:

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