Coconut Oil has been getting bad publicity for decades due it its high content of saturated fat.  But researchers are finally giving coconut oil the respect it deserves.

Although it is true that coconut oil is loaded with saturated fats, researchers are finally recognizing that not all saturated fats are harmful.  Coconut oil is unique in that it contains medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs).

So What Are the Health Benefits of Coconut Oil?

Weight Management – MCFAs are processed directly in your liver where they are immediately converted into energy rather than becoming stored fat on the body.  Because this increases your body’s metabolic response, it also helps you to burn more calories.  You’d also be happy to know that coconut oil is actually lower in calories than most fats and oils.

Digestive System – MCFAs are actually are very easy for your body to digest.  In fact, coconut oil put less strain on your digestive system than even that of popular mono-saturated fats, making it an ideal cooking oil.

Immune System – Coconut oil contains high levels of lauric acid, which is found in mother’s milk.  This vital nutrient has strong immune boosting effects.

Beauty and Anti-Aging – Other health benefits of coconut oil include soft, shiny dandruff-free hair when massaged into the scalp regularly, and smooth, soft, youthful skin when used as a daily moisturizer.  Many users actually report diminished wrinkles and facial lines after using coconut oil regularly.  I’ve even met women that even find it great as a gentle make-up remover and men that use it as an after shave lotion.

So after years of bad press, coconut oil has finally received the credibility it deserves.  When going out and picking up your own batch of coconut oil, please ensure that it is virgin coconut oil that you are getting rather than hydrogenated (processed) coconut oil, which has none of the beneficial health properties of virgin coconut oil.

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It is a common misconception that there must be a trade-off between flexibility and strength, when in actual fact, increased flexibility is critical for attaining increases in strength and athletic performance.  Interestingly, this misconception again has to do with stretching from a bodybuilding or weights training point of view rather than strength building perspective.

Stretching & Bodybuilding Bulge

Immediately following exercise, the muscles retain what is commonly known as “pump”, wherein the muscles fibers are shortened.  This shortening of the muscle fibers, particularly emphasized during isolated weights training, is due mostly to the repetition of intense muscle activity.   If the muscles are not stretched in conjunction with training, over time they remain shortened and are unable to return to their original length.  Shortened muscle fibers give the muscle a bigger bulkier look, as the volume of fibers are bunched together in a smaller area as oppose to fibers that are elongated, similar to a shorter person with the same weight (body mass) as a taller person.  This muscle bulge look due to shortened muscle fibers is beneficial from an aesthetic bodybuilding position, but from a functional strength and athletic performance point of view it is detrimental.

Explosive Power – Range of Motion

When the muscle fibers have become shortened due a lack of stretching, not only do they decrease in length, but the muscles also decrease in their range of motion.  The most difficult range of the motion to get power and strength out of during any movement is the initial and final 5 degree range.  This is because when muscles are at their longest point of extension, they have the least amount of muscle filaments sliding past each, responsible for causing movement and contraction.

These 5 degrees are the most critical however when performing virtually all physical movements.   It is the initial and final range of motion where most of the explosive power is required.  The amount of force that can be generated at the start of a movement determines the speed and power at which the remaining of the movement can be executed.  Likewise, the force that is generated at the final stage of a movement determines its effectiveness in the carry-over or non-movement phase, and the efficiency of which the movement can be repeated.

When a muscle becomes shortened and its fibers are bunched, the number of muscle filaments sliding past each other when they are stretched to their longest point (initial and final 5 degrees) is markedly diminished.  Herein, the ability to generate explosive power where it is needed the most during functional movements is significantly decreased.

Explosive Power – ATP re-creation

In order for movement to occur, the body undergoes a series of chemical reactions to make energy.  It basically has to turn a stored high-energy compound called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into a kinetic energy compound called adenosine diphosphate (ADP).  Once used, the ADP has to be re-created back into ATP so that it can again be broken down and used, repeating the cycle over and over.  The ATP to ADP energy process causes a toxic byproduct called lactic acid to be created.  As the process repeats, this toxic waste accumulates in the muscles and causes it to lose ability to re-create ATP effectively.

When the muscle fibers have become shortened due to a lack of stretching, they have to work extra hard to create power when performing functional movements that require the muscles to lengthen and move through their entire range.  This extra effort requires the ATP to ADP process to occur more frequently.  This causes the working muscles to become not only filled with blood more blood, but also filled with greater accumulation of lactic acid and other waste by-products.  The result is that the muscles ability to perform is short lived due to rapid fatigue, and need longer periods of rest and recovery to re-create the ATP needed to continue exercising.

Furthermore, the buildup of lactic acid will cause post-exercise soreness and increased recovery time needed between workouts.  Although delayed muscle onset soreness (DOMS) may be a good indication of that you have trained hard, it can also be an indication of your muscles having worked ineffectively and that enough time has not been dedicated toward the stretching phase of your program.

Static stretching of the pumped muscle helps it to become looser, and to regain its full range of movement. It also helps to remove lactic acid and other waste-products from the muscle. While it is true that stretching a muscle will make it appear visibly smaller, it does not decrease the muscle’s actual size or inhibit muscle growth. It merely reduces the “tightness” (contraction) of the muscles so that they do not remain shortened.  From a bodybuilding perspective however, the aim is to have the greatest amount of muscle contraction or muscle bulge.  Hence it serves no purpose for a bodybuilder to stretch.

Stretching – Injury Prevention

Most sports and physical activities require the muscles to work through its entire range of motion.  When the muscle fibers are shortened and have lost their ability to stretch to their full range of motion, their susceptibility to tearing and become damaged increases dramatically during physical activity and sport.  Furthermore, not only do shortened muscle fibers diminish its strength when at its full range, but the stabilizing control of the muscles is significantly weakened as well.  This puts the ligaments and tendons of the joints at greater risk of injury when in full extension, as they are not properly supported by the surrounding muscles.

Stretching – Critical for Maximum Strength

From athletic point of view, stretching is evidently essential in order to utilize the maximum performance ability of the muscles, to preventing injury, and to decrease recovery time and maximize training progress.  But a testament to that stretching is of critical importance for increased strength is the ‘strongman’ athletes affirming flexibility as an extremely important part of their training regimen.  Many of these athletes advocate stretching every day; dynamic stretching as part of a warm up, and static stretching post exercising.  But if stretching (loosening) is performed too much in the absence of exercise (strengthening), it is possible for the muscles of a joint to become too flexible and unstable.

Overstretching

There is a tradeoff between flexibility and stability.  As you get looser or more limber in a particular joint, less support is given to the joint by its surrounding muscles. Excessive flexibility can be just as bad as not enough because both increase your risk of injury.  Once a muscle has reached its absolute maximum length, attempting to stretch the muscle further only serves to stretch the ligaments and put undue stress upon the tendons (two things that you do not want to stretch). Ligaments will tear when stretched more than 6% of their normal length.  Tendons are not even supposed to be able to lengthen.  Even when stretched ligaments and tendons do not tear, loose joints and/or a decrease in the joint’s stability can occur (thus vastly increasing your risk of injury).

Finding Balance in Your Stretching & Strengthening

Like most things in life, stretching and strengthening requires a balance.  Most people that are not familiar with Yoga assume that it is solely a practice of stretching, when in actual fact, Yoga involves a balanced combination of strengthening and stretching exercises.  Although stretching is often seen as a separate issue to exercising, they should actually be considered as counterparts to one and the same initiative, and hence should both be performed just as industriously.

1. Prior to commencing your exercise program, perform dynamic stretches after you have warmed up.

1. Post exercising, perform static stretches after you have warmed down.

It is important not to rush your post exercise phase by static stretching immediately following your workout.   The muscles are at their shortest range immediately after exercise, and attempts to elongate them and increase their range of motion can cause the muscle fibers to tear.  Stay mindful, relax into your static stretches, remember to breath – stretching deeper with each exhalation, and do not stretch your muscles beyond their limitations.  It is more beneficial that you hold a stretch for a longer duration than pushing it beyond its limits.  The key is consistency.  Increased strength, athletic ability and flexibility will come from the sum of small effort, repeated day in and day out.

Happy Strengthening and Stretching!

Pre-Exercise Stretching

Many people confuse stretching with warming up.  Although stretching is a crucial part of the pre-exercise phase, it is indeed separate from the warm-up in both nature and purpose.  Warming up is literally the process of warming the body up.  It is moving the body through a sequence of simple dynamic movements with the purpose of facilitating increased blood circulation.  This in turn increases muscle neural activity for coordination, elasticity and contractibility of the muscles, and increased efficiency of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.  Stretching should only be performed after the warm-up, as stretching a cold muscle can result in immediate tear of the muscle fibers.

A second crucial mistake people often do is they perform passive stretches for their pre-exercise stretching routine, rather than dynamic stretching.  Few people realize that there are many different types of stretching that serve for different purposes.  Passive stretching is what comes to mind when most people think of stretching.  It is also referred to as relaxed stretching or static-passive stretching and involves assuming a position and holding it with some other part of your body, or assisting increased range by use of own body weight, a partner or some other apparatus.  This type of stretching should actually only be used as part of the post exercise phase.

Just after warming up and prior to exercise, light dynamic stretching should be performed.  This involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both.  It is not trying to force a part of the body beyond its range of motion, but is gently rotating or swinging through the torso and limbs to reach the limits of your range of motion.

Note: Do not confuse this with ballistic stretching!  Ballistic stretching is bouncing into a stretched position using the stretched muscle as a spring (e.g. bouncing down repeatedly to touch your toes).

During dynamic stretching, the aim is to not increase in flexibility, but simple to bring the body to the limits of its dynamic flexibility as preparation for putting the body through dynamic activity.   For sports specific activity, the last phase of a warm-up should consist of the same movements that will be used during the athletic event but at a reduced intensity.  Going through the motions of the sports specific activity is beneficial as it improves coordination, balance, strength, and response time, and can reduce the risk of injury.

Post-Exercise Stretching

Unfortunately, the limited session time of personal trainers has seen more people going straight into passive stretching directly after an intense exercise phase.  The problem with this that immediately after exercise the muscles are at their shortest range, and attempts to elongate them past their normal range can be damaging to the muscle fibers.

All workouts should be followed by a warm-down phase.  This involves moving the body through the same movements as during the exercise phase, only significantly less intense.  The duration of this phase should be directly correlated to the intensity of the exercise phase – the more intense the workout, the longer the warm-down.  Once breathing has returned close to normal respiration rate, light dynamic stretching can be performed followed directly by passive stretching.

Light warm-down movement immediately following maximal exertion has been proven to be a better way of clearing lactic acid from the blood than complete rest.  The stretching phase is to aid in elongating the muscle fibers shortened during exercise and to further assist in removing lactic acid accumulation in the muscles.

A light warm-up or warm-down followed by passive stretching is a good way to reduce lingering muscle tightness and soreness even the next day, even when performed without the conjunction of a workout.  It’s very important that you relax into it and not strain and tense against the stretch.  Doing this does not allow your muscles to adjust to and relax in the stretched position, and may instead cause them to tighten up further.  Regular muscle massage is another way to assist in reducing lingering muscle tightness and soreness, but just as with the stretching, remember to stay relaxed when pressing on those painful knotted areas.

Happy strengthening and stretching,

Karl

This Saturday night, April 30, 2011 at the sold out Rogers’ Centre in Toronto Canada, two of the greatest athletes in the world will go toe to toe to find out who is the greatest welterweight MMA fighter on this planet, or arguably who is the greatest pound for pound fighter in the world…period!

Over the recent few years, both these fighters have dominated and cleaned out the entire welterweight division in the respective fight leagues in which they competed, Jake Sheilds in Strikeforce and Georges St. Pierre in the UFC.

In only hours from now, all those years of physical and mental conditioning, putting their blood, sweat and tears into 6-8 training sessions a day, day in and day out, all their fights combined to amass all their victories…. it will all come down to this moment.

When you can’t be any better prepared for the moment than what you already are.. it seems it all must come down to either one of two things… fate, or who has the greatest belief in themselves.

If belief in yourself is what it does come down to, well I can only say that at this level of the game… the difference in belief can only be a fraction of a hair.

So if you want to see athleticism, physical, mental and spiritual strength and resilience at its best, make sure you watch as these two warriors square off in the octagon for ultimate legacy.

This video is a great illustration of how you can really get a FREE high quality workout just about anywhere… parks, forest areas and urban areas – they are all full of innovative structures and equipment that can be used as highly challenging workout equipment.

Some of my personal favorite training areas are various playground parks around my local suburb. Especially on the days I spend with my nieces, I use the time with them as an excellent opportunity to be active and engaged in fitness at the same time as they are engaged in fitness… or perhaps they call it play. You never know… after a few times you too may be thinking of it as playtime rather than serious fitness business.

Enjoy!

Wrestling and grappling are two of the most physically demanding forms of fitness that develop tremendous core fitness and core strength. They require you to push yourself to the limits of your physical and mental parameters every second of every minute throughout every movement of every round.

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There are ten recognized general physical skills that can be demanded of you during physical training, and wrestling / grappling forces you to master them all. These ten physical skills are strength, power, speed, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, agility, coordination, balance, flexibility and accuracy.

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As you can see in this training video featuring UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre with his training partners, the constant level changes, continuous stop and start, pushing and pressing of opposing forces requires tremendous physical and mental conditioning.

How to Design Your Own High Intensity Workout

Grappling and wrestling demands a high skill level to not accidently injury yourself of your opponent during movements of joint manipulation. But you can still get the benefits of training this way without having any prior skill by making the aim of the game more simple.

The Workout

Simply make the aim of the game to control the wrists of your opponent and to be in top position. Make the rules that you must keep close body contact with your opponent so that no fast explosives moves can have a chance to gain high speed and accidently knock each other in the face or the head.

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Keep score by the amount of times you are able to pin your opponent for at least 3 seconds per 1 minute round. As you increase your fitness level, extend the time of each round and the number of rounds you go.

If you play this game to full out, I can promise you’ll soon start developing an elite level of cardio and respiratory conditioning and every step of the way becoming better, faster, fitter, stronger.

What are the CrossFit Games?

The CrossFit Games are the ultimate test of fitness. It’s a grueling multi-day competition in which the world’s fittest athletes compete in a variety of workouts.

What are the workouts?

Each year they change, and the details of them are not announced until a couple days before the event. This means that all year long, the athletes are training for a competition whose format is almost completely a mystery.

When do they get started?

The 2011 Games season started with the CrossFit Games Open on March 15th. You can register now at games.crossfit.com

The journey starts with the CrossFit Games Open.  This is a worldwide 6 week competition involving 1 workout per week where you post your results online.  Anyone can compete in the open… anywhere. The top 60 men and women from 17 regions around the world will go through to the semi-finals to compete head to head in the regionals.

3 days of head to head competition

The areas of fitness that will be tested are a combination of gymnastics, powerlifting, Olympic lifting, jump ropes, climbing ropes, lengthy runs and pure grunt work involving power, strength, endurance, balance, stamina, agility, flexibility, coordination and mental attitude that says “I would rather die than give up!”

Not there yet, but will be ready to test your fitness against the best 2012?

If this sounds like your cup of tea but you’re not yet prepared to go to war, then it’s time to pick up that television set and start using it as an Olympic lifting tool. 

Every day counts, so make today count for you toward your ultimate fitness test, and your journey toward becoming Better, Faster, Fitter Stronger!

As some of you know, I currently live in sunny Brisbane, Australia.  And while I get to enjoy the sunny and warm summer over here, for many of you readers over there  in America and Europe, it’s sub-zero winter temperatures at the moment.  So apart from making you feel more like hibernating than engaging in fitness and exercise, the not so ideal side of training in winter is getting your core temperature to its ideal place for physical performance, especially when training outdoors.

Summer, Winter, Rain or Shine… Count me in!

I think this is a great attitude to have toward health and fitness.  But people don’t often tend to think of just how the below zero winter climate affects the drop in their core temperature.  Most people unknowingly will take the same time for their warm-up during all seasons.  But as an example, while a warm-up in 23^oC (73 ^oF) may take you 8 minutes to get you close to optimal performance level, it will take the average body 32 minutes to get to the same core temperature and performance preparedness in 5 ^oC (41 ^oF).  Furthermore, the importance of continuous movement during rest interval when training at below or near freezing temperatures becomes far more crucial.

Elevating Your Core Temperature

So this brings us onto the first task of a warm-up: to prepare the body for training. This involves elevating core body and intramuscular temperature, to stimulate blood flow, prepare the cardiovascular system for the work it will be expected to complete during training, and to prepare the neuro-musculoskeletal system for the movements they will be subjected to during training. It makes sense, therefore, that the warm-up should reflect the functional demands of the sport. This means that if you play rugby, the warm-up should include running, jumping, soloing, kicking, dodging, weaving, twisting and bending, and progressively increasing intensities. Simply going for a jog around the pitch and taking pot shots at goal is inadequate.

Elevating Your Mental Preparedness

This is common sense I think, but the physical preparation is not the only function of the warm-up. Many people view it as “that thing you do before you train to get a sweat up”, already belittling its importance in terms of mental preparation. The warm-up should also be a mental ‘switch on’; a time where focus is narrowed to the aims of the training session. It cannot be a passive time waster otherwise mental lethargy can spill over into the training session and its effectiveness is markedly reduced. This is why the warm-up should be varied and involve some decision making drills. If it is the same old drills, it’s very easy to switch off and for it to become a mindless task.

So next time, when you’re planning the warm-up drills, think about making them progressively more taxing, both physically and mentally, and see if the athletes perform better during the training session.

Respect to all you winter fitness-goers for keepin it goin.

Karl

In my work with athletes, I break down foundation nutrition into ‘10 rules to live by’. If you can ensure that you are following these rules day in, day out, you will build a solid nutrition foundation. Without that foundation, any nutritional fine-tuning simply won’t make that much of a difference. These rules are as follows:

1. Come back to earth. This simply means choosing the least processed forms of foods (specifically carbohydrates) when building the majority of your meals. Typically, the less processed the foods and the closer the food that you are eating is to its natural state, the better it will be for your body.

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2. Eat a rainbow often. The vitamins and minerals that our bodies need come naturally from the foods that we eat, and especially from fruits and vegetables. Eating a variety of fruit and veg in a multitude of colours will help to ensure that you are getting the variety of nutrients that you need, resulting in enhanced recovery, improved energy production and immunity. The following fruits rank in the ‘top 20 list’ of the American Cancer Society: blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, Granny Smith apples, sweet cherries and black plums. In terms of vegetables, the Harvard School of Public Health is a bit more general in its guidelines, recommending: stewed tomatoes, dark leafy greens, and any veg that is rich in yellow, orange and red colours.

3. The fewer legs the better. Protein is a critical part of the diet for athletes, specifically the type and the amount. When focusing in on the type of protein, typically the fewer legs the animal has before you actually consume the protein it produces, the better the source. Fish, turkey, and chicken rank high. You need to be more selective with dairy, red meat and pork products. Low-fat dairy, lean cuts of pork and beef, and grass-fed four-legged animals are best!

4. Eat fats that give something back. It is recommended that 20-30% of the total calories come from fat. The best types of fats to include are raw nuts, seeds, olive oil, nut butters, and fatty fish. The forgotten fats are the essential fatty acids. These fats decrease inflammation but, due to their essential nature, must come from the diet. The American Heart Association recommends supplementing with 1-3g of EPA/DHA per day and to consume fish high in omega-3 (eg salmon, mackerel, sardines, trout, herrings, pilchards, etc) two to three times per week.

5. Three for three. Eating consistently maintains energy levels (blood glucose), keeps the body in a fed state, and prevents mood swings and bingeing. Combining the three main nutrients (carbs, protein, fat) every three hours (hence the ‘three for three’) will prevent extreme hunger, which will make healthier food selection easier.

6. Eat breakfast every day. Eating breakfast every day is critical, yet it’s an absent habit for many. ‘There isn’t enough time’, ‘I’m not hungry in the morning’, ‘It’s too complicated’ are all phrases that I often hear come out of the mouths of athletes. But breakfast doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Eating breakfast gives the body the fuel it needs and sets your metabolism up to function correctly throughout the day.

7. Hydrate. Dehydration equals decreased performance. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), in its 2007 position on exercise and fluid replacement, states that the goal of drinking while exercising is to prevent a 2% loss in fluid and an extreme disruption of electrolyte balance. However, you need to ensure that you’re hydrated before you even start activity! You need to think of hydration in terms of all day and during training. We recommend drinking ½oz to 1oz of fluid per pound of body weight (30-60mls per kilo) per day. Fluids should consist primarily of water and other naturally low- or non-caloric beverages, followed by 100% fruit juices, depending upon calorie requirements. This is a good range that helps people reach the American Dietetic Association’s baseline recommended fluid intake of 2.7 litres per day for women and 3.7 litres per day for men.

8. Don’t waste your workout. Even with the abundance of research on the importance of post-workout nutrition, I still see athletes skipping the recovery meal or snack. Unfortunately, many are still reluctant to consume calories after just burning them. However, in order to optimise the benefits of a training session and jump-start recovery for maximal gains, it is critical to consume a post-workout recovery meal that blends both carbohydrate and protein, within 45 minutes after training.

9. Supplement wisely. There are so many supplements on the market that it becomes difficult to work out which ones (if any) are needed. Supplements should ‘complement’ the diet and a mentality of ‘food first, supplement second’ should be employed.

10. Get back in the kitchen. In a world of convenience, travel and life on the go, we often turn to restaurants, fast food, and ‘quick’ food for our nourishment. Restaurants, regardless of type, do not take into consideration your calorie needs or your health when deciding upon their menu. At the end of the day, if you really want to optimise your body composition, hit your nutrient and calorie goals, and just eat cleaner, you are your best ally. The more you can prepare your own food, the more control you will have in the nourishment of your body.

Peak Performance Pyramid

So to ensure that you reach your fitness goals this year, follow these simple nutritional rules and you really can’t go wrong.  Remember that nutrition is really the foundation of your health and fitness.  You are what you eat, so choose wisely to ensure that you what you become is the best you can be!

Until next time, keep pushing yourself to be better, faster, fitter, stronger

Karl

(This article was courtesy of Peak Performance Bulletin)

I know it may sound completely crazy, but as crazy as it sounds, having fat as part of your diet is essential in losing fat.

Fat is not the enemy… and I’ll explain why in a moment

But first I want to explain to you what it is that causes us to put on weight (fat)

You may have heard of terms such as G.I index, blood sugar levels and insulin, but not ever really understood what these have to with weight gain and weight loss… they have everything to do with weight gain and weight loss.

You may not have heard of high-density carbohydrates however, but they particularly have everything to do with weight gain

To put this as simply as possible…

The carbohydrates that we eat have to be converted into glucose to be used as fuel for the body.  This glucose gets released into our bloodstream to be used as fuel for brain-function and body-function (vital organs and movement).

If we eat carbohydrates that get converted into glucose very easily (high G.I index foods) or high-density carbohydrates in one meal, the bloodstream gets filled with excess glucose which has to be regulated by elevating the insulin produced by the body to maintain blood-sugar levels.

Elevated Insulin is the Reason You Get Fat and Stay Fat

So to summarize here, eating high G.I foods or high-density carbohydrates in a meal corresponds to increased insulin secretion by the body

…but how does this increase your body fat?

Insulin is your body’s fat storing and fat locking hormone

The elevated insulin levels generated from eating high G.I foods and high-density carbohydrate meals prevent your body from using any of its stored fat for energy, because it is getting all the energy it needs directly from the increased glucose levels already available in the bloodstream.

In other words, increased insulin prevents you from using the fat you already have.

Not only that, but once insulin levels have reached their maximum, the human body has to deal with the excess calories by storing them as fat – and this storage space is unlimited!

Now that you know that increased insulin levels are the enemy in fat storage and accumulation, you may be shocked to hear the following…

Fat Has Zero Effect on Insulin Stimulation!

So eating fat has no effect on causing your body to store more fat.

Although eating saturated fat has aversive affects on your cell membranes and your organs ability to function, all fats are only driven into the adipose tissue for future storage in the body when insulin levels are elevated.

Interestingly, rather than stimulate insulin secretion, fat does the exact opposite!  It actually slows down the entry of carbohydrates into the bloodstream.  So in essence…

Fat helps to control and prevent the overproduction of insulin

So rather than be your enemy in the fight to lose fat, fat is actually your ally in chipping away stored body fat.

Of course, I’m not talking about going out and turning your diet into a high fat diet, but eating enough of the good fats (polyunsaturated) to help your body reduce insulin secretion. (See list below for of good fats and recommended quantities).

Fat is Your Primary “Off-Switch” for Eating

Now I may have shocked you again, but the truth is that fat causes the release of a hormone for the stomach (cholecystokinin or CCK), that goes directly to the brain to tell it to stop eating.  This is a major reason for why when people take fat out of their diet to lose weight; they walk around feeling hungry all day.   

So if you’re stripping the fat out of your diet to lose the fat on your body, you may want to think again.

Regulating your insulin levels by maintaining balanced blood-sugar levels is the key to losing excess fat, and keeping it off!

How to Burn Excess Body Fat and Keep It Off!

Choose low G.I Carbohydrates as your primary carbohydrate intake, eat adequate amounts of low-fat protein in each meal to repair and maintain (or increase if that is your goal) your muscle tissue, and eat a balanced amount of good fats in each meal to regulate your control your insulin production and trigger your “eating off switch”. (See list below for low G.I Carbohydrates, low-fat proteins, and good fats).

Serving Sizes and Daily Servings

Each meal, eat approx. your palm-sized portion of low-fat protein and two palm-sized portions of low G.I carbohydrates or one palm-sized portion if you intend on eating high G.I carbohydrates.

Eat 3 meals and 2 snack-size meals daily (1/4 size portion of meal serving)

If your aim is to gain muscle mass
Each meal eat approx. to the middle-crease of your fingers sized portions.

Eating this way, not only will eating this way help you shed the excess fat from your body – it will give you better mental clarity, more energy in your day, and help you enjoy food in the process of becoming and staying healthy!

Happy and Healthy Eating!

Karl

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List of Low-Fat Proteins (try to get most of your protein from these foods)

Meat and Poultry

• Chicken breast, skinless
• Chicken breast, deli
• Beef (range-fed or game)
• Beef, ground (range-fed)
• Turkey breast, skinless
• Turkey breast, deli

Fish

All varieties, but Salmon, Mackerel and Sardines are particularly good as they are rich in EPA

Eggs and Dairy

• Egg whites are a better choice than eating with the yolk
• Cottage cheese, low fat
• Cheeses – soft are a better choice than hard cheeses

Vegetarian

• Tofu – firm and extra firm are a better choice than soft tofu
• Soy products
• Green smoothies
• Whey Protein powder

List of Low G.I Carbohydrates (try to get at least 75% of your carbs from these foods)

• Most all Vegetables and Fruits
• Kidney beans
• Lentils
• Chickpeas

Grains

• Oatmeal
• Barley

List of High G.I* and High Density** (easy to eat excess) Carbohydrates (eat less of)

• Potatoes*/**
• Sweet potatoes* although a better choice than potatoes
• Refried beans**
• Baked beans**
• Pinto beans**
• Rice, white*/**
• Rice, brown**
• Pasta, white*/**
• Pasta, wholewheat**
• All grains, breads, and cereals** (except for oatmeal and barley)

List of Polyunsaturated (good fats) and approx. serving size per meal

Oils and Butters

• Almond butter (1 teaspoon)
• Olive butter (1 ½ teaspoon)
• Peanut butter, natural (1 ½ teaspoon)
• Tahini (1 ½ teaspoon)
• Olive oil (1 teaspoon)
• Canola oil (1 teaspoon)
• Peanut oil (1 teaspoon)
• Coconut oil (1 teaspoon)

Nuts

All nuts (average amount of 10 nuts per meal serve)

Other

• Avocado (3 ½ tablespoons)
• Olives (10 whole)
• Mayonnaise, light (3 ½ teaspoon)