What is the best diet to follow?

Is it the vegan diet? The caveman diet?  The Atkins diet? The live-it diet? The smackercougarmeloncamp BS diet?

Ok, so what is the truth about diet? And why should you listen to me?

First and foremost I must clarify one important thing. I am by no means a fitness guru or do I believe that I am in a position to tell blindly what diet is best, what works and what does not. However, I know one thing for certain and that is we are all engineered differently despite us being made from the same genetic material.

So what does this mean Mr. Science you may ask? Ok, well this means that as humans we have evolved to react differently to different foods. For example: a bodybuilder or fitness model may want to adopt a diet of white fish and asparagus for 2 weeks before a competition to be ready when the time comes to get on stage. But what if that same competitor is allergic to fish? Or suffers gastrointestinal stress (inflammation in the gut) from asparagus and other green vegetables?

Another example are  those who may adopt a vegan diet so as to follow in their far east Asian  guru’s footsteps, who has been raised on a mainly vegan diet and so has his ancestors for the past few hundred years. Those individuals or groups may end up suffering from major nutrient deficiencies and issues such as erectile difficulties in men and decreased libido in women due to lack of meat proteins that promote the production of androgens in the body.

OK, so you get the picture. However, the question still stands: what do I eat and what diet works for me? The answer is: (drum roll)

There is actually no secret recipe that works for everyone. You will need to figure out what works out for your own particular body type. This is so much the case as there is just as much variation in nutrigenomics (the science of diet specific for your genetic make-up) between family members as there is between peoples of different ethnic backgrounds and geography.  

That being established, I strongly suggest one starts with the following:

•  A full blood work and full allergy test to determine for certain what foods one should stay away from completely. 
• The second step is to become more in tune with your body and stay away from any foods that make  you feel bloated, heavy, and lazy or even feeling down like junk food and pesticide-filled GMO foods. In addition, stick to the foods that make you feel good, energetic and alert; all in moderation of course.

We can help you design a diet that compliments your lifestyle and your health and fitness goals. Please contact one of our experts or join us for our complimentary seminars to get you started in the right direction.

How to Put on Lean Muscle Mass and Lose Body Fat at the Same Time

You are able to both put on lean muscle mass and loose body fat at the same time if you stick to the following tips:

1-      Engage in appropriate resistance training workouts that compliment your fitness level 4 to 5 times per week. Without weights/resistance your attempts to put on lean muscle mass effectively are futile.

2-      Your cardio vascular training should be done in the form of high intensity bursts with sufficient rest in between. Doing sprints is an ideal way. Need tangible proof? Check out the average sprinter’s body composition or simply the way they look.

3-      Learn the hormonal patterns and how they behave relative to the type of training that you do. It is beneficial to understand how different modes of training lead to different results.  Longer rest periods between sets for example promote the production of testosterone that helps increase lean muscle mass. Shorter rests promote increase GH (growth hormone levels) that promote increased fat loss.

4-      Your diet is, simply put, 80% of the arsenal when your desire is to change how your body looks and feels. It is vital that you adopt a diet that compliments your workouts, fitness level and macro -nutritional needs such as the amount if protein, fats and carbohydrates.

5-      The one size fits all workouts, diets and latest trend group-workouts are all a bunch of cockamamie, THEY DO NOT WORK in this particular case for the majority! And this is not just my opinion. Such endeavors lack periodization, which if you research and observe any athlete’s training, is of utmost importance in order to cater to each individual’s body type and the case-specific response to training. So in other words you may see results at the start just like you would every time you start dieting or exercising but they are again not sustainable due to lack of periodization.

Feel free to contact us to get a complementary periodization plan for your workouts designed specifically for you or join us for our complimentary seminars where we take a closer look on what periodization means and how it works.

5 very easy lifestyle tips to help you lose weight

1-      Take advantage of your daily hormonal cycle. Sleep early (around 10 or 10:30pm) and wake up when the sun comes up around 6am. The later you stay up at night the more stress you place on your body resulting in the increase of the hormone cortisol, which results in fat deposition in and around the belly area.

2-      Don’t eat too late. Drop the fork when the sun goes down and don’t eat until the sun is coming up. Eating late will add to slow your metabolism further and increase insulin levels in the body in turn inhibiting fat breakdown.

3-      Be moderately to very active for at least 1 to 2 hours 6 times per week. We are not engineered to be inactive.  

4-      Dink half your body weight in ounces of water every day. For example: if you weigh 200lbs then drink 100 ounces of water per day. Water is necessary for the obvious hydration of our bodies that are over 70% water. Also, water is a universal solvent and is vital for flushing out toxins.

5-      Choose “good” carbohydrates that have a low glycemic load (i.e. those that don’t cause an insulin spike) versus “bad” carbohydrates (i.e. those that cause an insulin surge and increase insulin resistance that is associated with heart disease and diabetes). For example, choose organic foods like oatmeal, sweet potatoes and quinoa versus candy bars, cookies, muffins and soft drinks.

Join one of our weight loss programs and/or visit us for our free health and nutrition seminars if you would like to learn more about achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.