Saturday, November 19, 2011

Remembering Steve Jobs

There are few people in this world who reach such remarkable achievements as Steve Jobs has and he truly made a huge dent in the universe.  I’m sure by the time you’re reading this you’ve already heard the unfortunate news Steve Jobs passed away yesterday.

I wanted to write something about this incredible person who was able to create something meaningful for the world and place such impact on others lives.  Steve overcame many hardships it’s amazing he inspired so many despite his struggles.  I love studying successful people and I can tell you Steve Jobs tops the list of people who’s traits and creative ingenuity I’ve studied.

Even if you’re not into technology and gadgets you can still respect the remarkable level of impact he’s had as just about everybody has or at least knows somebody who uses one of his creations.  iPhones, iPods and iMacs have made technology more accessible for everyday people who are just looking to stay in contact with their loved ones and share some memories.

Immediately upon hearing upon his death I was deeply saddened and it felt like somebody pulled the rug from out under me.  I can truly say he was one of my heroes and I know my life will be forever impacted as I’m striving to create my own dent in the universe.

I also quickly went to YouTube and watched his 2005 commencement speech to Stanford University with some immediate relief from the unfortunate news.

After watching Steve’s commencement speech you can’t help but feel inspired to start taking action on the life you truly want to live and to not try fitting into what society thinks you should be.  One of the main reasons I created this blog was the opportunity of being able to reach so many people and hopefully inspire their journey towards transforming their bodies, lives and minds.

Some of the quotes I love from this speech:

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

“Almost everything: all external expectations, all pride all fear of embarrassment or failure. These tings just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path.”

Best Fat Burning Exercise

There are quite a few components to the and to be honest with you it’s freaking intense.  I seriously don’t believe most beginners will even be able to get 10 full repetitions of this mega fat burning exercise.

I remember when I first tried them and I thought my chest was about to cave in after trying them for only 30 seconds.  But if you’re looking for my #1 exercise to lose belly fat this is easily going to be the winner.

In my opinion, the is known as Man Makers.

The reason I like it so much as a fat burning exercise is because it combines multiple movements, muscle groups and joints into one exercise.  Here are the exercises that are combined into this one movement.

Components of the BurpeePush-upRenegade RowSwingsSquatOverhead Press

If you’re not winded after doing 10 full repetitions with a challenging weight then you must be from another world.  I personally like to combine Man Makers with TRX Low Rows or Pull-ups.  Here’s is a sample superset exercise routine I would with the Man Makers.

RoutineMan Makers x10

Fat Burning Foods For Women

In this blog post I’m going to share with you some of my best belly and men that everybody should be eating.  I think there are a lot of foods that we believe are healthy for us when they’re really very unhealthy.  They’re causing us to get sick and fat as we keep stuffing our faces with this junk because we don’t know how bad it really is.

In all honesty the biggest problem for most people is that they just keep eating the same junk food that they know is bad for them but they have absolutely no self control over their appetites.  The key I’ve found when it comes to sticking to my nutrition plan is to actually write down what I’m eating BEFORE I eat it and to constantly be eating something every 4 hours just to keep myself from binging.

This is the ginormous problem with restricting your calories and I’ve seen it way too many times as people try to suddenly lose belly fat but after starving themselves for about half a day they’ll instinctually want to eat everything in sight.  The key is not to avoid food but to eat healthy food every 3-4 hours so you don’t go crazy and end up binging on Whoppers and Big Macs.  I don’t consider myself to have a ton of constant self discipline but I’ll show you this 1 trick I like to use to stick to eating these and men.

My 1 Trick To Eat These and Men

I also keep a digital copy of my Flat Belly Formula book in my iPhone so when I’m in the store I can be prepared to buy things off the food list for each recipe I intend to eat.  It makes it significantly easier for you to stick to your diet plan when you prepare ahead of time but most people don’t like to do that because it’s a hassle.  But automatically having recipes on you at all times such as your smartphone is going to help you stick to your meal plans because it takes out one less step making you more likely to actually do it.

Some of these and men don’t include many of the foods we’ve been brainwashed into thinking are healthy for us.  Supposedly healthy foods that make this list include soy, grains, refined carbohydrates, processed foods and artificial sweeteners.  You won’t find me putting any white rice, soy sauce, bagels or Splenda on this list of belly fat burning foods because they’ll end up doing the exact opposite of losing belly fat.

Here’s a list of healthy protein and men that I recommend:grass fed beefAlaskan salmonfree-range, vegetarian fed, omega-3 eggsraw whole milkprotein powdertunaturkeylambvenisonbuffalohalibutcod

As you can see I don’t shy away from “red meats” and I firmly believe they’ve gotten a bad reputation as artery clogging gremlins when they contain a ton of healthy nutrients for your body.  Not only are they very rich in protein but they also contain some saturated fats that are body needs to survive and thrive.  That’s why I’m not afraid to put them on my belly and men list.  Like with anything moderation is going to be key and this doesn’t entitle you to eat cow 7 days a week but don’t be afraid to eat it a few times a week guilt free.

Vegetables and fruits should also be making up the majority of your caloric intake from carbohydrates and this is probably the #1 thing most people are lacking in their diets.  Most of us get our carbohydrates from refined and processed sources which cause our blood sugars to spike leading to weight gain and other health problems.  The thing with these refined carbohydrates is that the more we eat of them the more our bodies will start to crave them almost like an addiction.

Here are my favorite carbohydrate and men:collard greensmustard greenskalebrussel sproutsbroccolicelerycauliflowergarlicpumpkinbeetsasparaguscarrotspeasberries

The green leafy vegetables are going to be the most nutrient dense ones that you should be eating the most of.  Fruits should be eaten way fewer than vegetables and a good trick is to juice your vegetables to maximize your intake.  The juicer is kind of a pain to clean out but it makes it so easy to take in those vegetables that it makes it worth every ounce of effort.

I like to juice my veggies every other day and drink it twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  It’s mostly leafy green vegetables and even though it doesn’t taste great I know I’ll feel WAY better after drinking it.

Belly Fat Burning Exercises

I was getting bored with my traditional workouts lately so I thought it would be a fun idea to mix things up with these .  Most of the time you’ll do fine with just a pair of dumbbells or your bodyweight for your fat burning workouts but to be honest with you sometimes you have to spice things up a little bit.

I like using some fitness toys and gadgets in my workouts not just because it adds a little flavor to my workouts but because when use correctly they’ll also enhance my workouts as well.  Picking up a few pieces of fitness equipment here and there have gradually accumulated for me and now I have a giant gym bag filled with goodies.

The enemy when it comes to training programs is monotony because doing the same thing over and over again will not only stagger your results but will also leave you dreading your boring workout.  So it’s going to be imperative to constantly evolve and progress your workouts not only for your rapid fat loss results but also just to keep up your adherence to your training program.

Mixing It Up With These

Friday, November 18, 2011

Dark Side of Fat Loss Review

In this I’m going to share with you my personal thoughts on the program created by Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness.  If you’re unaware who Croxton he’s a CHEK Certified Holistic Lifestyle Coach as well as a Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist.  I first came across Croxton on YouTube and I was immediately impressed with both his passion and knowledge for an underground approach to a healthy lifestyle.

I personally purchased the Dark Side of Fat Loss when it was first released and after pouring over every piece of information I can honestly tell you this is one of, if not the most complete, nutrition packages I’ve seen being released on the internet.  The thing I really love about the book is that Croxton writes likes he’s talking with his best friend and even though there are a few “big” words in the book he explains it so even a 10 year old can comprehend it.

I’ve read a lot of health books in my day and I’ll be honest when I tell you the majority of them stand on a podium and talk down to the reader but with the Dark Side of Fat Loss I found this clearly wasn’t the case.  The book starts off with Croxton discussing how everything he learned in college was totally WRONG and after a long time of frustratingly disappointing results with his clients he finally decided to find an alternative route to fat loss.

Conventional theories on fat loss such as calories in equals calories out and slow-go cardio turned out to be complete B.S. and I will agree with that 100%.  Starving your body while jogging on the treadmill for an hour today isn’t going to produce the results you’re looking for if you’re goal is fat loss.  In fact, I consider it to be a borderline torture!

My 100% Honest

Croxton even admits that his own diet and exercise lifestyles were getting out of control.  Even though he was following the so-called health experts advice he was depressed, angry and severely lacked energy.

If you’ve been a reader of my blog for anytime I’m sure you’ll know that I’m totally against the whole calories in calories out garbage.  Even if you lose some weight from starving yourself on a 1,000 calorie a day diet you won’t be able to keep it up for long term and most people end up right back where they started or even worse they end up gaining a few pounds.

I wanted to make it clear in this  that it isn’t the amount of calories you’re taking in that’s necessarily the problem but the kinds of calories that makes all the difference.  You see different food are going to cause different hormonal responses from your body and this is what makes a huge difference in why some people burn fat and others gain fat.

Diet Components for this

In the Dark Side of Fat Loss the author is a adamant supporter of the caveman diet and simply tells you that if the food you’re eating wasn’t around 10,000 years ago then don’t eat it!  Other simple nutrition instructions include if you can’t pronounce an ingredient then don’t eat it and if it comes in a box or bag then don’t eat it.

But don’t think the Dark Side of Fat Loss is just going to leave you hanging there because they’re also including the Dark Side of Fat Loss Cookbook which includes a ton of recipes as well as instructional videos on how to cook most of them.  I know that I’m no wizard in the kitchen so the Cookbook actually turned out to be one of the most important components of the Dark Side of Fat Loss.

In addition to the in depth nutritional information Croxton also digs a little deeper at some of the other causes of why we put on fat and can’t seem to get it off.  Many of these reasons are also why we can’t sleep well at night, have digestive issues and are stressed out of our mines.  He introduces a lot of concepts that will have you not only burning more fat but living a healthier and happier lifestyle.

Workout Manual for this

And in case you were wondering I also wanted to mention in this  that there is a workout manual that’s also available that was created by Brett Klika.  Once you purchase the  Dark Side of Fat Loss you’ll be given a special opportunity to pick it up.  Klika has years and years of training experience behind him and he’s on the presenters circuit for personal training conventions as well as being nominated for personal trainer of the year.

I would recommend picking up the workout manual in addition to the Dark Side of Fat Loss because even though you’ll burn a ton of fat just by doing the nutrition program you’l take it up to another level with the easy to follow and practically done for you workout training manual.

Overall I’ve found the Dark Side of Fat Loss to be a fresh a breath air when it comes to fat loss and goes against what most of the media has wrongly been imprinting into our minds for decades about nutrition and exercise.  I had a great time reading both manuals for this  and I hope it’s given you some clarity if this program is for you.

Best Way to Lose Belly Fat

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Almost anyone who is trying to lose weight is probably also placing a lot of focus on attaining a flat stomach. A flat stomach can be a great source of confidence for those who are able to achieve it. Those who are not able to make it, yearn for it.

What is the best way to lose belly fatThe best way to lose belly fat is to do it naturally without the aid of gimmicks or fad diets.  You may be able to lose a lot of weight with these gimmicks but it is seldom fat loss. Weight loss can be a combination of muscle, water and fat loss.  When ever fad diets or gimmicks are used, there is a tendency to lose more muscle and water than fat.

Fad diets and gimmicks will never help you to lose belly fat. This is because the belly fat is the body’s emergency fat store and its going to take a lot more than brute force dieting to get the body to release this for burning. The only way to trick your body into releasing fat from this emergency stores is via a holistic approach to fat loss.

A holistic approach to losing belly fat requires the incorporation of the 7 keys of correct weight loss as explained below.

NutritionHealthy nutrition is essential if you want to shed fat. You essentially got to get rid of junk food and add high quality whole foods into your diet. Take note of meal quantity, quality and timing. Read more about healthy diet to burn belly fat.

ExercisesRegular exercise is extremely important to lose belly fat. Without a proper exercise regimen, you will find it difficult to lose belly fat. Read more about the best exercises to lose belly fat.

SupplementationIt is important that you take a quality multivitamin-multimineral. This acts as nutritional insurance against any deficiency that may exist. Certain nutritional deficiencies can cause a disturbances in your fat metabolism. In addition to this, you should also consider consuming a quality omega-3 fish oil capsule. This again has been shown to aid in fat loss.

RestorationAn often forgotten part of losing weight is restoration. Restoration in this case refers to adequate sleep and stress management. High levels of stress and lack of sleep can severely sabotage your weight loss efforts.

EducationIt is extremely important that you have basic knowledge about how your body handles fat. With this understanding, you will be able to pick out the genuine methods to lose fat and the gimmicks. Most people fall for ridiculous gimmicks because they lack fundamental knowledge about weight loss. Most people think that fat can be made to disappear into thin air.

FeedbackThis relates to all the measurements that you need to take to make sure that you are on the right track. The most important measurement to take is the body fat level with a pair of calipers. This will ultimately tell you if you are making real progress in your efforts to lose belly fat. Most women will have reasonably flat stomachs at about 20% body fat and 6-pack abs at 15%body fat. Men will have reasonably flat stomachs at about 15% body fat and 6-pack abs at about 10% body fat. As long as your body fat is reducing, you know that you are on the right track.

Social SupportThe last essential part of a holistic approach to losing belly fat is the right social support. You have to be in the company of people who have similar goals or practice a healthy lifestyle. These people will uplift you and keep you focused on your goals. This is unlike others who will chide you and do their best to derail your efforts so that they do not feel guilty of not doing something for themselves.

Suresh and Paramjit discuss in greater detail, what you can do to lose belly fat in the video above. They also go into some things that you should avoid. It is hoped that the resources on this page will help in providing you the best way to lose belly fat.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:22 — 10.4MB)

Best Way to Lose Belly Fat FastTranscript of The Best Way to Lose Belly FatHi I am Suresh V and I am Paramjit and we are from the Correct Weight Loss team.

[Suresh] Today we are going to talk about the best way to lose belly fat. I think there is a big interest in this topic for a lot of people who are struggling with belly fat. We are going to talk about what causes belly fat in the first place. We got a list of items that we believe actually induces belly fat.

[Suresh] The first is alcohol. Alcohol is a big no-no as far as belly fat is concerned. If you want to avoid belly fat, try to avoid alcohol. Basically it has a high amount of calories and its a form of toxin to the body. The body wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible. Therefore when you take alcohol, the body starts burning alcohol first and stops all other calorie burning in the form of fat or carbs.

[Paramjit] It also messes up your hormonal system.

[Suresh] Yes. It reduces your testosterone and other beneficial hormone levels.

Avoid refined carbohydrates [0:01:06.2][Suresh] The other thing that you want to avoid is refined carbs. This is stuff like sugar and white flour. These foods induce huge spikes in insulin. These also cause huge spikes of calories in your body. The body is not used to handling these type of foods. Excess calories that can’t burned are stored as fat in the belly and other areas.

[Paramjit] These refined carbs are the main culprits for the obesity epidemic. You get so much of refined carbohydrates around us. This continuous insulin spikes are really bad for the body. This is where your body starts storing a lot of fat.

[Suresh] When the insulin spikes, you store fat within the abdominal cavity and this is called visceral fat. This is major contributor of belly fat.

Avoid liquid calories [0:01:52.0][Suresh]  The other thing you want to avoid is liquid calories. Things like sodas and all these sweetened beverages are definitely having the same kind of effect on your body as refined carbs. It spikes insulin as too many calories are released into the body at one go. These surplus calories are stored in the body as fat.

[Paramjit] A lot of people do not realize that even the lattes and the coffees that people are used to drinking, are quite calorie dense.

Avoid junk food [0:02:17.1][Suresh] The other thing is fast food and junk food . That is obvious. These are highly dense in calories and very low in nutrition.

[Paramjit] There is also a lot of junk in it like trans fats.

[Suresh] Yes. Trans fats are the other stuff that messes up your hormonal balance. You want to avoid fast food and junk food.

Avoid skipping breakfast [0:02:36.7][Suresh] The last thing you want to do is that is to skip breakfast. A lot of people think that they will lose weight by skipping breakfast. If you want to lose belly fat, you must have a good healthy breakfast. If you don’t have your breakfast, your body goes into a long starvation period because you have not eaten for 8 hours. To make things worse, you skip breakfast. It’s 12 hours to 14 hours before you have your lunch. Your body thinks it is starving and therefore goes into starvation mode where it slows down your metabolism to help you survive. The body does not know that you are skipping breakfast. The body thinks you are starving. The minute you have something to eat at  lunch time, your slow metabolism causes the food that you eat to be stored as fat.

[Paramjit] I guess you covered some of the things not to do. So let us look at some of the things that you should do

Consume a healthy and wholesome diet [0:03:34.6][Paramjit] The most important part to help burn belly fat is your diet. Good nutrition is extremely important for weight loss and for belly fat loss. You have to eat more complex carbs. You spoke earlier about avoiding refined carbs.  Refined carbs really cause havoc in the body. Some people go to the extreme and cut carbs out completely.

[Suresh] That may not be a good strategy because it is not sustainable. We need a certain amount of carbs in our body. Eat healthy carbs. If you cut carbs too much, you lose a lot of nutrients that help your metabolism to work optimally.

[Paramjit] People fail to realize that they will not gain weight if they eat carbohydrates in its natural form….

[Suresh] Like salads, fruits…

[Paramjit] or even potatoes … What we have to be careful about is carbohydrates that have been processed by man. You get white flour. White flour is the biggest poison you can take. Avoid refined carbs but do not avoid complex carbs. Have adequate protein. You also got to be adequately hydrated. Water is very important. When there is inadequate water in the body, the cells cannot function properly.

[Suresh]  Fat burning slows down as a result of inadequate hydration. The metabolism does not function properly.

[Paramjit] You got to have adequate hydration for the cells to work in the proper way to help fat burning. So good nutrition and adequate hydration is extremely important for optimal functioning of your metabolism.

[Paramjit] The other thing to remember is that you have to be on a diet that you can sustain for your whole life. It cannot be a stop-gap measure of a one or two month diet.

[Suresh] It must be a lifestyle.

[Paramjit] It has to be a lifestyle. It has to be something that you can sustain. If it is something that you practice for only 2 or 3  months, what happens when you stop and go back to your “normal lifestyle”? You put on all the fat again.

Regular exercise is a must [0:05:26.7][Paramjit] The other part that you got to consider is exercise. Some people don’t like it when you mention exercise.

[Suresh] Look, I think most of us don’t like the exercise part. The idea is not to enjoy the exercise too much but to learn to enjoy the results of the exercise. You got to think beyond the exercise. You do the exercise to get the results that you want.

[Paramjit] That is a very good point. You are working for the results that exercise gives. Off course the exercise itself is a little painful but endure it for the results. It is the results that we are all after.

[Suresh] The pain is temporary but the results are forever.

[Paramjit] Well said. the pain is temporary and the results are permanent.

Get adequate sleep and manage stress [0:06:14.4][Paramjit] Another point to take note of is sleep.This is one part that a lot of people do not realize

[Suresh] I believe there is actually a correlation. Studies show that Americans are sleeping less and less. They are getting less sleep with the internet and all the latest gadgets available. You will notice that there is an increase in obesity. Sleep has been proven scientifically to have a tremendous effect on your fat burning abilities. If you don’t get enough sleep, you mess up a lot of processes in the body.

[Paramjit] The other part to be aware of  is that our minds are working all the time. We are not able to shut down.

[Suresh] Basically people are stressed up. The cortisol levels are elevated.

[Paramjit] Yes people are stressed. Stress hormones are bad for losing fat and losing weight. Besides good sleep, you also neet to have a technique or mechanism to de-stress yourself. Off course exercise helps to de-stress.

[Paramjit] To a certain extent….

[Suresh] Yes to a certain extent. But there are other de-stressing mechanism like meditation which definitely helps  to cut your stress levels.

Find a source of motivation [0:07:20.3][Paramjit] You need to have some level of motivation and this can come from having other people around you who are going after the same weight loss goals. Try to find other people who also want to lose weight and get a slim belly. Find people that have the same common goal. People with common goals can motivate each other. Some times you have down days and some time your partner may have his or her down days. It is important to motivate each other. It is an important aspect. It is a the softer side of weight loss

[Suresh] The body and the mind are inter-related. Get your mind on the right track and your body will follow. You  have to mix around with the right crowd and read the good stuff. Your mind will start moving in the right direction and your body will follow.

[Paramjit] These are the softer aspects of losing belly fat or weight loss but these are important and carry you a long way.

Educate yourself about weight loss basics [0:08:17.6][Paramjit] The other aspect that I always thought was important is to have at least adequate basic knowledge about weight loss. You got to at least know the difference between weight loss and fat loss. You have to know if  all of your weight loss is coming from fat loss? Are you losing muscles in the process? These are all fundamentals that you got to know. Some people try to be ignorant. Just tell me what to do, they say. When you have this frame of mind, you can fall for gimmicks. You got to know what is right and what is wrong. Having the right knowledge is extremely important so that you continue to get results.

[Suresh] Adequate knowledge actually creates self-discipline. Human beings by nature cannot knowingly do something foolish. It is impossible to knowingly do something foolish. You only foolish things when you are ignorant. Once you know the truth, you can’t knowingly do something foolish. It creates self-discipline effortlessly.

[Paramjit] It is sad because some people just say, “Just tell me what to do and I will do it”. It may work to a certain extent

[Suresh] It works to some degree but you will gain all the weight back because you are not taking responsibility for that area of your life.

[Paramjit] You got to take responsibility.

[Suresh] Responsibility and freedom goes together. Which ever area in your life that you take responsibility, you are free in that area. That is part of growing up.

So I guess without going into more details, these quick tips can help you and put you on the right track to lose belly fat. This is one of the fastest ways to  start losing belly fat. If you incorporate these tips into your lifestyle, you will get results.

From the Correct Weight Loss team, this time do it right.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

This 1 Vegetable Makes You GAIN Fat

Published on Oct 02, 2011 by Josh Schlottman

We’re all pretty much aware we should be eating lots of vegetables in our diets but there is one tricky little veggie that’s a pain in our butts.  Most people think it’s healthy and it’s really not their fault because nobody really told them that this particular vegetable is actually going to make them fat rather than keep them healthy.

I remember pounding down these babies growing up thinking I was the man because I was eating my vegetables.  Too bad somebody didn’t smack me upside the head and tell me that I was doing more harm than good.

So what is this phantom vegetable that’s going to make you GAIN fat?

Potatoes.

Yes potatoes are considered a high carbohydrate food because of all the starch it contains and consuming too much of them can negatively affect your health.  When you look at the statistics showing 65% of Americans are overweight and 27% are clinically obese it’s not because of the fat that we’re eating in our diets it’s because of the starchy and sugary carbohydrates.



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