The Mass Confusion That
Dominates  In Fat Loss & Fitness Today

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of 'Fat Burning Furnace'

People are confused more than ever about how to burn fat.  They are confused about the best way to go about achieving the body they want.  They are confused about what works and what doesn’t, and the reasons why.  There are countless individuals slaving away in gyms and fitness centers around the country right now. 

They are working tirelessly, almost every day, on the treadmill, stair-climber, elliptical, etc. to burn those calories and fat.  They also might be lifting weights several times a week for hours at a time to build some strength and muscle.  They might even join a few aerobics or spinning classes too.

They are probably also trying one of the latest diet strategies that promises miracle fat burning and weight loss.  They could also be spending a lot of money on the latest and greatest dietary supplements that could be that miracle pill that will aid in weight loss.  They are also carefully watching the scale as their main judge of fat loss progress. 

If it goes up a pound or two, they may behave rashly and maybe even change up their entire workout or diet program! And of course there are others are doing variations on that same theme. 

After all, this is the kind of stuff that many of the popular fitness and diet gurus typically recommend to burn fat.  But with so many different strategies and plans being pushed as the be all and end all, what happens is we tend to overboard. 

And when that happens, we lose sight of what really matters in achieving lifelong fat burning, fitness and health…the principles than many people don’t know about, most people have forgotten, and only a select few put to use to achieve lifelong health and fitness.  These are the same principles I used to drop over 40 pounds of unwanted body fat, keep it off, and revitalize my life!

With any exercise or nutrition program, you’ll probably lose some fat initially, but far too often the progress doesn’t continue or doesn’t come as fast as the person would like because they're using a temporary mindset.  They're only focused on the short term and one specific goal.  So they end up switching to something else, and the cycle continues until they’ve become consumed by this cycle of confusion. 

I believe that this is one of the biggest, if not the #1 reason for the lack of fat loss and fitness progress that is being experienced by the masses of exercisers and dieters in the world.  They are jumping from one fad diet or exercise routine to another, while losing sight of what’s really important, and what really works. 

Simply put, they are exercising far too much, not nearly intensely enough, and trying to adhere to unrealistic diet recommendations.

If instead they focused on a long term plan, a lifestyle as it’s often called, and didn’t worry about “losing 10 pounds by summer”, they would find it far easier to do the right things most of the time. 

And those right things include brief, progressive, and intense resistance training, eating a diet full of nutrient rich foods, drinking tons of water, and getting plenty of quality sleep and rest.  The students of my Fat Burning Furnace method understand this and are reaping the life long health and fitness rewards because of it.  Are you? 

Claim your free copy of Rob Poulos's "7 Secrets Of Permanent Fat Loss & Fitness" at his website: fat burning furnace

Rob Poulos is a celebrated fitness author, fat loss expert, and the founder and CEO of Zero to Hero Fitness.  Rob created the world's most efficient method for fast and permanent fat loss with his "Fat Burning Furnace" system to help those looking to put an end to restrictive fad diets, long boring cardio workouts, and the need for super-human willpower for good.

If you're thinking about using the Fat Burning Furnace system yourself, but still have a few questions, make sure you visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Also, it may help to read about the success stories of others like you to see how people in similar situations have changed their bodies and their lives with the techniques in FBF.

But you may become anxious to get started on your new body right now, so you can also click the button below to get started right now.  Remember, you have a full 60 days to decide if it's right for you.  If not, just email me and we'll issue you a full refund and I'll thank you for trying it out...it's that simple!

 

Back To FBF Home Page:  Lose Weight Fast

   Back To: Workout, Diet & Exercise Articles & Tips 

 

How This Type-2 Diabetic Dropped 33 lbs. &
6 Inches Of Belly Flab in Less Than 1 Hour A Week 

Diabetic drops inches of belly flab

Fat Burning Furnace

You know that hearing about how the positive results and success that others like you have had can truly inspire you…

…it can even be THE turning point in your ultimate success!

That’s why today I’m sharing an email from newsletter and FBF reader Lee with you…

…Lee dropped 33lbs and almost 6″ of bellyflab as shown in the email and photos he shared with me recently:

“Hi Rob,

I’m not one for long, drawn out messages…

...but I do want to take a few minutes to thank you for your program…

...THANK YOU!!!!…YOU and the FAT BURNING FURNACE ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system…

...I started your program 6/10/11. The 12 week mark was this past Friday, 9/2/11.

I’ll let the before and after measurements, as well as, photos do all the speaking.

In closing, I’ve made a life long commitment to health and fitness…

...not just to look and feel better but to stay healthy. I’m a type 2 diabetic…

...and know of no way better to control the disease, than with diet and exercise.

Again, thank you for a great program.

Sincerely,
Lee

PS – you have my permission to use this info on website…

...also, feel free to contact me to further discuss…I’ll look forward to it.”

Thanks Lee… whew, talk about inspiring!

Congrats on all of your success, and know that you’re surely going to inspire hundreds or more to do the same… awesome!

And for our readers who like to be continually inspired, don’t forget...

My wife Kalen and I lost over 101 pounds by using these same & surprisingly simple techniques and tricks, and you'll also find it interesting that:

• We did it by enjoying delicious foods several times a day, every day, almost never hungry...


• We DID NOT do one minute of 'cardio', but still lowered our resting heart rate and re-captured that near boundless energy of our 20s...


• I also lost nearly 10 inches of stomach flab, and Kalen dropped 8 dress sizes, going from a 12 to a 4...

We put together a little presentation where you're going to learn everything else you need to know (including our inspiring before & after pics) here:

Unusual tips and unique tricks that fight fat fast... <--- Click Here (Presentation)

You also learn the 5 biggest mistakes you've probably been making trying to fight the flab, among all the tricky little details of our truly life-changing discovery...



You're going to be blown away when you learn the REAL reason you're probably still flabby, out of shape, or just plain fat...

Enjoy the presentation and you'll thank us later ;-)

5 Fast Fat Loss Steps!

fast fat loss steps

Put These To Work And You'll Start Burning Stubborn Flab Much Faster...

Fat Burning Furnace

TIP 1: EXERCISE EFFICIENCY

The idea here is that we’re all very busy, and I don’t have time to spend hours at the gym or workout nearly every day of the week. I know most people are in the same boat.

So what is needed is an exercise routine that can be performed infrequently and takes very little time, but still gives you great results...

...now the only way to do this is to use a form of exercise that produces fat loss in the time that you’re NOT working out.

Most popular forms of exercise provide most of their calorie and fat burning during the exercise…but this is not efficient because we can only exercise so much…even the aerobic and cardio fanatics out there can only stand say 5-10 hours a week of exercise.

So with 24 hours a day times 7 days, that gives us 168 hours in a week… so even working out 5-10 hours a week still leaves us with 160 or more hours that we won’t be working out...

...it is these 160 hours we should be focusing on if we want maximum fat loss in minimum time...

...and when you can do that, now you’ve got exercise efficiency. So the idea is to get the most fat burning out of those 160+ hours that you’re not working out...

...and the best way to do it that I’ve found is by using a very high level of intensity combined with resistance training exercises performed in fairly rapid succession.

This type of exercise will burn fat for up to 2-3 days after the workout is over, so you can see why just 2-3 sessions a week of this type of exercise can double or even triple the amount of fat loss that can occur with typical type of exercise in the so called “fat burning zone”.

TIP 2: FOCUS ON MICRONUTRIENTS FIRST

Perhaps the most important tip I can give anyone trying to get and stay lean is to look at food from a micronutrient standpoint.

This is not something you’ll hear from most nutrition experts, in fact they’ll tell you just the opposite, to look at your food from a macronutrient view (protein, carbs, fats)...

...this is what most people end up doing, and it is still important for fat loss, but the big turning point in my personal fat loss journey happened when I started to focus on eating most of my calories from foods that are super loaded with nutrients instead of stressing out over my protein, fat, and carb ratios.

The foods I’m talking about are vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds.

Now don’t mistake this for a vegetarian or vegan diet, that’s not what I’m talking about, but a diet that supplies the body with the nutrients it requires to burn fat optimally.

Now, you’ll notice that I didn’t include lean animal meats on this list. Well, that doesn’t mean these foods won’t help you burn fat, they will, but what I’m saying is you need to take your focus off of the whole protein first mindset and instead go with a “nutrient first” mindset.

I was raised, as I’m sure a lot of people are, that any good meal needs to start with a big portion of beef or poultry, and that the nutrient rich foods (like vegetables, fruits, beans, etc.) are a small part of that meal, if at all.

I’m saying you have to flip that equation entirely and that most of your meal should be based in the nutrient loaded foods, with a smaller bit of the animal proteins.

The fact is that these foods have the most nutrients, and when you give your body the required nutrients without overloading it with foods that have little nutrients, fat loss become so much easier because the hunger and cravings that plague dieters almost disappears.

TIP 3: STOP DOING SITUPS AND USING ABS GIZMOS TO LOSE STOMACH FLAB!

OK, so this is a big one because six pack abs are like a status symbol these days on whether or not you’re lean.

I mean back in the 70s and 80s, it was enough just to have a flat stomach, but now it’s all about the six pack…for whatever reason.

It probably has more to do with the fact that people are fatter than ever and things like six pack abs are becoming more rare and of course they are that much more desirable because of it.

So, a lot of people are still mystified by the spot reducing myth that you can do exercise a specific area of the body and create localized fat loss.

I should know because I hammer my newsletter subscribers with this myth several times, but I still get question after question about which abs or belly exercises or gut blaster 3000 will get them a set of six pack abs!

Look, you really can’t lose fat from one area of your body specifically...

...the only way you can lose belly fat, thigh fat, butt fat or any other fat is by lowering your overall body fat percentage. In other words, losing overall body fat.

The reason you have problem areas or body parts is because you simply have more fat cells stored in that area genetically.

And we can’t lose these fat cells, we are stuck with them unless we resort to surgery, but we can shrink them, and that‘s what happens when we lose fat. We shrink the fat cells.

So the key here is forgetting about all those abs specific exercises for a while and instead focus on lowering your overall body fat percentage by creating a calorie deficit through the right diet strategies and adding lean muscle to your body.

Truth be told, a good set of barbell squats to muscular failure done a couple times a week will do more for losing belly fat and getting six pack abs than 1000 crunches a week because the amount of calories and fat that will be burned from the squats will far outweigh those crunches.

Yeah, you’ll need some abs specific exercises to build the abdominal muscles, but no one will see them if they’re covered up by layers of body fat.

TIP 4: DON’T JUDGE YOUR FAT LOSS PROGRESS ON A SCALE

Alright another huge mistake people make when determining how successful their fat loss program. First off, we’re talking about fat loss here, not weight loss.

Weight loss is the predominant term, unfortunately, because that’s what we are taught at an early age.

But when it comes to losing actual body fat, we have to look at our body composition, not how much we weigh on the scale, but how much of our body is fat weight.

This is really the only way to know if you’re losing fat or just losing water weight or muscle, which is very common on most crash or fad diets...

...people will end up losing a few pounds really fast and get excit, but they don’t look much better in the mirror!

I mean they could look better in clothes because water loss and muscle loss will make you look smaller in clothes sometimes, but when the clothes come off...

...yikes!

This is the skinny-fat look that a lot of people have…they have high body fat percentages, but because of a small bone structure they look acceptable to people while in clothes.

I know nobody wants to look like that, which is why body fat percentage must be the key measurement for fat loss.

OK, another reason we can’t rely on the scale is because of muscle mass...

...if we’re doing this right, our exercise is going to be geared toward gaining lean muscle as this is the best way to create a calorie deficit almost immediately.

Especially as we age because our bodies naturally lose muscle mass every year once we hit our mid 30s or so… by the way that’s the main reason so many people who were in good shape in their 20s and 30s wake up in their 40s 20-30 pounds of fat heavier.

So if you’re measuring your progress by the scale and you gain 5 pounds of muscle, the scale could show no fat loss or even a small gain because muscle weighs more than fat...

...it’s more dense and takes up less space. This can cause you to freak out and think your efforts are causing weight gain when in reality your creating the perfect environment for 24 hour a day fat burning.

So, easy ways to track your bf% are with a skinfold caliper, which you can find online, some of those body fat scales or hand grippers (though there are some tricks to using those correctly).

I actually have a body fat percentage analyzer available for my newsletter subscribers for free which you can get on my website…this is a great little tool and it’s there for anyone who wants to accurately track your fat loss.

So that’s the idea here... track your body fat percentage, not just your bodyweight! It’s fat loss , not weight loss we’re after.

TIP 5: KNOW YOUR FAT LOSS NUMBERS

I’m talking about keeping score and knowing your numbers here...

...if you don’t know the numbers, you have little chance of success in fat loss and fitness.

Just like anything else in life, if you’re not tracking what works and what doesn’t work, you’ll be using a shotgun approach that will take much longer and not work as well as an approach that includes tracking.

This is especially important in relation to your exercise and fat loss and fitness progress. Let’s look at the business world for a moment. In any business, at the end of the day, results are measured by revenue, or the money that was made.

If the business owner doesn’t know the numbers, they won’t know if they’ve made any money. And thus they literally have no business! It’s crazy and pretty simple, but the most powerful metric a business owner can track.

I’m a big NBA basketball fan, but do you think I’d enjoy watching my favorite team if they didn’t keep score? Of course not!

If they don’t keep score, we don’t know who’s winning, and thus there is no “game” to win or lose. They have to know their numbers to know who wins and who loses.

Again, strikingly simple, but the fact is that most people don’t track their exercise routines at all. How do they know if they’re winning or losing the fat loss game?

In fat loss and fitness it’s all about monitoring a few key numbers, primarily strength gains, inches in your body part measurements, and body fat percentage.

If you don’t know these numbers from week to week, month to month, you’ll have a tough time judging your progress…and thus you’ll second guess yourself, the methods you’re using and have little change of succeeding.

This is also important because with any type of exercise or diet plan, you’ll need to make slight adjustments as you progress, and how the heck are you going to do that if you don’t know what or when to adjust?

So recording your progress on a weekly and month basis is key to getting that lean and fit body you desire… and if you’re not doing it, you’re using the shotgun approach: just spraying bullets and hoping you hit something.

This is a big reason people give up on their programs...

...not measuring their progress accurately. When you do this right, it can also give you that positive reinforcement to work even hard toward your goals.

Once you sniff something that actually is working, I don’t know about you, but I’ll do everything I can do magnify that effect for as long as I can.

So, bottom line, make sure to keep accurate records of your workouts and your progress. Just like in any business or in sports, you won’t know if you’re winning if you don’t keep score.

My wife Kalen and I lost over 101 pounds by using these 3 tricks (along with a few other techniques), and you'll also find it interesting that:

• We did it by enjoying delicious foods several times a day, every day, almost never hungry...


• We DID NOT do one minute of 'cardio', but still lowered our resting heart rate and re-captured that near boundless energy of our 20s...


• I also lost nearly 10 inches of stomach flab, and Kalen dropped 8 dress sizes, going from a 12 to a 4...

We put together a little presentation where you're going to learn everything else you need to know (including our inspiring before & after pics) here:

Unusual tips and unique tricks that fight fat fast... <--- Click Here (Presentation)

You also learn the 5 biggest mistakes you've probably been making trying to fight the flab, among all the tricky little details of our truly life-changing discovery...



You're going to be blown away when you learn the REAL reason you're still flabby, out of shape, or just plain fat...

Enjoy the presentation and you'll thank us later ;-)

How To Triple Your Fat Loss
Workout Results In Half The Time… Or Less!

Fat (Weight) loss method

Fat Burning Furnace

Do you want to know how to triple the results you get from your fat burning workouts? In half the time? Or less?

OK, I agree, that’s a silly question. Of course you would!

So if you somehow manage to finish this entire article, a near miracle in today’s world of information overload, you’ll be able to do just that!

Now this may come as a shock, but I have found that the number one form of exercise for fat loss is high intensity resistance training.

Yeah, not what you’ll hear from lots of fat loss and fitness “gurus” right? Well, I can tell you nothing creates a faster resting metabolism or requires more stored energy (read this as ‘fat’!) than building some good old quality lean muscle.

Man or woman. Young or old.

And just so you know I’m not some kook spewing a bunch of lies, you’ll be happy to learn that I personally used a certain form of metabolic resistance training to lose over 42 pounds of fat and have kept it off for the last 3 years.

Not enough? OK, well, I did that without 1 minute of separate cardio…not one!

And my wife did the same, but actually lost even more fat…nearly 60 pounds and she also dropped 8 dress sizes in the span of about 6 months.

Alright, let’s get to it and find out how you can dramatically improve your results with your resistance training for fat loss.

Walk into any fitness center or gym and you'll see at least half if not more of the exercisers performing their resistance training workouts in a less than optimal way...and that's being kind.

You see guys getting all macho, swinging the weights around, and using gravity and momentum to help them move the weight.

Let me put it bluntly.

Gravity and momentum ain’t gonna help you build muscle…or burn more fat!

In fact, if you simply concentrate on performing each and every repetition of an exercise properly, you could literally triple its effectiveness! To better understand this, let's examine our 3 different strength levels in any resistance exercise:

Your 1st Strength Level: Take the dumbbell curl exercise for the biceps for example. In this movement, you begin with the weight down at your sides. You proceed to smoothly and slowly curl the dumbbells up to your shoulders. This movement trains what's known as your positive strength level.

Your 2nd Strength Level: You should then pause briefly and contract your biceps at the top of the movement. This trains what's known as your static strength level.

Your 3rd Strength Level: Finally, you would want to lower the dumbbells slowly back to the starting position. This trains what's known as your negative strength level.

Now the problem is that most people don't even bother with the static or negative strength levels at all! They put all of the focus on the "lifting" or positive portion of the movement, while not pausing or contracting sufficiently at the top, and not taking nearly enough time on the negative portion.

HUGE mistake ;-(

In effect, these poor folks are getting only one third of the fat blasting benefits that this exercise can give them.

Actually, it's less than that because the static and negative portions can actually create deeper inroads into your existing strength levels. This is something you want, as it will lead to greater progress faster assuming you give your body appropriate time to recover.

Why do we care so much about strength?

Outside of the obvious reasons, strength leads to muscle growth, which leads to a faster resting metabolism (as we discussed earlier), which leads to faster fat loss and various other improved health factors that could take up another couple of pages at least ;-).

So the question is, how slow are we talking about here?

We’ve found best results taking about 3-4 seconds on both the positive (lifting) portion and negative (lowering) portion of the exercise. It is recommended that you hold for a count of 1 during the contracted position.

In our Fat Burning Furnace blueprint, I take these concepts to the next level. Here we are using techniques to maximize your static and negative strength levels in order to push the limits of your lean and healthy genetic potential to the max.

That's when the real fun begins.

So make sure not to neglect the static and negative strength levels when performing your next resistance training workout. Don't waste the opportunity to triple your results!

My wife Kalen and I lost over 101 pounds by using these 3 tricks (along with a few other techniques), and you'll also find it interesting that:

• We did it by enjoying delicious foods several times a day, every day, almost never hungry...


• We DID NOT do one minute of 'cardio', but still lowered our resting heart rate and re-captured that near boundless energy of our 20s...


• I also lost nearly 10 inches of stomach flab, and Kalen dropped 8 dress sizes, going from a 12 to a 4...

We put together a little presentation where you're going to learn everything else you need to know (including our inspiring before & after pics) here:

Unusual tips and unique tricks that fight fat fast... <--- Click Here (Presentation)

You also learn the 5 biggest mistakes you've probably been making trying to fight the flab, among all the tricky little details of our truly life-changing discovery...



You're going to be blown away when you learn the REAL reason you're still flabby, out of shape, or just plain fat...

Enjoy the presentation and you'll thank us later ;-)

Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012

Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 is the sequel to Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, the #1 fitness franchise on Kinect for Xbox 360. Exercise your way with a fun and customizable experience that delivers serious results. Your Shape includes over 90 hours of activities, so you can design a workout tailored to your fitness level, goals, schedule and preferences. Focus your workouts on specific muscle groups. And choose from fitness activities like Boot Camp, Cardio Boxing, Jump Rope and Yoga, and new dance classes like Latin, Hip-hop, African and Bollywood. The state-of-the-art motion tracking provides feedback on your moves, and now tracks floor exercises like push-ups and sit-ups. With Your Shape Center, share and compete with your friends and the global community.

Your Shape exercises include...

• Boot Camp
• Cardio Boxing
• Jump Rope
• Latin Dance
• Hip-hop Dance
• African Dance
• Bollywood Dance
• Zen
• Yoga
• Muscle specific – Abs, Arms, Legs, Glutes, Back
• Wall Breaker
• Stack 'em Up
• Kick 'em
• Run the World
• Sports Preparation
• And more...

 Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 features:-

New Fitness Routines

1-
New Fitness Routines – With classes like Boot Camp, define and tone your body, improve your cardiovascular fitness and get motivated with an in-game trainer that provides feedback on your workout.

Have Fun Getting Fit

2-
Have Fun Getting Fit – Have a blast burning the calories away with activities like Jump Rope, Wallbreaker, Stack 'em and Kick 'em. Great fun for the whole family!

Floor Exercises

3-
Floor Exercises - Enhanced motion tracking now provides precise feedback on exercises like sit-ups and push-ups, so that you can tighten and tone your abs and arms.

New Dance Classes

 4-
New Dance Classes – Shake it up with Latin dance moves such as Cha Cha Cha, Mambo and Merengue. Hip-hop, African and Bollywood classes also offer a wide selection of sizzling and sweat-inducing routines.

Key Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 Features

• Fitness Activities for Everyone – Over 90 hours of activities, including Boot Camp, Cardio Boxing, Jump Rope and a medley of Dance classes


• Highly Customizable Fitness Experience – Design a workout tailored to you based on your fitness level, goals, schedule and preferences


• State-of-the-art Motion Tracking Technology, Now with Floor Exercises – Enhanced motion tracking provides feedback specific to your body, and now includes floor exercises like push-ups and sit-ups


• Focus on Specific Muscle Groups – Exercises targeting Abs, Arms, Legs, Glutes, Back and more


• Share and Compete with Friends – Through Your Shape Center, share and compete with friends and the global Your Shape community 

BUY Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 FROM AMAZON

3 Simple & Quick Tiny Belly Tricks

And The Odd Way An Unhappy Couple Lost 101 Pounds...

article by Rob Poulos, Author, Fat Burning Furnace

If you're anything like we used to be, you've probably had trouble keeping the weight off at one time or another, or from piling on as you've gotten older.

Could be that your excess 'baggage' is all over, or maybe just in certain areas like your belly, rear-end, hips or thighs.

And like anything else you're still struggling with, you might suspect that there is something out there that could help that you just don't know about yet...

...so I know you're excited to put these 3 quick tiny belly tricks to work for you because they helped us lose a combined 101 pounds after struggling for years!

Quick Tiny BellyTrick #1: The 15-Minute Miracle To Beat The Gym Crowd...

My wife Kalen and I never liked the idea of spending hours in the gym (we knew we were too busy for that), so you can see why we were so ecstatic to learn there is a way to get faster fat loss from spending only 15 minutes just 2-3 times a week.

How can this be?

Most longer workouts only burn calories during the workout... with our special type of ‘metabolic movement’, your body burns calories for 2-3 days after the workout is over!

The trick involves using all of your body's muscles in just 8-12 simple movements that can be done in roughly 15-20 minutes even at home. This is our '15 minute miracle' that has kept us fit as fiddles.

Quick Tiny Belly Trick #2: Stuff Yourself WithThese To Kill Cravings...

Kalen and I hated most diets because they are complicated and focus on restriction. We found it much easier to eat right for a tiny belly and faster fat loss and health by focusing on foods that are super loaded with micronutrients, instead of obsessing over protein, carbs and fats ratios (macronutrients).

We also found that by eating lots of organic vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, raw nuts, and seeds and whole unrefined grains, we automatically ate much less but still felt more than satisfied.

The fact is that these are the best tiny belly foods because they have the highest nutrient profile, and when you give your body the required nutrients without overloading it with foods that have little nutrients, fat loss become so much easier because the hunger and cravings that plague dieters almost disappears.  

Quick Tiny Belly Trick #3: Stop Doing These Exercises... 

'Abs' exercises like sit-ups and crunches for most people are a complete waste of time because you'll never flatten your stomach unless you lose enough fat from your body.

And the fastest way to lose fat with exercise is to use metabolic movements that work the largest amount of muscle in your body at the same time. That means sit-ups are out and fast fat burners like squats, deadlifts, pushups and rows are in.

We found just 1 simple set of bodyweight squats done a couple times a week will do far more for losing belly fat than 1000 crunches a week because the amount of calories and fat that will be burned from the squats will far outweigh those crunches.

Kalen and I lost over 101 pounds by using these 3 tricks (along with a few other techniques), and you'll also find it interesting that:

• We did it by enjoying delicious foods several times a day, every day, almost never hungry...


• We DID NOT do one minute of 'cardio', but still lowered our resting heart rate and re-captured that near boundless energy of our 20s...


• I also lost nearly 10 inches of stomach flab, and Kalen dropped 8 dress sizes, going from a 12 to a 4...

We put together a little presentation where you're going to learn everything else you need to know (including our inspiring before & after pics) here:

Unusual tips and unique tricks that fight fat fast... <--- Click Here (Presentation)

You also learn the 5 biggest mistakes you've probably been making trying to fight the flab, among all the tricky little details of our truly life-changing discovery...



You're going to be blown away when you learn the REAL reason you're still flabby, out of shape, or just plain fat...

Enjoy the presentation and you'll thank us later ;-)

Rob & Kalen

Here's a unique exercise to help flatten your stomach while driving

If you're already a reader of my Truth about Six Pack Abs manual, then you may already know this unique trick... it's basically a simple exercise that you can do anytime, anywhere to help get a flat stomach over time.
Now I will say that this exercise does NOT increase fat burning, but it CAN help to flatten your stomach by strengthening your deeper transversus abdominis muscles and hence "pulling in" a lazy stomach (aka beer belly or "pooch belly").
It involves doing an exercise called "ab vacuums".
I find it a good time to get in the habit of doing daily ab vacuums while driving on your daily commute or another time that would get you in the habit of doing them regularly.
(please make sure this doesn't distract you from driving safely... I find that it doesn't distract me at all...it's certainly much safer than driving while on the cell phone!)
Of course, ab vacuums can be done anywhere and don't have to be just for driving, but I've found that it helps me to remember to do them if I do them at a specific time when driving regularly.... this could be while driving home from the gym every time, or perhaps during your daily commute to work.
Ab vacuums are simple:
You can do ab vacuums pretty much anywhere, at any time.
You can do them standing, seated (such as in a car), kneeling in a four-point position, or even lying flat on the floor.
The movement is as simple as pulling your belly button in as far as you can by imagining you're trying to touch your belly button to your spine and holding for 10-20 seconds at a time.
Start by inhaling deeply. Then, as you exhale, start pulling the belly button in towards the spine and hold it there for 10-20 seconds while just taking short breaths. Repeat for several holds.
Get in the habit of doing this at least 4-5 days per week while driving somewhere and you may find that this helps to flatten your stomach more by strengthening the transversus abdominis muscle (the deep abdominal muscles beneath the rectus abdominis) if you previously had a "lazy belly".
Like I said, this exercise doesn't increase fat burning... it only helps to flatten a round stomach that has lazy deep ab muscles.
If you want a true "six pack abs" appearance, you obviously still need to burn off the body fat that covers your abs... and that calls for a fully encompassing workout program (not just ab exercises), a strategic nutrition program, and the right mindset for success.
This idea of "ab vacuums" while driving is just one of the dozens of tips and tricks found inside my Truth about Six Pack Abs manual.  If you don't already have a copy, see what other readers are saying about Truth about Abs here
Or if you have questions whether the Truth about Abs program is right for you, go here
more interesting fitness and fat loss articles:
Get leaner tighter obliques with these home workouts
5 Crunch-less ab exercises for a flatter stomach
Is sun-exposure really "deadly" or can it actually improve your body?
 

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

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!

Have you read this article yet:  3 veggies that FIGHT abdominal fat (odd fat-fighters)
 5 Foods for a Flat Stomach
Click here to see what other readers are saying about the Truth About Six Pack Abs program

   Best Methods to Lose Stomach Fat

Can This 1 Unique Spice Help to Fight Abdominal Fat?

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!

 
FREE Fat Loss Tips Presentation:
More unique tips to lose stubborn stomach fat on the next page...
I'm going to show you at least 12 other specific foods, teas, spices, etc that can help you to burn abdominal fat faster inside the resource on the next page...
 

	Men Click Here for your FREE presentation with important tips to start losing your belly fat and carving out ripped six pack abs.
	Women Click Here for your FREE presentationshowing a unique method for losing your stubborn tummy fat and getting a tight sexy stomach.

Are Whole Eggs or Egg Whites Better for You?

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!
If you liked this article, please share it with your friends below:
FREE Fat Loss Tips Presentation:
More unique tips to lose stubborn stomach fat on the next page...
I'm going to show you at least 12 other specific foods, teas, spices, etc that help you to burn abdominal fat faster inside the resource on the next page...
 
 

	Men Click Here for your FREE presentation with important tips to start losing your belly fat and carving out ripped six pack abs.
	Women Click Here for your FREE presentationshowing a unique method for losing your stubborn tummy fat and getting a tight sexy stomach.

Other interesting articles:
The TRUTH about cholesterol and cholesterol-lowering drugs 
The real truth about saturated fat & lies you've been told
*New - The salad dressing you should NEVER eat
*New - My brand new healthy fat-burning chocolate pudding recipe!
Lean-Body Secrets Ezine Archives - Diet Tips, Recipes, Workouts, and more
Nutrition, Exercise, and Fat Loss Articles
 

3 So-Called "Healthy" Foods that You Should STOP Eating (if you want a lean healthy body)

I was reading a statistic in a nutrition book recently, and this is going to shock you...

Now before I tell you the statistic, let's keep an important fact in mind... according to well renowned nutrition author Michael Pollan, and his amazing book called In Defense of Food, humankind has historically consumed approximately 80,000 different species of edible plants, animals, and fungi, and approximately 3,000 of those have been widespread foods of the human diet.

Now get ready for a shocking and appalling statistic...

Currently, the average adult eating a typical modern western diet in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, etc consumes approximately 67% of their total caloric intake from only 3 foods -- CORN, SOY, AND WHEAT (and their derivatives).

What would be considered a reasonably healthy amount of corn, soy, and wheat in the human diet?  Based on hundreds of thousands of years of human history, and what the natural diet of our ancestors was (indicating what our digestive systems are still programmed to digest most effectively), this would probably be in the range of about 1% to 4% MAX of our total calories from corn, soy, and wheat.

Considering that modern humans are eating 67% of their total calories from corn, soy, wheat... you can see why we have massive problems in our health, and our weight! 

It's not a surprise that we have so many intolerances and allergies, specifically to soy and wheat (and gluten intolerance)... the human digestive system was simply never meant to consume these substances in such MASSIVE quantities.

Keep in mind that these massively high levels of corn, soy, and wheat in our modern human diet is a relatively new phenomenon that originated from the economics of the multi-billion dollar corn, soy, and wheat industries.  It really HAS been all about the money... NOT about our health!

By "derivatives" of corn, soy, and wheat, this means the food additives such as:

• high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
• corn oil
• soybean oil (hydrogenated or plain refined)
• soy protein
• refined wheat flour
• hundreds of other food additives such as maltodextrin, corn or wheat starch, soy lecithin, mono and diglycerides, etc, etc

This doesn't surprise me... consider how much soda or other sweetened drinks (with loads of HFCS) that the average person drinks daily... this is a LOT of calories from just 1 sole corn derivative.  Even marinades, salad dressings, ketchup, breads, and 100's of other foods contain loads of belly-fattening HFCS!

Also think about how many processed foods we have that are either fried in soybean or corn oil... and even if the foods are not fried in these oils, these oils are additives to almost every processed food... chips, candies, cakes, salad dressings, tomato sauces, burrito wraps, corn chips, breaded chicken, etc, etc.  This is a LOT of calories from these 2 other corn and soy derivatives... both of them EXTREMELY UNHEALTHY!

On top of that, think about how much breads, cereals, pastas, muffins, and other highly processed wheat products that most people consume each day.  Again, this is LOADS of unhealthy, blood-sugar spiking, nutrient-poor calories, that more than half of the population has some degree of intolerance to anyway.

It gets even worse!

Not only are we eating 67% of our total calories from corn, soy, and wheat... but because of the economics involved (specifically with cheap corn and soy) we are also feeding most of our farm animals corn and soy now too... again amplifying the amount of corn and soy that passes through the food chain and (from a biochemical standpoint) ends up in our bodies.

Probably the 2 worst examples of this blatant mismanagement of our food supply is how our factory farmed chickens and cows are fed.

Cows are fed mostly corn in factory feedlot farms, even though their digestive systems are only meant to eat grass and other forage. This makes the cows sick (hmm... E-coli anyone?), alters the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of the fats to unhealthy levels, and also diminishes the healthy CLA fats that would occur naturally in grass-fed beef.  All of these problems go away if our cows are fed what they were made to eat naturally - grass and other green forage!

Our chickens are also fed a diet of mostly corn and soy and crowded in tight pens in horrendous conditions... when the fact is that a chicken was meant to roam around the outdoors eating a mixture of greens, insects, worms, seeds, etc.  When chickens are kept inside in tight quarters and fed only grains, it leads to an unhealthy meat for you to eat, and less healthy eggs compared to free-roaming chickens allowed to eat an outdoors diet.

Our food supply has gotten so screwed up that we're even feeding our salmon and other farmed fish corn and soy...again because of the economics involved.  How ludicrous is this, considering that fish are meant to eat a diverse diet of smaller fish, worms, bugs, etc.  Again this makes farm raised fish unhealthy in terms of nutrition compared to their wild counterparts.  If you want to see something even scarier about farm-raised fish, watch this quick video about the toxic fish you might be buying.

So even when you're eating chicken, beef, and fish, you're still essentially getting even MORE corn and soy into your body (from a biochemical standpoint) ...considering that the cows, chickens, and farmed fish ate mostly soy and corn.

So it's actually WORSE than just 67% isn't it!

Why is it so unhealthy to consume 2/3rds of our calories from corn, soy, and wheat?

Well, this section could encompass an entire book, so to keep this short, I'll just throw out a few random reasons...

• Skews the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in our diet to as high as 30:1, when a natural ratio of 1:1 to 2:1 in our ancestral human diet is considered healthy.
• Problems with gluten intolerance (related to heavy wheat consumption that is rampant)
• Problems with weight gain, blood-sugar swings, and reduced insulin sensitivity (and progression of diabetes) due to excessive refined corn and wheat flours, as well as HFCS in our diet
• Soy and corn are the most genetically modified crops (which also allows more pesticides and herbicides to be used, which are usually "xenoestrogens")
• Many of the pesticide and herbicide residues in these crops are xenoestrogens, which can increase "stubborn" belly fat 
• Soy products and derivatives contain a double-whammy of xenoestrogens as well as phytoestrogens... again creating an environment in your body for fat storage, carcinogenic effects, and even "man boobs" for some men in very severe cases
• The feeding of corn and soy to animals reduces the health and nutritional benefits (and micronutrient levels) of those animal products
• and the list could go on and on and on...

So how do you avoid all of this overwhelming amount of corn, soy, and wheat in our food supply, and finally take control of your weight and your health?

1. Don't purchase processed foods!  It all starts with your grocery cart discipline... choose only 1-ingredient foods such as fruits, veggies, beans, eggs (free roaming), nuts, seeds, and meats from grass-fed or free roaming animals that are raised correctly.  Organic is preferred. Only resort to junk foods or processed foods on a 1-day per week "cheat day" but ONLY when dining out... that way, the processed foods aren't in your house to tempt you.

2. Get most of your carbs from fruits and veggies instead of grains.

3.  Avoid store bought salad dressings as they almost always contain soybean oil and HFCS (instead, try my homemade healthy salad dressing)

4. Make sure that your tomato sauces don't have HFCS and soybean oils... look for sauces made with olive oil instead.  Remember to avoid unhealthy canola oils too!

5. If you like guacamole (one of the healthiest snacks on the planet!), try veggie sticks with guacamole instead of genetically-modified, oil-soaked corn chips

6. If you like hummus, try veggies sticks with hummus instead of pita chips or other bread.

7. Reduce your cereal, bread, and pasta intake by having these foods only on "cheat days" and stick to more of the 1-ingredient foods I mentioned in #1 above.  Try some of these healthy snacks as good alternatives (yes, I know that one of the 13 snacks on there has sprouted grain, which is fine on occasion).

I could go on with more examples, but I think that's good for now.

So with all of this said... Is my diet perfect?  Well, no of course not!  Nobody is perfect, and I can give in to temptation on occasion just like anybody else.

However, I'd estimate that my corn/soy/wheat consumption is only about 2-4% of my total caloric intake compared to 67% for the average person.  The way that I achieve this is to simply not bring any corn, soy, or wheat products into my house, so I'm never tempted by it.  Therefore, at least 6 days/week, I eat virtually no corn/soy/wheat, except for the occasional piece of sprouted grain toast a couple times a week (which is a better option than typical "whole grain" bread).

I do, however, give in and sometimes eat breads, pasta, and even corn chips, etc. when I'm dining out.  I see these as my cheat meals and try to do this no more than once per week.  I still completely eliminate sodas and deep fried foods though...they are just TOO evil!

Please share this article with your friends and family on email, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, forums, etc... this is one of the MAJOR reasons that we are so unhealthy and overweight as a society... 67% of our calories from just 3 foods (and their derivatives) is an appalling statistic!  Don't give in to the marketing machine that is the corn, soy, and wheat industries!  Take control of your OWN health instead of letting big corporations take control of your health.

If you liked this article, please Share it with your friends below.

 5 Foods that FIGHT Abdominal Fat

Popular articles:

Do "energy drinks" make you fat?

A unique spice that helps to FIGHT abdominal fat

 

The Energy Drink Scam -- Do Energy Drinks Help You, or Can They Actually Make You Fat? 

The Energy Drink Scam

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:

 5 Foods that help to burn belly fat


Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer