Weight and Resistance Training Boost weight loss, and look great!

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Old 01-17-2003, 12:22 PM   #1  
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Post Articles worth reading!

Hey everyone - thought I'd start a new thread for good articles - that way instead of looking through a kajillion threads we could just come here, right?

Here's one I found today...from www.deborahlow.com - she wrote a super book called "The Quest for Peace, Love and a 24-Inch Waist". Check it out It's from her online newsletter.

Quote:
Question:
I have just started an exercise program. In your book you mention that it is important to find pleasure in being active. I have a hard time doing this. When will I find the joy in it?
- Claira from Seattle, WA

Answer:
You will find exercise pleasurable when:

1) You pick activities that you like
2) You work at an intensity that is safe and comfortable
And ultimately,
3) When you choose to find the joy in it.

Exercise, like all things in life, can be seen as a positive experience or a negative one; the choice is yours. Yes, we all have at least one bad memory of participating in P.E. class back in school, but ultimately how would you describe an activity that makes you healthy and fit, helps decrease the stress in your life, makes you feel and look better, and my favorite, can be combined with fresh air and nature (to name only a few positive things)? It’s all perspective.

*********************************

Is Your Attitude Keeping you Heavy?

We live in a nation ripe with contradiction. The attitude we hold towards our own health is case in point. There has never been a time in history when American's have had more available information on nutrition and exercise, yet according to US government research, over 60% of the adult population is overweight and more than six million young people are considered overweight enough to endanger their health.

We are a society bombarded by contradictory messages. The very television shows which promote how we are supposed to look; be it thin, tall, strong, lean, petite, beautiful, etc., are paid for by Advertisers promoting the quick, affordable and calorie dense “supersized” mode of eating. Perhaps this is all designed to simplify our hectic lifestyles and put a smile on our children’s faces but at this rate, the smiles won’t last long.

We are a nation obsessed with our weight—fat or thin, and as superficial as this issue may at first appear, it effects us in every way imaginable: physically, emotionally, economically, socially, culturally and perhaps in the most damaging way, spiritually.

It’s time to face our present reality—Americans need an attitude adjustment. All the “quick-fix” diets, low-fat foods, pharmaceutical weight-loss drugs, potions and powders, supplements and artificial sweeteners have done little to nourish what’s really important: balance; positive self-esteem; health in body, mind and spirit.

Take this brief quiz to see if some of your beliefs are compromising your health, and waistline.

1) I find pleasure being active; independent of how many calories I’m working to burn. Y/N

2) I think losing weight will solve other problems in my life.Y/N
3) I focus on self-acceptance verses appearance. Y/N

4) I am a drive-thru dieter, eating fast-food one day and punishing myself the next by going on a strict diet. Y/N

5) I look in the mirror and cringe at the appearance of my thighs or stomach. Y/N

6) I will only feel successful if I lose a lot of weight. Y/N

Positive attitude answers are: YES to questions 1 and 3, NO to 2, 4, 5, and 6. Where could you make some adjustments?

In order to end our “war on weight” we need to start measuring our self-worth beyond the scale. We need to appreciate our physical body by feeding it with whole, natural foods. We need to reclaim responsibility for our lifestyle choices and start moving our bodies in the way they were intended. We need to be inspired. Inspired is to be in spirit, which is the intangible measurement of any health and fitness accomplishment. What inspires you to take care of your health?
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Old 01-17-2003, 12:25 PM   #2  
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Post Foods that make you look good nekkid

By popular demand...

http://www.testosterone.net/nation_a.../172food2.html

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Foods That Make You Look Good Nekid
…and foods that make you look nasty even while wearin’ a parka!



We’re about to tell you the real secret to building a lean, muscular physique. This dark secret has been guarded for over one hundred years by a secret society made up of magazine publishers and supplement manufacturers. We’re risking life and limb to share this secret with you. Are you ready? Okay, here goes:

The secret is, there is no secret.

Okay, so this isn’t really a secret; it’s more like a piece of wisdom you only develop after at least ten years of hard training and proper dieting. But the fact remains, there are no quick fixes and no miracle training programs.

If there is a real "secret" out there, it’s simply this: A great body results from the consistent application of smart training and proper eating. It’s a four step process: 1) train hard, 2) eat right, 3) use supplementation when necessary, and 4) repeat for many, many years.

Of these four factors, most people screw up when it comes to eating right. So, what the heck is "proper eating?" That depends on your goals. The funny thing is, bodybuilders tend to eat the same foods every day, regardless of what particular diet they’re using. They just switch around the amounts of protein, carbs and fat, and toy with their daily caloric intakes.

This seems strange to the "normal" Taco Bell eatin’ Oprah fans out there, but there’s a logical reason for this. Mainly, most of the food choices available at your local supermarket are crap! In fact, if there were such a thing as a bodybuilder’s grocery store, you wouldn’t need that much shelf space. Come on, do you really need 234 different kinds of breakfast cereal? No! In fact, I propose you don’t need any breakfast cereal!

The more you learn about what constitutes a good diet, the more you realize that 90% of what’s in the supermarket is garbage, a pure distraction from building the body you want.

Pull up a chair and strap on a bib. Let’s dig in!


The Good Stuff

Old Fashioned Oatmeal — Make no mistake about it, oatmeal is the carb of choice for many bodybuilders. Even if you’re on a reduced carb diet, there’s nothing wrong with a serving of oatmeal (27g of carbs) to go along with your morning protein. Your body has been deprived of food all night, so some slow-acting carbs to replenish stores, plus some protein, make for a great bodybuilding breakfast.

Oatmeal has about three grams of natural unsaturated fats, five grams of protein, and two grams each of soluble and insoluble fiber. The fiber not only helps keep your pooper working properly, the soluble variety can help improve cholesterol levels, thus earning the American Heart Association’s "heart healthy" seal of approval.

Only buy oatmeal that lists "100% natural rolled oats" in the ingredients. That’s it! Oats should be the one and only ingredient. Do not purchase those individually packaged, flavored oatmeal products! (More on that in our "Bad Stuff" section.) Also, don’t screw up a good thing by adding milk and sugar. Eat your oatmeal like a man. And by the way, old fashioned oats cook up just fine in the microwave, no need to boil the water in a pot.

Oatmeal rocks. Make it a staple of your diet.

Fat Free Cottage Cheese — We hate the taste and texture of cottage cheese. Most of us also eat at least five pounds of those chunky curds a week. Our secret for making this stuff palatable? We blend it with protein powders and make puddings and thick shakes out of it. Why do we go through all that trouble? Easy, cottage cheese is a great source of casein, one of the best proteins for bodybuilders.

Casein gets props because of its slow digestion and absorption rates. A snack involving cottage cheese will provide a steady, slow paced release of amino acids into the bloodstream. Cottage cheese is also low in carbs. Combine that with its slow digesting protein and it makes an ideal bedtime snack to help prevent any possible nighttime catabolism (muscle wasting caused by an eight hour fast.)

You’ll want to stick to the fat free kind and avoid the creamed varieties because of their "bad" fat content. Sure, the fat free kind is a little bitter, but if you use it as a base for other foods like we do, then that doesn’t matter much.

Tuna and Other Fish — If oatmeal is a staple carb source for bodybuilders, then tuna is a staple protein source. It’s cheap, low in fat, carb-free, and packs 13 grams of protein into just two ounces.

You can get it in cans or those new waterless "no-drain" packages, which are even more convenient (though a little more expensive.) You can also buy it packed in water or oil, the latter being very handy for those diets that require a lot of protein plus fat meals.

We’ve heard rumors that there are other kinds of fish besides tuna, but they probably require cooking and only gay guys cook. (We’re kidding. Please stop typing those hate letters now.) Salmon is another good source and you can buy it in cans like tuna. Most of us think canned salmon is just plain nasty, but T-mag contributors John and Steve Berardi live off the stuff. That and breath mints.

Beef and Poultry — Let’s hear it for dead animal flesh, nature’s protein with feet! (Vegans love us, can’t ya tell?) This category includes beef, chicken, and turkey, although anything you can catch counts too. T-mag contributor Coach Davies even recommends large quantities of buffalo and ostrich to his athletes.

First, let’s hunker down on some juicy steak. Red meat got a bad rap back in the 80’s, but things have started to swing in the other direction. The beef proponents were usually fat-free fanatics and animal rights activists who thought that eating bagels and soybeans all day was the enlightened path to health and thinness. They were wrong.

Beef is chocked full of protein and nutrients; it’s even been dubbed "nature’s multi-vitamin" by some. Sure, it has some fat, but fat ain’t bad in the right amounts. A proper amount of fat in your diet, even some saturated fat, is necessary and healthy.

Always go for steaks that have the words "round" or "loin" in the name. These are the leanest cuts. Avoid the fatty meats with the word "rib" in the name. For us, that simply means ordering sirloin instead of prime rib. At the grocery store, choose cuts that are over 90% lean and trim any excess fat. Beef jerky is good when you’re on the run, but avoid those processed and chemical-laden deli meats, along with bologna and franks.

White meat chicken and turkey are great too. Since they’re high in protein and carb-free, chicken breasts are one of bodybuilding’s most versatile foods. Eat ‘em up!

Eggs — Before the popularity of protein powders, bodybuilders relied largely on eggs to bump up their protein intake. A large egg has seven grams of protein, 80 calories, and a great BV (biological value).

Again, you may be wondering about the fat and cholesterol, and again I can tell you that the media has over-hyped the issues. If you’re following a good diet and working out, a few whole eggs aren’t going to hurt you. Even the very conservative American Heart Association says it’s okay to have four whole eggs per week.

Still, most bodybuilders use egg whites in their meals with only one or two yolks thrown in. You can even buy pasteurized egg products with the yolks removed. Add a whole egg to a carton of egg substitute and you have a great bodybuilder omelet.

Fruits and Veggies — There are about a hundred reasons that fruit can be a healthy part of a bodybuilder’s diet. Bottom line: Fruit provides you with vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, certain flavones, fiber and may even have some protein-sparing effects. Eat some fruit, but avoid most fruit juices. (More on that below.)

As for veggies, what can we say? Mom said to eat them and mom was right. There are some things out there that only nature can provide, and many of those goodies are packed into fruits and vegetables.

Protein Powders — We can hear some of the crybabies now, "Wait a minute, protein powder ain’t food! It’s a supplement!" We understand what you mean, but we consider quality protein powders and MRPs to be food. Look at the labels and you’ll see protein, fat, carbs, vitamins, and minerals. Sounds like food to us, just in a concentrated form.

Protein powders make the list because they’re nutrient rich, fast and convenient. They’ve truly revolutionized the bodybuilding industry and have allowed regular people with jobs and families to get the nutrition they need to add muscle. Try to work at least eight hours a day, train, spend time with friends and family and still fit in five or six nutritious, protein-packed meals a day. Protein powders fix that problem. Those low carb protein powders are especially good because you can use them in cutting and bulking diets.


The Okay Stuff

This category includes foods that are generally considered pretty good for the bodybuilder, but may not be perfect for everyone. Just play around with these foods and see how they work for you. We think most of these choices below lean toward the "good" side anyway.

Nuts and Natural Peanut Butter — Nuts make the "okay" list (instead of the "good" list) for one specific reason: they’re very calorically dense. For that reason, they’re often recommended to those supposed "hard gainers" out there. One ounce of peanuts (about 32 nuts to be precise) has 160 calories, eight grams of protein and five grams of carbs. Nuts are high in fat, but only a small part of that is saturated (two out of fourteen grams for peanuts.)

Now, since nuts are so calorically dense, you have to be careful. Just snacking on a can of party peanuts can quickly add a thousand calories to your daily intake. But overall, nuts make a good high fat, low carb food. (Cashews have the highest amount of carbs, about eight grams per serving, so be careful there.) They’re filling, portable and can be a healthy part of any diet.

We’re also a big fan of natural peanut butter, and yes, it has to be natural! Regular peanut butter is full of nasty stuff like corn syrup solids, hydrogenated oils, and sugar. The ingredients should read "peanuts and salt," period. And don’t be fooled by those reduced fat varieties. These are still full of unhealthy ingredients with the added benefit of soy protein! And if you’re still worried about the fat content, natural peanut butter allows you to pour off the excess oil before you stir and refrigerate it.

Rice, Pasta, Potatoes, Yams, and Whole Grain Bread — We admit it. We put all these foods into the same category because of their carb content. These are good bodybuilding eats, but you carb sensitive types have to be careful with them.

Judging these foods strictly by their glycemic index, choose sweet potatoes (yams) over white Russet potatoes; whole wheat pasta over white pasta; and long grain brown rice over short grain or white rice (the stickier the rice, the higher the GI.) As for bread, avoid the highly processed white breads and go for multigrain dark bread. If it looks like it has wood chips baked into it, it’s good to go. Others prefer flax bread.

These foods are cool, just watch those carbs if you’re sensitive and be careful with toppings, especially with pasta and potatoes. Adding a fatty topping to a "carby" food is a recipe for rapid fat gain.

Milk and Yogurt — Milk is a two-faced monster. To some, it’s a cheap source of protein and the ultimate "weight gainer" for bony teenagers. Some old-timers even recommend drinking a gallon of whole milk per day! Suffice it to say, that would leave most of us quite fat. Much of the fat in whole milk falls in the "bad" category. Saturated fat mixed with a high sugar, high-carb food does not a healthy body make.

Also, somewhere around 10 to 20 percent of the population is lactose intolerant, meaning they can’t digest milk sugar. (There are even a few studies that show that non-whites, particularly Asians and blacks, have a much higher rate of lactose intolerance.) This can be helped some by using lactose-free milk and digestive aids. On the other hand, if you have no problems with lactose, skim milk can be a good source of protein. Still, unless you’re an extremely active teenager with the metabolism of a humming bird on ephedrine, we’d limit milk intake.

Yogurt is a better option in our opinion. It has many of the benefits of milk without most of the drawbacks. One of the really cool things about yogurt is the live active cultures it contains. Yep, we’re talking about bacteria, nice friendly bacteria that keep your digestion system running properly. (That’s why yogurt can help with both constipation and diarrhea.)

Some substances actually feed bacteria and as such, may even help you absorb all that protein you’re taking in. One in particular, called GDL, reduces bloating and gas and increases nitrogen retention. That means it’s a perfect addition to protein powders.

Sauces and Spices — Sauces and spices make the "okay" list because some are good and some are bad. On the good side you have a plethora of calorie-free pepper sauces, Worcestershire sauce, and just about every herb and spice on the shelf. Many of those fancy mustards fall into this category too, but read the labels just in case. Our suggestions: Beer ‘N Brat horseradish mustard, Cajun Sunshine hot pepper sauce, **** on the Red salsa, and McCormick herb chicken seasoning.

On the bad side is anything made with high fructose corn syrup (BBQ sauce, ketchup etc.), mayo, and most creamy salad dressings. Stick to something like fat free Miracle Whip if you must use mayo and if you just have to have some barbecue sauce on your chicken breasts, measure out one serving and spread thinly.


The Bad Stuff

We all visit the Dark Side on occasion, but if you want to be muscular and ripped, you’d better stay on the side of the Force 95% of the time. Here’s a list of foods that you’d better avoid if you want to take your shirt off in public again.

High Fat/High Carb Foods — The prototypical Western diet consists of foods that are both high in bad fats and high in carbs. In America, that diet has lead to a climbing rate of obesity and obesity-related diseases.

Now, what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, fat and carb meals. John Berardi sums it up in his Massing Eating articles: "Meals with a high carbohydrate content in combination with high-fat meals can actually promote a synergistic insulin release when compared to the two alone. High fat with high-carb meals represent the worst possible case scenario. ….you’ll promote high blood levels of fats, carbs, and insulin."

What foods are the real bad boys here? Unfortunately, most of the really tasty ones! Except for a rare treat, it’s best to avoid fried foods, pizza, lasagna, pancakes, whole milk, ice cream, cookies, hamburgers, most Mexican food, most Chinese food, and a bunch of other delicious stuff. But you already knew that.

Our coveted "Most Evil Food Known to Man" award goes to the lowly glazed donut, who just barely beats out French fries and fettuccini alfredo.

Fruit Juice and Non-Diet Sodas — Repeat after us: fruit good, fruit juice bad. Cy "Mr. Big Britches" Willson sums it up best:

"Processed fruit juice is worthless in my opinion. Before I would’ve said to use it as a post-workout source of carbs, but with Biotest Surge, that isn't necessary and besides, it’s less efficient. Also, with whole fruit, you get so much more: more fiber, more phytochemicals (way more), more nutrients, etc. Plus, whole fruit is more filling.

"Fruit juice is an easy way to over-consume calories and increase body fat. Now remember, I'm talking about fruit juice concentrate. The processing is what reduces the amount of these special phytochemicals and other compounds. If you're going to consume juice, then you should make it yourself."

We also have a real problem with soft drinks, which Americans consume more of than water. Face it, Cokes are liquid candy and they’re designed especially to make you more thirsty. Add a little caffeine to get you addicted and help dehydrate you, and you have legal crack. Okay, we’re exaggerating just a bit, but we think excessive intake of soft drinks is in the same class as cigarettes when it comes to the destruction of your health and physique. Soda is the epitome of the empty calorie and void of anything your body needs. Okay, rant over.

What about diet sodas, you say? Well, we’d still rather see people drinking exactly what the body needs and wants — water — but diet sodas are okay if you don’t mind the artificial sweeteners and sodium. (And despite some of the internet rumors and media hype, both are fine if used in human quantities.)

Candy — Oh, come on! You know you’re not supposed to be eating candy, right?

Flavored Oatmeal — Go to your pantry right now and get out your oatmeal. If you took out a colorful box full of little kiddy packets of peaches ‘n cream oatmeal, do yourself a favor and kick that --- to the curb! As stated above, we think oatmeal is one the best carb sources for bodybuilders, but the flavored, prepackaged variety sucks.

Look at the ingredients, which are listed in order of quantity. Sugar is usually the second ingredient in these girly oatmeal packets. Then you have other crap like salt, hydrogenated vegetable oils, maltodextrin, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

To top it off, the oats used in flavored oatmeal are usually more finely ground than healthy, old fashioned oatmeal. This means the GI could be higher based on the extra processing. The list of ugly ingredients goes on and varies a little with flavoring, but the lesson is simple: don’t eat this stuff if you want to look good nekid.

White Bread, Bagels and Rice Cakes — It’s hard to believe, but back in the 80s and early 90s, diet "experts" told people to eat as much of this stuff as they wanted. Since rice cakes are fat free, you can’t get fat, right? Wrong! Now the country is full of overweight diabetics. Coincidence? I don’t think so!

One representative of the Glycemic Research Institute even stated that eating a plain rice cake stimulated fat storage like ten bowls of sugar. Bagels aren’t quite as bad but are best avoided. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re eating healthy by consuming these things.

Most Breakfast Cereals — To us, cold breakfast cereals, even many of the brands touted as "healthy," are pure physique killers. Cereal is breakfast candy, nothing more, nothing less. In fact, corn flakes have a GI rating even worse than white bread! And how about these cereals that give you "energy", like Grape Nuts? Yep, at 47 carbs per teeny tiny serving (and what bodybuilder would eat one serving anyway?), most people would be in an insulin-induced coma by lunch.

All that said, there are a couple of good cereals out there, but not many. All Bran and Fiber One make decent oatmeal replacements, just eat some protein with them. All Bran Extra Fiber only has 50 calories a serving and 13 grams of fiber, almost four times as much as oatmeal!

Some "Fat Free" Snacks — Food manufacturers discovered a great trick back in the 80’s to fool people into buying their junk food. Since all fat was dubbed evil, food makers started abusing the "fat free" label. Basically, they took out the fat, added whopping amounts of sugar and called their products "healthy." Makers of snack foods are the worst culprits, with some even trying to sell fat free cookies, chocolate syrup, and solid sugar hard candies as health food simply because they have little or no fat. News flash: Sugar is the real enemy, not fat!

Alcohol — As connoisseurs of fine beers, we hate to see this one make the bad list. But let’s face the music, alcohol has a lot of empty calories and can inhibit fat loss.

Hey, have a beer or two once a week, but if you really care about what you look like and your overall progress in the gym, don’t drink to excess.

Soy protein — We won’t even try to do a better job than TC or Cy Willson when it comes to this topic. Read these two articles: Bad Protein and The Evils of Soy.

Conclusion

Weight training and proper dieting don’t have to be as complicated as we sometimes make them. Lift, eat, rest, use supps when necessary to get you there quicker, and repeat. It’s that simple. Hopeful this article helps with the eating part.

Now go get your grub on!
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Old 01-23-2003, 04:15 PM   #3  
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Post Why the scale lies

Here's an article that is referred to at L&S quite a bit... worthwhile reading, especially for the newbies here who might have a teeny weeny scale addiction

http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspart...ight/scale.htm
Quote:
Why the Scale Lies

We’ve been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can’t resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can’t bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the factors that influence it’s readings. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators of your success or failure. Once you understand how these mechanisms work, you can free yourself from the daily battle with the bathroom scale.

Water makes up about 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body’s water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don’t understand what’s happening. Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink, the more of it your body retains. If you are even slightly dehydrated your body will hang onto it’s water supplies with a vengeance, possibly causing the number on the scale to inch upward. The solution is to drink plenty of water.

Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it’s easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn’t have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. That’s why, when it comes to eating, it’s wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners.

Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.

Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it’s packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it’s stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it’s associated water. It’s normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you’re prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.

Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it’s wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you’ve had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It’s the actual weight of everything you’ve had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you’ve finished digesting it.

Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it’s not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it’s likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it’s only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it’s physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you’re really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle.

This brings us to the scale’s sneakiest attribute. It doesn’t just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you’ve lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you’re just sitting around. That’s one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.

Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn’t differentiate between the two. It can’t tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat. There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current.

If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don’t be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. It’s a matter of mind over scale.
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Old 03-12-2003, 11:39 AM   #4  
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The front page of today's San Francisco Chronicle featured this article...

******************
Fat makes comeback after 3 lean decades
Kim Severson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle


URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...2/MN184374.DTL


For years in the test kitchens of Cooking Light magazine, virtually every recipe started with low-fat cooking spray. If a little more fat was needed, readers were advised to use margarine.

But no more. The nation's largest-circulation food and fitness magazine still preaches the value of lower fat cooking, but now recipes call for healthy amounts of canola oil, olive oil and -- egads -- even butter.

"We now know the kind of fat is more important than the quantity," said food editor Jill Melton. "We have loosened, and so have our readers."

All over the country, and especially in the food-sophisticated Bay Area, fat, in all its glorious, slick incarnations, is coming back. After three lean decades, chefs, home cooks and even the nutritionists who persuaded us to board the low-fat bus in the first place are rejecting the notion that fat is what makes us fat.

"We're beginning a new kind of balance," said Clark Wolf, a food and restaurant consultant in San Francisco and New York who works with New York University's Department of Nutrition and Food Studies. "In the '80s, we really had food phobias. People were afraid of cheese and butter and eggs."

"In the '90s, we told the nutrition police to go stick it and ate everything but really didn't feel too well," he said. "Now, we have better information about fat." That is, that although fat should still be consumed in moderation, people still need fat -- a balance of all kinds of healthy fat, including some types of saturated fat.

As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's fat-restrictive food pyramid -- its guide to healthy eating -- is crumbling, partly from the fact that fat is just as critical to health as complex carbohydrates and protein.

Within the last year, the federal government declared that no level of a synthetic fat called trans fat (think shortening) is safe to eat. Research on diets laced with olive oils and healthy fats, championed by experts like Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, has shown that the U.S. health policy on fat consumption is flawed.


APPROACH IS OUTDATED
Many dietitians now admit their one-size-fits-all approach to fat consumption is outdated, even going so far as to endorse such former pariahs as highly saturated coconut and other tropical oils.

The shift is driven as much by changing social attitudes as by stark epidemiological evidence: Despite a 30-year low-fat frenzy, Americans are fatter than ever, more than 65 percent classified as overweight or obese.

The nation's obesity rate began to skyrocket in the mid-'80s -- about the same time national low-fat public health campaigns were in full swing. In one year alone -- 1998-99 -- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures show that the nation's obesity rate rose an astonishing 6 percent.

Why didn't the low-fat campaign work? Researchers say many low-fat diets can be high in sugar or simple carbohydrates and low in protein. Too many carbohydrates and not enough fat and protein can throw the body's metabolism out of whack, causing weight gain and disease-producing insulin resistance.

Plus, meals loaded with carbs generally aren't as satisfying as meals balanced with fat. To feel full -- what scientists call the satiety index -- people tend to eat more carbohydrate-heavy foods than their body needs. Overall caloric intake goes up, and people gain weight.

So even though the USDA reports that Americans have cut back on fat from 40 percent of calories in 1968 to 33 percent today, the average daily intake has increased from 1,989 to 2,153 calories, according to a joint survey by the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


'UNHEALTHY IN ITS OWN RIGHT'
"A lot of people did not try to reduce the amount of food consumed, they just leached the fat out of it," said Dr. Stanley Rockson, head of consultative cardiology at Stanford University. "This was a well-intentioned attempt to get healthy but was unhealthy in its own right."

There are plenty of other culprits in the fattening of America, mainly too much time spent in front of TV and computer screens and not enough time exercising. Soda consumption has increased from 22.2 gallons per person a year in 1970 to 56 gallons per person a year in 1999. And we like big portions.

Still, doctors say a new approach to fat is an important weapon in the obesity battle. The body needs a balance of healthy fats -- polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated -- to function well. Fats do a lot of work, from cushioning organs against shock and insulating tissue to controlling hormones that help with appetite control and cognitive performance, among other things. Too much of one kind of fat -- or simply not enough fat at all -- can throw a person's metabolism out of kilter.

Individuals also need different types of fats in varying ratios. People who don't have special medical considerations such as heart disease can eat a balanced diet that includes a good measure of healthy fats, such as olive oil or oils with a mix of polyunsaturates and mono-unsaturates, like canola. Even the much-dreaded saturated fats, in measured amounts, are important.

"I do think Americans can deal with good fats versus bad fats and good carbs versus bad carbs, but it takes a little bit of learning," said Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health and a leading critic of the USDA food pyramid. He argues that saturated fats are not the deadly poison they have been made out to be.


THE 'MEDITERRANEAN PYRAMID'
Willett, the spokesman for the Nurses' Health Study, the longest-running, most comprehensive diet and health study in the nation, involving more than 300,000 people, calls his strategy for healthy eating the "Mediterranean pyramid." Although based on the largely vegetable-, nut- and legume-based meals of the traditional Mediterranean diet, it suggests daily consumption of plant and vegetable oils. The USDA pyramid, which Willett considers a failure, groups all oils and fats together and suggests they be used sparingly.

Other researchers believe tailoring fat intake to specific body types is the wave of the future. At UC Davis, food science Professor J. Bruce German and his colleagues are working on diagnostic tools that would recommend which types and amounts of fats individuals should eat based on a host of factors, including exercise levels and blood lipids. It's a far cry from the USDA's blanket approach to nutrition recommendations, German said.

The modern case against fat began in 1957, when the American Heart Association proposed that modifying dietary fat intake would reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease, which had become the leading cause of death in the United States. A decade later, the group recommended that Americans lower fat intake to about 30 or 35 percent of daily caloric intake.

In 1972, two doctors put fat at the center of America's dietary plate. Dr. Robert Atkins championed a high-fat, low-carb diet in his book, "The Diet Revolution," at the same time that Dr. Dean Ornish came out with an American Heart Association-endorsed diet that promoted just the opposite.

Although a few researchers were arguing that a diet laced with healthy fats was key to good health, most experts continued to hammer a simple message: eat less fat. The nation was off on a torturous diet run fueled by dry Melba toast and low-fat cottage cheese.

By the early '90s, low-fat became the nation's fastest-growing food category even as a more sophisticated fat message began to circulate. Research showed the health advantages of fatty acids like omega-3s. The detrimental effects of trans fat, in the form of shortening used in nearly 40 percent of crackers, cookies, pies and other processed food on grocery store shelves, became clear enough that the National Academy of Sciences announced last year that consumers should avoid it entirely.


'ATKINS FOR LIFE' DIET
And Atkins came back with a vengeance. His diet, which allows plenty of foods like steak, cheese and butter, has become undeniably popular, and his new book, "Atkins for Life," is a best-seller.

Restaurants that in the low-fat '80s put little heart symbols next to low- fat "spa" entrees are now cooking no-carb meals with plenty of protein and fat.

At One Market in San Francisco, chef Bradley Ogden points out that a new section of the menu, with strip steaks, double-cut racks of pork and sturgeon with butter-rich bearnaise sauce but no starch, is homage to Atkins.

The low-fat failure gained more popular attention last summer, when Gary Taubes wrote a controversial article for the New York Times Magazine blasting decades of science on which much of the nation's nutrition recommendations are based. Although some of his scientific reasoning has been questioned, the package forced a new level of debate about the quality of diet research.

And the pro-fat revolution continues to make plenty of nutritionists nervous. They worry that the public will interpret fat's re-emergence as an excuse to eat as much as they want.

"The problem is that moderation seems to be the answer, and that is not a great subject for America, home of the all-you-can eat restaurant," says public health researcher Sarah Samuels of Oakland, who in the 1980s helped design a national, $3.5 million low-fat education campaign.

Others are simply bored with the whole thing.


'LOOKING FOR ANSWERS'
"I have this visceral loathing for the swinging -- you can or can't eat this or that," says Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl. "We're all looking for answers, and every couple of years they tell us something else. We don't know what we're doing with this stuff. I think we're all total nutritional idiots."

But doctors and researchers say we'd better wise up and learn the difference between the bad fat in a super-sized order of fast-food fries and a healthy dose of olive oil over a plate of greens.

Fran McCullough, a food and diet expert and cookbook author who in January released "The Good Fat Cookbook," says people will eat better as they return to traditional ways of cooking with unadulterated foods like butter and olive oil.

"There's still a certain amount of 'What the ****, I'm going to eat whatever I want,' and there's a huge amount of anger for how manipulated we've been," she said. "But it's starting to kick in. People who care about what they eat are getting it."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW THINKING ON FAT:
-- Mix it up: Strict low-fat diets are dead. Instead, researchers say, eating a mix of healthy fats is key to a good diet.

-- Go tropical: Old devils, including highly saturated coconut and palm oils, are actually healthy fats for many people.

-- Balance it out: Most Americans consume a disproportionate amount of polyunsaturated oils, which can keep the body from absorbing beneficial omega- 3 fatty acids.

-- Buyer beware: Products sold as healthy, cholesterol-free vegetable oils are often so altered by processing that their inherent healthy properties have been stripped away.


********************
And from today's Chronicle Food Section...
********************
The bullies of the fat world: The food industry's muscular polyunsaturates are overpowering those healthful omega-3 fatty acids
Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...2/FD181277.DTL

All the contradictory advice about good and bad fats is enough to make you stick your fingers in your ears and look for answers in a gallon of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey.

But when it comes to omega-3 essential fatty acids, the entire fat universe agrees: Everyone needs more.

And evidence is growing that you may also need to cut down on soybean, safflower and corn oils -- popular, widely used polyunsaturated vegetable oils -- because they flood your body with competing essential fatty acids called omega-6s.

Our bodies need them both, and the new thinking is that we need roughly balanced amounts -- what nature once provided. But, Americans are way out of balance, in large part because we've eating way too many of the modern-day polyunsaturates.

Don't let the scientific lingo throw you off. Essential fatty acids, EFAs, are the building blocks of butter, oil, all the fats we eat. There are many different EFAs, and we need them all. Many fats have lots of omega-6s and a few have substantial amounts of -3s; some have both and some have almost none of either.

Omega-3s and -6s are the body's yin and yang. The two vie for space in our cells, brains, nerve endings, and they produce different hormone messengers. They compete for the same enzymes, so a flood of -6s can keep the -3s from doing their job.

Omega-6s stimulate inflammation; omega-3s put out the flames. Omega-6s raise blood pressure; omega-3s lower it. Omega-6s make your blood clot; omega- 3s keep it from clotting. Omega-6s oxidize the cholesterol in your arteries and clog them; 3s are anti-oxidants.

The more omega-6s we eat, the more they dominate our cells. Consuming more omega-3s has been associated with preventing heart disease and fatal heart attacks; improving brain and vision development (so much so that infant formulas have been changed to add omega-3s); lowering blood pressure and fighting inflammation, arthritis and asthma, maybe even cancer; helping the body use insulin and fend off obesity; relieving depression and maybe reducing violent behavior.

That's why even the most conservative medical authorities urge Americans to eat a couple of omega-3-rich fish dinners a week or pop daily fish oil capsules. And they're following their own advice.

The idea of reducing omega-6 polyunsaturates, on the other hand, is controversial, and many health authorities encourage their use for healthy hearts.

Those who advocate cutting down on omega-6 polyunsaturates point out that Americans, on average, consume 17 times more of the omega-6s than omega-3s.

"This is a very excessive intake," says Dr. Artemis Simopoulos, an expert on fatty acids, nutrition and metabolism. Her 1998 book, "The Omega Diet," lays out the scientific basis for her call to reduce omega-6 polyunsaturates.

"Except for the last 70 years, we never had such high amounts omega-6 fats in our diet because we didn't know how to make oils out of grain," said Simopoulos,

Once food processors figured out how to use solvents to extract oil from soybeans and seeds, American consumers have been swimming (or drowning) in omega-6 polyunsaturates. They make up more than three-quarters of the oils and fats we eat.

French fries, bottled salad dressings, processed foods all are full of omega-6s. Our main proteins are too, now that livestock, chickens and even farmed fish are raised on corn and soy instead of naturally omega-3-rich grasses or algae.

Simopoulos, lipids expert Mary Enig and many other scientists believe an overbalance of omega-6s fuels insulin resistance and is a big reason Americans are so obese, suffer so much diabetes and have clogged arteries -- despite decades of the no-saturated-fat regime. They recommend an omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio of 4-to-1 or even 2-to-1. (1 TO 1?)

Simopoulos' research showed that a Mediterranean diet -- from ancient Crete -- was more than a license to swill olive oil and wine. Among other things, the Cretan diet included omega-6 and -3 fats in equal amounts.

Now, science is catching up with her. Most convincing have been the Lyon heart study in France and the GISSI study in Italy, two landmark studies that showed that added omega-3s prevented heart attacks.

It's no surprise that U.S. sales of fish oil, flax oil and other omega-3 supplements almost doubled from 1997 to 2001 -- rising to $231 million, according to the Nutrition Business Journal of San Diego.

And everyone from the American Heart Association to the federal government is urging Americans to eat more fatty fish, which are high in the most easily used omega-3s. Walnuts, flax oil and flax, seed, purslane and other leafy greens are good sources too, though omega-3s from plants aren't as easily used by the body. Grass-fed meats and canola oil also are rich in 3s.

But we're not hearing so much about the other half of the equation.

Part of the reason is that it's easier to run tests by adding omega-3s to people's diets and seeing if health improves. It's harder to prove that all the omega-6s people are eating are making them sick.

Still, epidemiological studies are suggestive -- if by no means conclusive.

The Israeli paradox shows what happens when too many omega-6 oils are consumed, writes food journalist Susan Allport in the winter 2003 issue of Gastronomica magazine.

Israelis eat fewer calories and less total fat than Americans, but they consume far more omega-6 polyunsaturates while eating less animal fat. And they "are more obese than Americans and have similarly high rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and the cancers generally accepted to be related to fat consumption and obesity," Allport writes.

All those diseases are associated with insulin resistance syndrome, usually blamed on too many carbohydrates. Allport points out that omega-6s seem to have a role too.

Many nutrition and medical authorities are still waiting to be convinced.

Both the USDA and its most prominent critic, epidemiologist Walter Willett at Harvard, see nothing wrong with high-omega-6 polyunsaturated fats in moderation.

Willett, who has proposed an alternate food pyramid, agrees that people need more omega-3s, but he doesn't buy the idea that omega-6 polyunsaturates are suddenly the bad guys.

"This is speculation unsupported by human evidence," he says. Eating polys instead of saturated fats "has probably been responsible for much of the major decline in heart disease and increase in life expectancy between 1960 and 1990 in the U.S."

At Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Stanley Rockson, head of consultative cardiology, wholeheartedly recommends that his heart patients take omega-3s.

But like Willett, he also thinks polyunsaturates are good for us.

Any kind of "fats in excess are inherently capable of leading to undesirable health consequences," he says.

While science figures it out, Willett, Rockson and everyone else is making sure to get plenty of omega-3s every day.

Supplements are the easiest way, but they're not necessary.

Mary Enig, author of "Know Your Fats" and a proponent of whole fats, not modern processed ones, gets all the omega-3s she needs from foods, with some cod liver oil thrown in.

Plant forms (called alpha-linoleic acids or ALA) differ from the kinds you get in fatty fish (EPA and DHA). The plant forms must be converted by the body into EPA and DHA, and the conversion isn't efficient. Some studies have shown that EPA and DHA are far more effective in improving human health.

"You need both kinds," says Enig. "The best way is to get it from a variety of sources."

One gram a day of EPA and DHA combined is a conservative recommended dose.

Willett gets his from canola oil, walnuts and flax. Enig eats fish and grinds flax seeds and mixes the meal into juice, cereal or muffins.

She uses the cod liver oil to boost her dose. Rockson takes daily EPA/DHA supplements.

Finding both plant- and fish-based omega-3 supplements is as easy as walking to your grocery store. Markets like Whole Foods, Rainbow and Berkeley's new Elephant pharmacy devote more than 40 feet of shelf space to them, with more in refrigerated cases.

As far as omega-6s go, Enig thinks you get plenty from the few in olive oil and meat. Simopoulos recommends canola oil as a good basic oil, because it has a relative balance of omega-6 and -3 fats.

Simopoulos, who spent nine years heading a nutrition committee of the National Institutes of Health, is happy that at least that part of her message has gotten out. It's been 18 years since she helped stage the first international conference on omega-3 fats.

If she's so right, and the studies back her up, why haven't federal and medical authorities responded? Simopoulos laughs and points out that 59 countries added omega-3s to infant formula before the United States came around, despite studies showing that formula with only omega-6s impaired brain and vision development.

"Industry does not want to pull in the (omega-6) oils," she says. Look how long it took the thinking to change about trans fats, she adds. She wrote one of the first papers recommending that trans fats be pulled from the diet -- in 1979.

They have yet to be listed on food labels.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOOD SOURCES OF OMEGA-3S
Here's where to get your gram-a-day of omega-3s.

-- Fatty fish deliver the best omega-3 punch. They provide EPA and DHA (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid), which many believe are the most effective of the 3s.

Salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring and trout have the most. A 6-ounce cooked piece delivers 2-4 grams of omega-3s. Farm-raised fish, though, have a lot more omega-6s than their wild cousins because they're raised on grain.

-- Plants provide an omega-3, called ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). The body must convert it for use -- which some say means it takes more to be effective.

Flax seed is an important source of omega-3, pressed into oil or ground. Flax oil can be added to salads (don't cook with it). Ground flax works well in smoothies, muffins, pancakes and cereal. It should be ground fresh, because it spoils easily.

Purslane, a relatively obscure leafy green vegetable, provides 400 mg of omega-3s if you eat about 3 ounces. Add it to salads or saute briefly. Chard and kale also have some ALA.

Walnuts pack a lot of omega-3s, alone among common nuts. Other sources: Dried beans, omega-3-enriched eggs (from chickens fed flax seeds or fish meal) and even meat, especially lamb.

-- Supplements are widely available. Read the fine print to figure out which give you the most for your money.

Fish oil comes in every grade and price, from "molecularly distilled" 100 percent virgin Arctic cod liver oil to orange-flavored emulsions to big, transparent capsules. Some have a fishy taste; others don't. Some cause fishy burps.

Evening primrose and borage supplements offer omega-3s, but some experts believe they're not a very usable kind.

-- Omega-3s spoil easily, so they should be kept away from heat and light (some need to be refrigerated), used quickly and thrown out if they start smelling bad. Rancid oils are oxidized, full of nasty free radicals.

(Can you ingest too much? The most important thing is to keep omega-6 and omega-3 fats in balance. Extremely high amounts of omega-3 raise concerns about bleeding-type strokes. The FDA draws the line at 3 grams a day, but some doctors recommend more -- and take more.)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TOASTED WALNUTS WITH OREGANO
Just 1 ounce of walnuts packs 2.5 grams of alpha-linoleic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid. This recipe comes from Fran McCullough's "The Good Fat Cookbook."
Ingredients: 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil or unsalted butter, melted

2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2 cups fresh raw walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix everything except the walnuts together, then stir in walnuts, coating them well. Scatter the nuts on a baking sheet.

Roast for about 10 minutes, stirring once. Remove from the oven when they smell good. Let cool before serving or storing.

The nuts will keep for a few days in a tightly sealed tin if made with butter, longer if made with oil.

Yields 2 cups

PER 1/4-CUP SERVING: 200 calories, 4 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 20 g fat (2 g saturated), 0 cholesterol, 293 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.

PAN-GRILLED SALMON ON A BED OF ASIAN GREENS
Nothing could be easier than this poached salmon served on a bed of mixed Asian greens. The salmon-poaching liquid, a tart-spicy blend, acts as a hot dressing for the greens. From Georgeanne Brennan.
Ingredients:

1 teaspoon butter

2 skinless salmon fillets

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne or other chile powder

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 cups mixed young greens (mizuna, red mustard, tatsoi, spinach)


INSTRUCTIONS
Melt the butter in a small, preferably nonstick frying
pan over medium-high heat. Add the salmon and sear for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with salt and cayenne.

Turn the fillets, then add the lemon juice and wine. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the salmon is just tender and flakes easily.

Divide greens between serving plates. Pour half of the pan juices over each,

and top with a salmon fillet.

Serves 2

PER SERVING (using 4-ounce fillets): 255 calories, 24 g protein, 4 g carbohydrate, 14 g fat (4 g saturated), 80 mg cholesterol, 370 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.
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Old 04-01-2003, 12:28 PM   #5  
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I just got this cool article and thought I would share.

Bodypumpgirl



Aerobics and Static Contraction Training

Aerobic training and strength training are the yin and yang of the exercise world. They are two fundamentally different concepts that meet in a “harmony of opposites.”

To be clear, when talking about “aerobics” I’m referring to low intensity, long duration exercise that is intended to expend calories and burn fat. I’m not referring to the term “cardio” which, properly used, should refer to strengthening the heart muscle. Many people use “cardio” and “aerobics” interchangeably but they really shouldn’t.

Aerobic training is low intensity. Strength training is high intensity. Combining the two into an effective, efficient training regimen can be greatly simplified by using rational training principles.

The Biggest Mistake

The biggest mistake people make when trying to combine aerobic training with strength training is that they employ a progressive overload methodology to their aerobic training. For example, they start out walking a few days per week, then they increase the intensity to jogging, then they mix intervals of jogging with running. Then they run hills, and so on.

That method increases intensity to the point where the body needs extended recovery time. Which means more days off without training…which means fewer calories burned and less fat loss. The key to effective aerobic training that burns of maximum fat is long term consistency.

Pop Quiz

Which burns more calories?

a) Running 1 mile

b) Jogging 1 mile

c) Walking 1 mile



It’s a trick question. They all burn exactly the same number of calories. And in that little fact lays some truly great news! If you go for a walk seven days a week you will burn more calories than going for a run six days a week. (Technically a runner will get an extra benefit because his metabolism will continue to operate faster after running…but there is another piece of information that trumps that!)

Build Muscle and Burn Fat 24/7!

Muscle is called “active tissue” because it requires a lot of energy to maintain itself. In fact, every pound of new muscle you add to your body will burn about 60 calories per day. That can really add up.

The Fat Burning Effect of Muscle


The Fat Burning Effect of Muscle






LBS of LBS. OF FAT BURNED
New Muscle Per Month Per Year



1 .05 6

3 1.5 19

5 2.6 31

10 5.1 62

12 6.2 74

15 7.7 93

20 10.3 123







By adding just 10 pounds of muscle to your body, it will burn off 62 pounds (!!) of fat over the next year. (If you keep your calorie intake constant.) And it will keep burning those extra calories year after year! Than means when you’ve lost the fat you can eat more (a lot more) and not gain back the fat. Also, with less fat and more muscle your body will have the lean, toned, fit look that everyone wants!



So by combining aerobics with strength training you can transform your body in the shortest possible time then keep it lean and muscular year round without starving yourself on a low calorie diet.

Opposite Principles

The important characteristics of a sustainable aerobic training program are:

a. Low intensity muscular output

b. No progression of intensity from workout to workout

c. Fixed frequency



The important characteristics of a sustainable strength training program are:

a. High intensity muscular output

b. Progressive intensity from workout to workout

c. Variable frequency (to allow for full recovery as intensity increases)



So combining a high intensity strength training system such as Static Contraction Training (SCT) with a regular aerobic program might look like this for the first two months:


Week 1 Week2 Week3 Week4 Week5 Week6

Mon SCT WALK WALK WALK WALK SCT

Tues WALK SCT WALK WALK SCT WALK

Wed WALK WALK WALK SCT WALK WALK

Thurs SCT WALK SCT WALK WALK WALK

Fri WALK WALK WALK WALK WALK WALK

Sat WALK SCT WALK WALK WALK WALK



Notice how the days off between the SCT workouts increase? That’s because each workout (if properly engineered) involves lifting heavier weights and creates extra demands on your body’s recovery system.

Yet you can fill in all the other days with low intensity, longer duration aerobic training. So every day you are doing something to burn fat and keep it off long term!

This combined aerobic/strength training program will transform your body the maximum amount in the shortest possible time.



Have a great workout!

Pete

Peter Sisco is co-author of Power Factor Training, Static Contraction Training and other books. He is also the editor of the five-book "Ironman's Ultimate Bodybuilding" series.
www.PrecisionTraining.com
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Old 07-25-2003, 05:03 PM   #6  
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From this week's Dave Draper e-newsletter...

This is SUCH a long article that I'm just going to insert the link:

http://davedraper.com/chris-mcclinch-guide-to-diet.html

There's a link on the page above that'll take you to a .pdf file - called "10 Commandments to Getting Cut: Losing Fat, Not Just Weight".

GOOD stuff!!!
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Old 09-08-2003, 01:49 PM   #7  
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Not really an article - but a post from Jeremy Likness that he posted at another board awhile back...I'm posting it here for future reference...

***********************************
The first place I always look when someone is having an issue with losing fat is their nutrition. [Y]ou mentioned cutting back on calories, etc, but my question for you is this ... when you eat "BFL-style", what does that mean, exactly? Are you eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and whole foods? Are you eating the exact same meals each day, or are you incorporating variety? Are you making sure to have a carb portion before bed? Are you taking a free day?

Believe it or not, for some people, the free day in and of itself can be the single most limiting factor. Some people thrive on free day and plunge towards their goals, others must eliminate it. Let's face it. There is no "free meal." Calories do count. And for a woman, especially so. Most women can only lose about 0.5 - 1.5 pounds of fat per week. At the low end, that is a net equivalent of 1,700 calories deficit. Keep in mind that one free day can accumulate close to 10,000 calories and totally negate that! So that is one place I would look as well.

The fact is, there is no magic formula or combination for fat loss - regardless of BFL, BodyRx, McDougall's, vegetarian, raw food, whatever, the same law applies - to lose fat, you need to take in less calories than you burn. So the problem must be tackled on two sides, one with nutrition, the other with training. Don't get too caught up in the calorie "count" for nutrition, because different foods have different effects. You can get away with more grams of protein than carbohydrate because it takes more energy for the body to process protein. You can get away with more omega-3 fatty acids than other types of fat because they stimulate metabolism. The list goes on and on.

If you are already eating a balanced, healthy diet, then the next thing to look at is training. One huge issue with people is simply intensity. For example, I know a lot of women who don't train intensely with weights because they are afraid of gaining too much muscle. If you fall into this category, RUN FROM IT AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! If gaining muscle were easy, there would be more female bodybuilding competitors. The fact of the matter is, building muscle is HARD work and you are not going to gain pounds and pounds of muscle over night. So if you aren't training intensely, weight training is one of the KEYS - you must train INTENSELY and really push those 10s to not only burn more calories during the session, but also to keep your metabolism elevated afterwards to burn more fat.

As for adding the extra cardio, sure, it can help. Heck, I'm up to 65 minutes of cardio per day in addition to my 3 weight training workouts. But I am keeping it balanced. I do 3 20-minute high intensity sessions, and the rest is simply uphill walking. The goal is to burn more calories, but not to burn myself out. If you suddenly add intense sessions or too much volume of jogging, you are risking injury and burnout. In fact, your body is so adept at adapting to new training, your best bet is to ramp it. Is your current load not working for you? Add a 20 minute session. Stick with it. Then wait a week or two, and add another 10 minute session .. like that. Ramp it up, don't jump into the extra cardio all at once.

There's really, from my experience, two approaches to weight loss. If you are eating a truly disciplined, clean nutrition plan and not taking cheat meals etc (and by disciplined, I mean ALL WHOLE FOODS - this means whole grains, whole beans, nothing in a package, nothing processed like bread, etc) then you probably could concern yourself less with calories and more with quality of exercise. If, on the other hand, you are taking cheat meals or eating processed foods (look at my diary - I eat packaged burritos, corn chips, etc, so I fall into the latter category) then sometimes it is critical to get a handle on your portions.

I can't tell you how many people I know think they're doing fine, but as I alluded to before, their fist or palm gets bigger when they're more hungry. Or they snack on one bite of a cookie because surely one bite won't hurt (but then you add that one chip that won't hurt and that one pretzel that doesn't hurt and suddenly you're taking in another 200 calories a day or 1400 per week!). Or they find the most convenient meal possible - say, cottage cheese and yogurt and chicken breast in a pita pocket, and then they eat that exact same meal each day. This in itself can wreak havoc. I know ... I'm eating fairly static from day to day, and therefore I must increase my cardio each week to make up for the deficit. When I'm eating more variety, lo and behold, my metabolism increases.

It's an individual game but the bottom line is that no one is special. I know that [it was] mentioned being "doomed to be fat." You can certainly be doomed, but it is you who are dooming yourself, not genetics. If your family is struggling with weight management, then that is a very strong answer for you - it's something psychological embedded in your brain. Unless you are a lottery winner, only 1 in millions of people actually have a genetic inability to effectively lose fat. The rest are accosted by a myriad of complications ranging from the availability of food, the levels of processed food in our typical diets, to the psychological issues that we associate food with happiness and think every social event should be marked by a "reward" of unhealthy food. I see the journals of progressive tiredness, frustration, etc, and it tells a tale - you are exhausted, you are struggling, you are tired of being trapped, and your faith in the process is faltering. Make no mistake, it is tough and this is the key to successful weight management, but you MUST have faith. It IS in your mind ... it is the psychological aspect working against you. The only solution is to FORCE A RESOLUTION and find that right combination of understanding and self motivation to DECIDE you will make the change and follow it through.

See, it is easy to get frustrated at lack of progress and then slip. I know, I struggled for 9 months before I finally made the decision that I would do 12 weeks WITHOUT SLIPPING. I had to do those intial challenges because no one is perfect ... we focus on progress. But for me, to progress required cleaning it up. It meant absolutely refusing to give in until free day, and then listening to my body on free day. It meant no longer stuffing myself until I couldn't walk and going out in search of unauthorized foods, but rather eating things I was tempted by - ice cream, etc - but in moderation and without overeating. It meant giving up alcohol for the entire 12 weeks. It meant deciding that health was more important than the temporary gratification of food, that when I went to a barbeque I wouldn't talk myself into cheating because "well, I've got to LIVE" because I changed my definition of living from beer and ribs to being healthy. It takes a lot, but you can do it, you've just got to KEEP TRYING until the time is right and it clicks, and the change WILL come.

Hope that helps. I went off on a tangent, but bottom line ... yes, extra cardio is sometimes warranted, but it depends on your situation and many times it is the nutrition, not the exercise, that needs to be set under control.

Jeremy
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Old 09-22-2003, 02:12 PM   #8  
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Default From Tom Venuto - The Truth About Stubborn Body Fat...

And he says what *I've* maintained all along...losing SLOWLY is the best way!

********************

THE TRUTH ABOUT STUBBORN BODY FAT, PART TWO

In part 1, you learned that “stubborn fat” is really a misnomer. It’s also a self-limiting belief that turns into self-fulfilling prophecy. The truth is, each person inherits a unique pattern of fat storage. When you lose fat, you lose it all over your body and the first place you’re genetically prone to deposit it will be the last place it comes off. Spot reduction IS a myth. Most people simply set themselves up to hit a plateau before the last bit of localized body fat is gone. This is due to negative thinking, faulty dieting, and lack of exercise (especially weight training, which is essential to optimize your lean body mass and metabolic rate).

In this second installment, you will learn exactly how to get rid of the last bit of localized fat. It’s NOT complicated! It’s more like common sense than anything. All it takes is a hard work ethic and a little patience. (If you have neither of these qualities, then sorry, this article isn’t for you).

SIX FLAB BUSTING STRATEGIES THAT NO FAT CELLS CAN RESIST

There are six strategies you must use to lose every bit of flab - the natural way - without plateaus, metabolic slowdown or lingering fat pockets:

(1) LOSE FAT VERY SLOWLY

Here’s where most of the problems begin: Most people have no patience. How many times have you been told to lose no more than two pounds per week? How many times have you ignored that advice? All the time, right? The American College of Sports Medicine told you this, your trainer told you this, your dietician told you this, your doctor told you this, etc. Almost everyone agrees – 1.0 to 2.0 pounds per week is usually the maximum rate for safe, permanent weight (fat) loss. But few people want to listen – they’re ecstatic when the scale registers a 5 or 7 pound weekly weight loss.

I advise my clients to lose 1-2 lbs per week. Naturally, most go for the two pounds (and often ask if three is okay). Personally I go for 1 lb per week before competitions. If I lose more than one pound per week, I eat more. Losing too much weight too quickly always causes muscle loss, which in turn causes metabolic slowdown. Don’t ever confuse weight loss with fat loss. You can lose weight quickly, but you can’t lose fat quickly. If you think you can outwit Mother Nature and you’re dead set on losing 4, 5, 10 pounds a week, you’re going to lose fat in the beginning, but not all of it – you will plateau and rebound before the last “fat pockets” are gone. Set your goal to lose one or two pounds per week, but also set your goal to lose this fat weight consistently every week. When there aren‘t any plateaus, this really adds up over time.

2) REFEED REGULARLY - DON’T STAY ON LOW CALORIES ALL THE TIME

I GUARANTEE you are going to hear a LOT more about the refeeding concept in the near future. It’s not a new idea, however. Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield was writing about this in the late 1980’s! He called it “Zig Zag” Dieting.

“Carbing up”, “Cyclical Dieting,” “zig-zag” dieting, “re-feeding”, call it whatever you want; to me, it’s so obvious that increasing calories for a short periods while you’re dieting is the best way to avoid metabolic downgrade, that I can’t see how anyone would dispute it. But of course, die hard academics often demand concrete undisputable scientific evidence before anything is deemed true.

I would suggest you do not wait for such “evidence” and you begin using this technique immediately! All you really need to understand is this basic principle:

If staying on very low calories for a long time is what causes your metabolism to slow down… and if the slowdown in metabolism is the reason you have a difficult time losing that last bit of “stubborn” localized fat, then it’s only logical that the way to lose the “stubborn fat” is to avoid metabolic slowdown by not staying on low calories all the time!

The re-feeding concept can all be boiled down to this simple advice; just raise your calories every few days instead of staying on low calories all the time. This is the method smart bodybuilders use to diet all the way down to low single digit body fat and lose the last fat pocket without hitting a single plateau.

3) DIET IN “CYCLES” OR “SEASONS” USING “NUTRITIONAL PERIODIZATION” - CHRONIC DIETING IS DANGEROUS

Everyone knows someone who is ALWAYS on a strict diet. Maybe you’re one of them. As paradoxical as it seems, chronic dieting is a great way to get fatter! You see, everything in life has a certain rhythm or seasonality to it: Winter- Summer. Tide comes in – tide goes out. Sun goes up – sun goes down. To lose fat for good, you have to diet in seasons. “All sunshine makes a desert.”

In sports training, a big buzzword is “periodization.” This refers to a cyclical approach to training an athlete, so the athlete peaks at his or her best performance level on the day of an event, or maintains optimal performance for the duration of a season.

In periodization training, there is an off-season and an in-season. Training continues year-round, but the programs are quite different during these two cycles. The long major cycles are called macrocycles. Smaller weekly and monthly cycles within the larger cycles are called mesocycles. There are even tiny day-to-day variations in sets, reps, poundage, intensity, duration and tempo called microcycles.

Nutrition can be periodized too, and this is another topic I predict will become very hot in the near future. Re-feeds are like nutritional mesocycles while the annual seasons are like nutritional macrocycles (the muscle building phase versus fat burning phase).

I’ve always claimed that the bodybuilder’s method to fat loss is the superior one, and isn’t cyclical dieting exactly what bodybuilders do? Don’t they diet strictly in a deficit for a period of months, then train for muscle growth for a period of months? Doesn’t a really astute “physique artist” cycle the calorie levels throughout the year? Of course. That’s why bodybuilders who use this strategy are the supreme examples of effective permanent fat loss.

Bulk too long, you gain too much fat and get completely out of fat burning mode. Diet too long, you lose muscle and downgrade your metabolism. Cycle the two every year in a seasonal fashion, whether you compete or not, and you have the perfect balance.

Three time Mr. Olympia Frank Zane continued to diet once a year after he retired, exactly as if he were still going to compete. As a personal challenge to himself, each year he continued to attempt to beat his previous best – or at least he strived to be the best he could be at any given time of his life. Smart guy. And now in his 60’s, he has a body that would make men half his age green with envy.

Cycle your nutrition and your training. Diet strictly at times and relax your diet at times. Train with everything you’ve got at times, and train to maintain at other times. Don’t listen to “experts” who constantly warn of overtraining and say things like “daily cardio is catabolic and unnecessary.” Daily cardio, as part of a short term fat loss cycle, supported with the proper nutrition and weight training, is the best way in the world to lose body fat. Of course you can do cardio daily! What you can’t do is continue with a high volume of daily training all year round.

There’s no such thing as a “double winter,” so why put your body through severe dieting “weather” two seasons in a row? Diet strictly for a while, then slowly ease back for a while... eat more… relax… then go back at it even harder, pushing this time for an even higher peak. Be like the athlete trying to beat last year’s record. And continue with this approach for the rest of your life.

4) DEVELOP A LONG TERM TIME PERSPECTIVE AND SET LONG TERM GOALS

You need patience and the right mental attitude to lose body fat. If you have a lot of fat to lose and you want to lose it permanently, you need to set up some long-term goals for your nutritional “seasons.” Otherwise, your body is going to fight back.

I know dozens of people who did phenomenally well on before and after “transformation programs,” only to quickly gain back all of the fat they lost. Do YOU want to diet for 12 weeks, look great for a week or two then slip right back where you started from, or do you want to get lean and stay lean?

Here are the reasons why so many people re-gain the weight: They only had a 12-week goal... Short-term time perspective... No long-term goals... Failure to develop goal setting as a lifelong continuous discipline... Failure to develop nutrition and training disciplines as habits… All fatal errors.

Every season or "nutritional macrocycle", you must strive to improve on your previous best by setting new goals. Goal setting is not an event; it’s a never-ending process. Isn’t this what any world-class athlete does? Doesn’t the Olympian strive to beat his record at the last Olympics? Run faster, throw farther, jump higher? Doesn’t that require a very long-term time perspective? Can’t you apply this concept in your own training – even if its just for health, fitness and recreation? Wouldn’t this keep you motivated for years at a time instead of just doing ONE “12 week program” and then slipping backwards to square one? Couldn’t this mindset for constant and never ending improvement in a seasonal fashion keep you motivated for LIFE? Of course.

5) RE-SET YOUR SET POINT (AKA, TURN DOWN YOUR “FAT THERMOSTAT”)

When I was in college, my body fat usually hovered around 15-16%. (Yes, I confess… I DID drink my share of beer in college). I lost the “beer belly,” of course, dropping my fat all the way down to the mid single digits. However, I always seemed to slide back where I started (16% or so). It seemed like that was a natural “set point” for me…kind of like my fat thermostat had the dial locked in at 16%.

One day, I finally got wise and I decided to set a LONG TERM GOAL to get better every year and MAINTAIN a lower off-season body fat every year. First 14%, then 12%, then 10%, and finally, today, I don’t allow myself over 9.9% at any time. I refuse to go to double digits and I'll tighten up my diet or add cardio the second I notice myself slip.

In contest season, I decided that 6-7% wasn’t lean enough, and I strived to beat that, which I did, hitting 6%, 5%, 4% and eventually as low as 3.4% body fat.

Basically, I raised my standards of what body fat level was acceptable to me during the off season and for competitions. I vowed to improve both.

I disciplined myself and stopped "bulking up." After I made this commitment, then each year it got easier to lose the fat because I wasn’t putting myself under prolonged periods of dieting stress to get there; I was already close, and starting closer every year because what I had done, unbeknownst to me at the time, was to re-set my set point.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the “set point” theory before. This is the genetically pre-determined body fat level towards which you tend to gravitate. The good news is, you can lower your set point (your “fat thermostat”) through nutritional discipline, increasing your lean body mass, dieting in seasons/cycles, setting long term goals, and raising your standards in terms of how much body fat you are willing to carry.

A lowered set point won’t happen over night. It doesn’t happen by the day or week, it happens by the month and year and is achieved by setting higher standards for how lean you stay over prolonged periods of time.

6) WATCH YOUR INTERNAL DIALOGUE: YOU BECOME YOUR “I AM’S”

Be careful what you call yourself and what you say to yourself. It’s a psychological truth that you become your labels – you become your “I am’s.”

If you want to lose body fat, then why on Earth do you walk around all day long saying over and over again, “I cant, I cant, I cant, I can’t lose this stubborn fat?” Why say, “I’m fat?” Why affirm the negative?Why would you do that to yourself? Over and over the tape plays in your head… programming your subconscious… building your belief systems… forging your paradigms… directing your behavior… creating your own reality.

Why not visualize your ideal and affirm the positive?: “I am getting leaner and leaner every day!” Do not dwell on your present condition. Dwell on your future vision. Refuse to use the term “stubborn fat” again. Never say, “I can’t lose this fat.” Do not look at localized fat as any different than other fat on your body. Understand that it was the first place on, and will be the last place to come off – but it WILL come off – IF you do it the right way.

CONCLUSION

Usually articles on “stubborn fat” discuss “breakthroughs” in transdermal delivery systems, adrenergic agonists, alpha-2 receptors and lots of other scientific stuff. I’ve read papers on this subject that were so scientific, you'd need a medical dictionary to translate them. The so-called experts list dozens of references and write overly technical articles for an audience they know damn well has only a seventh grade reading level and couldn’t give a whiff about anything except seeing their abs. However, they do it anyways to make themselves look like almighty, all-knowing “gurus” and to sell worthless products. The reality is, these really aren’t even articles – they're advertisements for “spot reducing” gimmicks

Listen; there is nothing complicated or overly scientific about the process of fat loss – even the last 10 pounds. Sure, there are proven products such as thermogenic supplements, but they don't work miracles, nor are they spot reducers. There’s no such thing as spot reduction. There’s no such thing as stubborn fat – it only appears that way for lack of understanding about the way the human body and mind work.

You can do this naturally with nothing more than exercise, proper nutrition and the right attitude. To lose fat steadily without plateaus - right down to the very last fat cell - all you have to do is work with your body’s inherent nature, not against it. It may not be easy, but it’s incredibly simple and 100% predictable. Embrace the challenge, expect success, use what you've just learned, and in the long run, you’ll agree that the rewards were well worth the effort.
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Old 11-08-2003, 09:39 AM   #9  
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I keep referring to this one...a snippet from Michael Fumento's book The Fat of the Land...
Quote:
Get Thin Slowly

...certainly it's better to stay down [in weight] once you're down. And apparently one "secret" to doing this is to go down slowly.

Wayne Callaway, M.D., notes that marketing studies conducted by one weight-loss organization found that, when dieting, most woment expect to lose between 2-3 pounds a week and most men expect between 3-5 pounds a week. If this expectation is unmet, dieters will discontinue the program by the 3rd week. Not for nothing do you hear slogans like Slim-Fast's "Give us a week and we'll take off the weight".

"To remain financially successful, commercial operations try to meet this expectation, even when they know that most of the early weight loss is from water and that a water retention cycle will eventually follow," says Callaway. "Virtually all the experts - from the Surgeon General to well-respected popular health and nutrition writers such as Jane Brody...agree that diets designed to meet these expectations always fail over the long term."

Remember that virtually any diet can cause you to lose weight; the real problem is keeping it off. With that in mind, choose a regimen that emphasizes not speed but permanency. While one often hears that no more than 2 pounds a week should be lost, it appears even this is toomuch for most people who are not extremely obese. (Obviously, the fatter you are, the less of an overall percentage of your fat 2 pounds is. So with some people, 2 or even 3 pounds might be OK.)

George Blackburn, MD, chief of surgical nutrition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, is considered one of the nation's foremost authorities on weight loss. He suggests that you begin by aiming to lose no more than 10% of body weight at the rate of no more than a pound a week. Only after maintaining that loss for 6 months and recieving permission from your physician, he says, should you attempt to take off another 10%.

In my case, after I began writing this book I initially lost 14% of my weight, which struck me as a good goal since it brought me to the weight that I was at when I joined the army at age 18. So I went a bit overboard, perhaps, but not by too much. In any case, it brought me down to a good, healthy weight. Then I went conservative and held that weight not for 6 months but for a whole year before trying to drop more. Then I said, "Congratulations, you did it. Now it's time to try and reach your ultimate goal, which is to be not only healthily slim but downright athletic." I'm not advising that for all my readers. But this was what I wanted for myself and I did it.

The main reason to aim for slow weight loss is because you are seeking to permanently change your eating habits. The calorie deficit you create should be close to what will be your permanent calorie level and certainly no lower than 1,200 to 1,300 calories. The further you go below this, the more likely you are to suffer from hunger - and nothing defeats a weight-loss regimen more quickly than hunger.

Another big advantage of slighter reductions in calories is that evidence indicates you may lose somewhat less muscle this way than with sharper calorie restrictions...

Very low-calorie diets may be necessary for those few cases where people need to lose a lot of weight quickly because of serious health problems, such as the need for surgery. Other than this, I believe they have little going for them - though all too many doctors continue to recommend them to patients. Studies comparing the two types of weight loss regimens have found that you definitely get more bang for the buck with less caloric restriction. That is, you lose more fat off your body per calories reduced with milder restriction. Consider severe energy restriction as a jackhammer while lesser restriction is more like a hammer and chisel. You can break up rock more quickly with the jackhammer, but more to your liking with the delicate instruments.
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Old 01-15-2004, 11:21 AM   #10  
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I though about adding this to the "getting started" thread but it was closed. Anyways, I thought this is a great summary of "getting started" that breaks things into manageable ideas for the beginner. Makes it easier to make a weekly goal of 1 step if thats how you want to do it, or just take a look at what would most affect your progress.

From the Dave Draper newsletter, Jan 14 2004

Eating right, a list of steps to choose from:

Make the commitment to press toward your fitness goal in one or
more ways each and every day. Take your time and apply no pressure. Add
this ‘n that, here ‘n there until a life-giving habit is formed. When we
try too hard we set ourselves up for disappointment and early defeat.
Try and try again.

Begin by sweeping your refrigerator and cupboards clean of the
foods you know are wrong: soda pop and chips and candy and cake. They are
bad for you. This is a major and painless move -- out of sight, out of
mind. Eliminating.

Make fewer trips to the fast-food joints and eat less when
you’re there -- half the chips, half the pop, half the goop. Weaning.

Sugar kills, protein gives life. As you decrease your intake of
empty foods (foods high in sugar offering no nutritional value),
increase your consumption of protein-rich foods: meat, fish, poultry, milk
products, some nuts and legumes. Exchanging.

Make it a plan to eat in a more sensible, orderly manner:
smaller meals more frequently throughout the day, and begin with a small
protein-high breakfast. Arranging.

Avoid random caffeine and sugar-high snacks. Replace them with
mini-meals of yogurt, cottage cheese and fruit or an MRB (meal replacement
bar). Replacing.

Add living food to your menu. Plenty of fresh salad and steamed
vegetables and ample amounts of fruit daily should be eaten for vitamin,
mineral, enzyme value and roughage. Adding.

Add a high-quality daily vitamin and mineral formula to your
diet to assure adequate system-enhancing nutrients. Supplementing.

Your health and fitness reflect who you are and play a decisive
role in where you're going. It’s your responsibility to exercise daily
to prepare your body and mind for the ordinary yet demanding routine of
daily living. Fail to exercise and we age and weaken sooner and more
certainly. Exercising.


Tidey
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Old 03-31-2004, 08:22 PM   #11  
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Some of you gals here know Kristi Larsen, a buddy of mine who is a certified personal instructor and has done a heckuva lot of research on nutrition and exercise in weight training. (If you don't know who she is, she has a website at www.kristilarsen.com with a ton of info and her journal - you can also subscribe to her e-newsletter as well).

This article is from her latest newsletter...

Quote:
The Importance of NUTRITION For Looking Your Best
.................................................. ..........................

Take a look around next time you are in the gym. How many people are pushing huge amounts of weight or running like mad on the treadmills and their bodies seem to always stay the same? The reason a lot of them have not seen a change is because they have not realized how important proper diet is. It's difficult to believe (especially considering the media's influence on diet and exercise) that fat loss is 80% your eating and 20% exercise- give or take a little either way.

Don't make the mistake of thinking there is a diet plan made for you out there and all you have to do is find it. Stop buying bodybuilding, health and fitness magazines looking for the secret diet or training program that will change your life forever.

Those who strive for a stellar physique are continually experimenting with their bodies. Each and every body is different and will respond (or fail to respond) to training and diet in a unique way. What is overtraining for one, is not for another. One may have phenomenal success with a low-carb diet, whereas, another might have minimal results. One person may be able to attain 7% bodyfat with little to no cardio training, when his friend might require two cardio sessions per day to achieve that same body composition. No one said it was fair. But that is reality. In fact, two people with the exact same body composition will not necessarily respond the same to diet and training protocols, and supplementation the same way. To get the results you desire, you MUST customize your program to your body.

"99 percent of the human population are lazy *******s! And 99 percent of the
fitness industry plays to this strength." ~Jacob Wilson


Honestly, if you are tired of being overweight and "soft," or if you desperately just want to develop your "six pack," then you must educate yourself and get serious about changing your body. It has to become a priority in your life (at least until you reach your goal). There are no quick fixes, however if you use the right information, you will be able to make dramatic changes to your physical appearance in a very short period of time.

One of the best suggestions for customizing YOUR nutritional approach is to log every morsel you consume. Sounds like a hassle- and maybe it is- but if it got you to the body you desire, would it be worth the trouble? Logging your intake keeps you honest. The New England Journal of Medicine found that when people wrote down what they ate, they had UNDERESTIMATED on average by 1053 kcal/day. That is MAJOR!!!

Logging makes you aware of what you are putting into your mouth over the days/weeks/months (and it all adds up over time) and it just may clearly illustrate why you are not getting the results you expect. Your dietary log can be later used as a concrete tool to seek out professional dietary help.

You can start by logging all foods in Fitday (www.fitday.com) or Excel- especially in the beginning until you know everything by memory. By using a computer program to log your diet helps make sure you are getting the proper ratios of fat/carbs/protein.

Americans are fatter now than ever, even though more Americans are dieting now than ever and over 30 billion dollars per year is being spent on fat loss.

You can't buy fat loss with money. Only with hard work! Quite simply put, there is no easy way out!


"There should be nothing standing between you and your goal. Until you reach your desired body, you should be living, breathing and eating fat loss."
~Anthony Ellis
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Old 04-01-2004, 11:24 PM   #12  
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This article pretty much sums up why I DON'T recommend that people go on a 'competition diet'...the horror of the inevitable 'rebound effect'.

(thanks to Kristi Larsen for pointing this article out on her website!)

Quote:
You train for hours a day, count every calorie that passes your lips and avoid sugar like the plague. Your physique is the picture of perfection. But it can’t last forever; something in your strict regime will eventually have to give. To prepare you for life after your fitness peak, Chris Cander offers advice on relaxing your diet and exercise program, accepting that you don’t have to be perfect and dealing with the disappearance of a hard-earned six-pack.

Rebound Effect

You’re a fitness enthusiast about to enter your first competition. You’ve talked to other competitors, read about contest preparation, studied the diets of the champions, and pored over lists of tips and tricks. Music has been chosen and your choreography is in the works. Water intake is up, protein is the staple of your diet and you’ve clocked so many miles at the gym you’re thinking about buying your own treadmill. Hip to the inside scoop on posing, tanning, and walking on stage, your confidence is high. Your mind is firmly focused on taking home the trophy.

But are you prepared for what happens after the contest?

There is a dirty little secret associated with fitness and bodybuilding competition that before now hasn’t been discussed — the virtually universal post-contest rebound effect. Familiar with the term “yo-yo” dieting? It’s not just your mother’s nightmare; even bodybuilding and fitness champions will gain weight after they stop the highly restrictive diets that are required to achieve the extremely low body fat levels they need to be competitive. It is a consequence that is almost never talked about, and therefore, rarely anticipated. Strict competition diets and training programs work, even for non-competitors. But the extreme results can’t — and shouldn’t — last forever. Anyone who is considering entering a competition should be prepared to deal with the physical and, more importantly, the emotional impact of returning to a more normal eating program.

The goal of pre-contest dieting is to lose as much fat as possible, and to achieve this, most competitors undergo a highly restricted eating and exercise plan that starts 12 to 16 weeks before the competition. As the macronutrient balance shifts toward high-protein, moderate carbs and low fat, the competitor’s body begins to shed both fat and water. As the intensity of the pre-contest diet increases, the competitor’s mind compiles a list of foods that she can’t wait to eat when the show is over. Most athletes want to celebrate, or simply reward months of sacrifice with a feast right after the competition. Some will take their indulgence a step further and immediately resume an off-season diet. This type of competitor may also stop taking the fat burners that helped her get through her twice-daily cardio workouts, cut back on the cardio or stop altogether, and decrease the intensity of her weight training sessions. Such an abrupt change in eating patterns and workout schedules will shock the body and cause a rebound effect. While enduring a calorie-restricted diet, a competitor’s body tends to go into a starvation-survival mode, which subsequently causes her metabolism to slow down. When she starts to eat a few more calories, her body will quickly store them as fat, stocking up for the next “famine.” Within a couple of days, her hard, lean appearance will “smooth out” primarily due to water being pulled into the muscles when glycogen (from carbs) floods the body. After even one week of less controlled eating and drastic reductions in her training intensity, she will regain body fat. This is the very same “yo-yo” effect that plagues many conventional dieters.

Although the physical effects of diet rebounding could be harmful if taken to the extreme, perhaps the more significant impact is the psychological one. To a fitness or bodybuilding competitor, this kind of rebound can be emotionally devastating. She may only rebound to half as much body fat as she started with, but to someone who has been in the single digits, that small increase may feel like an enormous failure. One day, the competitor is onstage presenting her perfectly sculpted and lean physique, subjecting herself to the judgment of a panel of strangers, and within a couple of weeks, she feels fat, bloated, and self-conscious. The form-fitting clothing that she bought to show off her hard work is snug, her six-pack is gone and she feels embarrassed by her sudden weight gain. The judges at her competition weren’t nearly as critical of her as she is of herself at this point. “It’s amazing the kind of pressure we put on ourselves,” says personal nutritionist Keith Klein, CN, former champion bodybuilder, and founder of the Institute of Eating Management of Houston, Texas. “When you start your diet at 20% body fat and get to 15%, you’re on top of the world; from 15% to 12%, you feel like wearing only your underwear all day; then when you get to 6%, you can’t believe that you’ve reached the best condition of your life. But once you begin to rebound, you feel as fat at 10% as you did at 20%.

The problem isn’t that she’s lost her willpower or control over her body; it’s that the competitor’s standards for herself are unrealistic. Rebounding is the reality. It is normal. In fact, it is a mistake to believe that one can achieve and sustain a sharp, competition look year-round. It may help to know that most of photos that fill the pages of health and fitness magazines are taken at competition time, and are not indicative of how even champion competitors look in the off-season. “Competition shape is unnatural,” says Lee Labrada, former world champion professional bodybuilder and a past winner of the IFBB Mr. Universe, and founder and President of Labrada Bodybuilding Nutrition. “Your body has a thermostat — and it seeks to maintain its body fat level around a constant amount.”

Patty Urrutia, age 30, didn’t know how to transition from pre-competition to post-competition eating after her first Miss Fitness contest in 1994. “I had worked so hard to achieve my physique, and I didn’t want to lose it,” she said. “I wanted to continue with the high-protein diet, but I also wanted to eat some of the foods that I missed. I ended up doubling the amount of calories that I needed and gained a lot of weight.” Patty competed in another Miss Fitness and two Galaxy contests after that, going through the rebound cycle each time. After her last contest in 1998, she realized that she would rather return to a more normal eating routine than to make the sacrifices necessary to keep her body fat at 7%. She now maintains a healthy, feminine physique at around 16% body fat, and allows herself to indulge in what she calls “fun foods” in moderation. “I don’t want food to be a focal point, just a part of my healthy lifestyle.”

For some, the only way to reverse a rebound and a corresponding sense of failure is to begin another competition diet. Whereas winning, placing or simply entering a contest used to be the goal, now they become the means to an unattainable goal — physical perfection.

Laryn McCandless, age 22, will have competed nine times in three years by the end of 2001— including a bodybuilding competition, four Galaxy competitions, two NPC fitness contests and an upcoming NPC Figure competition, a Women’s Tri-Fitness and the Fitness America pageant. Although she’s experienced the rebound each time, the emotional impact is still significant. “It’s hard to watch yourself gain weight, and then look at your competition pictures,” she says. “I feel guilty and unhappy.” Laryn has decided to win the rebound battle by avoiding it completely. In effect, she plans to convert her pre-contest diet into a strict lifestyle that allows for few days off.

Unfortunately, for women, there are health risks associated with having too little body fat. Some of these risks include hypothermia, vitamin toxicity, cessation of the menstrual cycle, and osteoporosis. Hal Louis, founder of Better Reflections: Fitness through Strategic Training, Inc., believes that a female athlete should carry enough body fat to maintain her menstrual cycle. “You must take your health into consideration,” he says. “You can still look great at 14-16% body fat.”
So how can a competitor avoid this emotional rollercoaster? “The solution lies mainly in adopting a more realistic, accepting view of your body,” says Klein. “You need to realize that 10% or 12% or 15% body fat is totally acceptable — especially since you felt good about yourself when you first got there on the way down to your competition shape.”

An athlete must go into a competition knowing that she is trying to achieve a temporary condition of leanness, and accept that her body fat will return to a more natural level. With this in mind, she can prepare for a smooth transition, extending the discipline she’s gained from dieting and training for competition into a healthy program that she can maintain for life.
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Old 05-24-2004, 11:34 AM   #13  
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Default A good one from T-Mag!

Read this and HAD to post it. Kind of an updated "Foods that Make You Look Good Nekkid".

Of course I have issues with some of the recommendations - specifically the cheese - and I do note the lack of stuff like yams and oatmeal on the list, but perhaps that's going to be covered in Pt. II!

Quote:
Berardi’s Kitchen Part I
In My Fridge
by John M Berardi

The Law of the Land


Long ago, when I first began to pay serious attention to my training and nutrition, I learned of a general principle that has served me well and has since become the cornerstone of my body composition success.

Berardi’s First Law:

If a food is in your possession or located in your residence, you will eventually eat it.

Corollary to Berardi’s First Law:

If you wish to be healthy and lean, you must remove all foods not conducive to those goals from said residence and replace them with a variety of better, healthier choices.

Second Corollary to Berardi’s First Law:

If you know someone whose house is stocked only with optimal food choices and yet who is not healthy and lean, look under his bed.

The bottom line is that you must stock your house with all the ammo you need to fight the battle of the bulge. My body fat ranges from about 5% to about 8% throughout the year (without the use of thermogenics) and the only way I’m able to maintain that level of leanness is by removing all temptation from my home, where I spend most of my time.

For years I’ve advised my clients and athletes to do the same. Now I bring the message to you. Your willpower and discipline will be tested enough at social events, at lunch meetings, and as you pass the six Krispy Kreme locations on the commute home from work. If you’re to have any chance of success, you need a safe home base.

With that in mind, I’m going to give you a peak into my armory . . . er, kitchen. In this week’s installment, I’ll open my stainless steel fridge to show you what and what not to stock. In doing so I hope to demonstrate that there are plenty of options available to the trainee interested in optimal health and body composition. Of course, this is not intended to be a comprehensive list in any way; rather, it’s a snapshot of the actual contents of my favorite appliance, and as such should serve as a practical example of the nutrition theory I expound elsewhere on this site.

Let’s begin, shall we?


Meat, Poultry and Fish

I must get at least a dozen emails a day by readers who complain that they’re tired of eating beef. I don’t dignify those emails with a response. Word to the wise: if you want free nutrition advice from me, don’t disparage Mr. Beef.

In all seriousness, you don’t have to rely solely on beef for your protein intake — I certainly don’t. I get a wide variety of meat, poultry and fish, some examples of which are listed below.

I’m lucky enough to have two excellent markets near my home and I realize that the more exotic selections listed below may be difficult for you to find. However, don’t just assume because it’s not at your local Piggly Wiggly, you can’t get it. Look around for nearby farmer’s markets, or make a trip out to a more distant one and freeze your purchases.

Alternatively, you might want to try one of the various online distributors. I can’t recommend these as I’ve never tried them myself, but if you’ve had some success with them, drop me a line at [email protected] and let me know so I can spread the word.

So let’s see what types and quantities of goodies are stashed in my fridge:


Extra Lean Ground Sirloin

Quantity: 3 x 1lb packages


Notes: I buy the leanest ground beef I can find, and I keep a couple pounds on hand. Most of the time this is purchased from the meat section in my favorite grocery store, but I’ll sometimes go down to a local farmer’s market to have grass-fed beef freshly ground for me.


Boneless Chicken Breasts

Quantity: 2 x 1lb packages


Notes: This too fluctuates. I buy the best chicken I can find, which most of the time is the grain-fed, store-bought type. I do buy free-range chicken whenever possible, but I won’t skimp on the protein if I can’t find the really good stuff (nor would I if I couldn’t really afford to buy it).


Mild Turkey Sausage

Quantity: 2 x 500g packages


Notes: Turkey sausage is a great change of pace. I don’t buy it all the time, but it goes quickly when I do. Who said you couldn’t have street meat?


Ostrich

Quantity: 2 lbs


Notes: Fortunately, I’m able to get free-range ostrich meat at a nearby market and it’s excellent. I either grill it as a filet or have it ground for me.


Bison (Buffalo)

Quantity: 2 lbs


Notes: Another great tasting meat. Bison steaks are truly amazing, and the macronutrient profile is excellent.


Elk

Quantity: 2 lbs


Notes: Elk meat tastes good, has a good macronutrient profile and always gets a great reaction when you surprise your dinner guest by revealing the identity of the food they’re eating.


Salmon

Quantity: 2 large filets


Notes: Wild Atlantic salmon is perfect in pasta, in salads, or by itself. The genuine wild stuff has a great omega-3 profile, and cooked properly can go a long way toward impressing a date.


Eggs

I usually make one to two omelets a day so I keep a ton of eggs on hand. Note that my omelets don’t have nearly the amount of cheese or butter one normally finds in them.

Here’s what I use:

Omega-3 Eggs

Quantity: 2 dozen

Notes: Omega-3 eggs are laid by chickens that have been fed an omega-3 rich diet (10-20% ground flaxseed). I use one whole omega-3 egg in my morning omelet.


Egg Whites

Quantity: 12 x 250mL cartons


Notes: In addition to the whole omega-3 egg, I add 1 cup of egg whites to my morning omelet. (If you’re interested, the other components are chopped veggies, spinach and — depending on my goals — a small amount of cheese.)


Cheese

I’m lactose intolerant, yet I can still indulge in a little bit of cheese from time to time. During mass phases and maintenance phases, I use it judiciously. Of course, less is added during diet phases (unless I decide to rip out a couple of low carb weeks). However, dairy is often one of the first things I’ll remove from a client’s diet at the first sign of maldigestion, so you should pay close attention to your response to it. Most of the time I cut the cheese into small cubes and put it in salads, or into slices for my omelets, ground beef patties, and snacks.


Aged White Cheddar

Quantity: 4-8 oz.


Notes: Aged cheddar has a nice sharp taste to it, and a mouthfeel that’s perfect for salads.


Baby Swiss

Quantity: 4-8 oz.


Notes: Mild nutty cheese that I occasionally add to my salads.


Havarti

Quantity: 4-8 oz.


Notes: One of my favorites for omelets.


Parmiggiano-Reggiano (Parmesan)

Quantity: 4-8 oz.


Notes: I usually grate some of this finely for pasta, the rest left whole or more coarsely grated for salads.


Feta Cheese

Quantity: 4-8 oz.

Notes: Once made from sheep or goat’s milk, now commonly made with cow’s milk. Perfect for salads with nuts and fruit, as the softer, crumbly mouthfeel complements the crispier ingredients.


Fruit

Except for strict dieting phases, I always have some amount of fruit in my fridge. I constantly buy fresh seasonal fruit, whenever possible sticking to local organically grown produce. I keep all my fruit in the fridge, where it lasts longer. Furthermore, cold fruit is more refreshing and just tastes better.


Apples

Quantity: 12


Notes: I buy a half a dozen of two different varieties, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith. I’ll cut them up and put them into salads or oatmeal, or eat them as snacks during mass phases.


Tangerines

Quantity: 6


Notes: I find tangerines easier to digest than oranges, and better tasting as well. I like to get at least some of my Vitamin C from whole food, and this is often how.


Red Grapes

Quantity: Large bunch


Notes: Another great salad ingredient, and an excellent snack. Grapes are also great to have around when guests are over.


Pineapple

Quantity: 2 cut and cored fresh pineapples


Notes: Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits, and rarely a week goes by when I don’t buy one or two at the grocery store. Usually I’ll cut it into small pieces and toss it in my oatmeal.


Strawberries

Quantity: 2 cartons


Notes: Who doesn’t like strawberries? These also go in my oatmeal, a half-dozen or more at a time.


Blueberries

Quantity: 2 cartons


Notes: I love fresh blueberries. I put half a cup or more in my oatmeal and occasionally in my salads.


Vegetables

The problem with most diets is not that they don’t get enough vegetables, but that they don’t get any at all! You should familiarize yourself with the produce section of your local supermarket, or better yet, your local farmer’s market. Pick up some fresh veggies and add them to every meal.


Spinach

Quantity: 4 bags, 6oz. each


Notes: Every salad I make, and I make a lot of them, begins with a base of spinach (see my article Covering Your Nutritional Bases for why). On top of that goes a selection of other vegetables, and depending on the time of day or my current body composition goals, cheese, chopped nuts, fruit, and a protein source (e.g., chicken or salmon) either in the salad or on the side. There are innumerable variations on this theme.


Peppers

Quantity: 4


Notes: I usually have two red peppers and two green peppers on hand. I’ll usually quarter them or cut them into slices and store them in the fridge, adding them as necessary to salads, omelets and pasta.


Cucumbers

Quantity: 2


Notes: I’ll have enough sliced cucumber on hand for one or two day’s worth of salad. The rest is left whole.


Tomatoes

Quantity: 2


Notes: Organic tomatoes can be readily found, so I usually pick up a couple and add them to salads or, when I’m feeling ambitious, use them to make homemade tomato sauce.


Baby Carrots

Quantity: 2 large bags, 2lbs each


Notes: These go in virtually every salad I make, and I’ll often snack on them between meals. I’ve heard some people talking smack about carrots as of late, but as long as they aren’t the only vegetables in your diet, they’re perfectly acceptable.


Sauces and Condiments

People always complain of being bored with the food on their nutrition plans. It lacks variety, they inevitably claim. To me, this has always been a spurious claim. For one, most people eat the same terrible foods day in and day out, so variety can’t be the problem. Taste, on the other hand, may well be.

The foods outlined above taste different than the ones found in the average North American Diet — different, but certainly not worse. As I have said before, your palette is changeable, and what you enjoy now is mostly a matter of habituation. If variety is the problem, however, you should look into subtly changing the flavor of your meals with out substantially altering their content.


Pesto

Quantity: 3 jars, one of each flavor


Notes: I love pesto. It’s extremely versatile, as its flavor lends itself to meat, fish, chicken, omelets, pasta and salads. I usually have the Basil, Sun-Dried Tomato and Black Olive flavors, and I’m constantly trying them with new foods. The Basil is my favorite. If possible, go for a brand that uses extra virgin olive oil as opposed to the other cheaper and inferior vegetable oils. You may have to go to an Italian deli or specialty grocer for that.


Peanut Satay Sauce

Quantity: 1 bottle


Notes: Awesome on beef and chicken. I love mixing some cubed beef or chicken, satay sauce and mixed vegetables in a bowl, and either eating it like that or doling the mix out into whole wheat tortillas. There are potential food allergy problems, but I haven’t had issues with it.


Curry Sauce

Quantity: 1 bottle


Notes: Similar usage to the Satay Sauce. Curry sauce is an acquired taste for some, but is certainly useful to add variety.


Tomato Pasta Sauce

Quantity: 2 large jars


Notes: I use this on pasta, on meat and chicken, and on omelets. Generally, I’ll have one or two jars of homemade sauce. As a God-fearing Italian-American, I can’t possibly recommend the store-bought perversions.


Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

Quantity: 1 bottle


Notes: I buy the Omega Nutrition kind, and use it in most of my salads, most of which have fruit in them — the apple cider is really complementary for this.


Raspberry Vinegar

Quantity: 1 bottle


Notes: I use the raspberry vinegar to break up the monotony of the apple cider/fruit-containing salad combination.


Red Wine Vinegar

Quantity: 1 bottle


Notes: This is better in a more traditional Italian salad, which I have with more upscale meals, like the odd pasta or steak meal.


Balsamic Vinegar

Quantity: 1 bottle


Notes: Similar use to the red wine vinegar. This is a restaurant staple, and most people are familiar with it, which makes it nice to have when guests are over.


Flax Oil

Quantity: 1 bottle


Notes: I use plain flax oil either in shakes or straight from a spoon — both ingestion methods allow me to quickly down this rather unpalatable liquid. I don’t like the plain version in salads as it just prolongs the agony.


Garlic-Chili Flax Oil

Quantity: 1 bottle


Notes: This version from Omega Nutrition is really a godsend to those looking to get a good dose of EFAs. Its more refined taste is perfect for salads, and it mixes well with any of the above-mentioned vinegars to make great dressings (particularly the apple cider vinegar). Unfortunately, it’s relatively hard to find. If you can’t find it, ask the manager at your favorite supplement store to look into it.


Beverages

I drink water almost exclusively, mixing in some green tea in the morning. My fridge, you’ll notice, is conspicuously void of flavored beverages.


Water

Quantity: 1 large Brita filtered jug


Notes: The Brita people have created the heroin of the kitchen industry. While I certainly grasp the arguments in favor of filtered water, what keeps me coming back is the taste. With the current water quality issues, ahem, making waves in the news, a water filter is a decent if incomplete solution. Moreover, unfiltered water now tastes like plumbing to me.


Moet & Chandon Champagne

Quantity: 1 750mL bottle


Notes: Combine with strawberries (above), velour leisure suit, lit fireplace, and Marvin Gaye’s "Let’s Get It On" for a romantic and seductive evening with your significant other. When the laughter subsides, plead for pity sex.


What isn’t in my fridge

Soft drinks, fruit juices and milk: My stance on these beverages is well known, so suffice it to say that I think people would do well to drink water and get their calories elsewhere.

Packaged foods: My fridge contains no foods packaged in colorful wrappers, boxes, bags, or containers. Be wary of such foods: the "healthiness" of a food is generally inversely proportional to the colorfulness and cost of its packaging. Furthermore, the vast majority of foods worth eating have expiration dates, and generally the sooner the better. Note: yesterday doesn’t count as sooner, so stay away from the supermarket bargain bin.

Rotting leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner: Grandma’s vintage stuffing from 2001 is best stored in a landfill, not in the vegetable crisper.


Conclusion

If your fridge doesn’t contain many or most of the things I have in mine, or if it contains many things that mine doesn’t, you’ll have a difficult time maintaining a lean and healthy body. If it contains none of what I have in mine, tip your fridge over, dump the contents and begin anew.

That’s it for this installment of Berardi’s Kitchen. Next time I’ll show you around the cupboards and tell you what pantry items and supplements to stock.
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Old 01-25-2005, 11:19 AM   #14  
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Mrs. Jim,

I just wanted to post and say thank you for all the wonderful articles and information that you share.
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Old 06-22-2005, 02:07 PM   #15  
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Default Train like a WOMAN!

Train Like A Woman

By Kristin Reisinger

When I was asked to write a response article to an article entitled, 'Train Like A Man,' I envisioned myself writing a highly charged rebuttal piece to a sexist rant chock full of testosterone, andro and a bit of GH thrown in for good measure. After much thought about the topic at hand, I realized that a lot of the author's attitudes and beliefs towards training apply to everyone. Especially us women!

Let me explain. Through the years I have seen many women in the gym lifting these rinky-dink, pink and purple hand weights barely breaking a sweat. I see the same girls do three cardio classes in a row and spend countless hours on the treadmill like hamsters on a habitrail pondering why their bodies look exactly the same as they did six months ago. These are the same girls that come up to me and ask me repeatedly what I do to look the way I do or what do I eat or do I even eat. I even overheard a girl once say, "I'm doing so good today... I only had a bagel and a salad." The list is endless and it is endlessly frustrating.

I wish I had a megaphone right now. Ladies... you need to lift HEAVY to have a physique like the chick from Terminator! When you feel like you can't squeeze out any more reps... do two more! Get calluses on your hands... your man will love it. So many of you comment on how much you'd love to have a body like Madonna or Angela Bassett or Gabrielle Reece but most of you don't do anything to get it! Do you think these women work out with tiny little dumbbells and their bodies look like that by mistake? Do you even know how hard it is and how much meticulous planning and preparation (and testosterone!) it takes to put on muscle and "bulk up" like a professional bodybuilder? I've been lifting as hard and heavy as any guy I know for two years and I keep getting smaller and leaner! I look sexier and more feminine than ever before, too. By really lifting weights and stressing your muscles you will increase your lean mass, and since it is this lean mass (muscle tissue) that burns fat, you will have the capacity to burn more fat even at rest. Combining this with a moderate amount of cardiovascular activity (not three step classes in a row) will turn your body into a fat burning machine. Too much cardio works against you and will eventually begin to utilize your hard-earned lean muscle tissue for energy which is NOT the desired goal.

You also need to EAT. Your need to fuel your body with the appropriate foods for energy as well as protein for the build up and reparation of muscle tissue. Starving yourself is NOT the answer and is more detrimental than most of you realize. It will slow down your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and hang on to every last bit of bagel you consume as stored energy (fat). By eating small, low-fat meals throughout the day incorporating a protein source with good sources of fibrous and complex carbohydrates will stabilize your insulin levels and sustain your energy levels. This will prevent your body from going into starvation mode while giving you all the building blocks you need for developing and shaping your muscles. Plus, you actually get to eat more!

"It's all about ATTITUDE," says the author, and I agree wholeheartedly. I would even venture to say us women need to dish out even more of it than men. If I had a nickel for every time I witness some girl feeling intimidated in the gym because of the presence of a man or give up a machine or a bench because some dude is waiting for it, I'd have a bank account like Arnold. I have gone up to girls in the gym and yelled at them for doing that. Where's your damn backbone?! Self-esteem, confidence and an all-around, I don't give a s--t attitude are all part of the package that go along with my philosophies on training like a woman which is far more attractive than a whole heap of mascara, lip gloss and eye liner. And the gym is our domain as much as any man. Training like a woman is a synergistic framework allowing everything else in life to fall into place that much smoother including relationships, career or whatever you allow it to flow into. Having a great body is merely a fringe benefit. So ladies, to quote a very wise person, "Go hard or go home," especially if you're a woman.
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