Friday, December 31, 2010

The Best Diet Tips

January is a time for change!
A brand New Year dawns upon us and has no doubt cast the reality of the past year before our eyes. The binging, the lack of exercise and the lack of trying have come to light in the shape of fat. January is a time for change, the pinnacle for searching for the answer to zap the fat away in one easy solution.

What follows are some of the best tips to answer the questions almost all dieters will be wanting to know.

Do you drink enough water?
Water is your daily detox Doctor. Aim to drink mineral water daily, in-between meals at room temperature is the best way in my opinion. This will help improve overall health. Always start your day with 2-3 glasses of water. Try and have 2 glasses of water 20 minutes before each meal. Generally most people do best on between 2-3 litres a day.

It is important to point out that it is better to listen to your body to tell you how much you need rather than follow someone else’s advice. There is no magic number but too little will likely be detrimental to fat loss goals and maintaining good health.

Do you eat carbohydrates by themselves?
Just think how common and easy it is to eat carbohydrates by themselves. Vending machine snacks, sandwiches and fruit are readily available and overly consumed in today’s fast paced world. They are all carbohydrate rich foods and don’t contain anywhere near enough protein for most people to keep their blood sugar levels balanced afterwards.

Poor blood sugar management is the culprit for fat gain and it also speeds up the aging process.

Are you overloading on gluten?
Wheat and foods containing gluten can be very hard to digest and intolerance to this can cause gut inflammation as well as other allergy troubles.

Try eliminating gluten for 30 days to see what difference it makes to the way you feel and look.

Avoid sugar
Avoid sugar especially artificial sweeteners found in processed foods and drinks, always check the labels. Eating sugar creates a never-ending roller coaster ride for hormones such as insulin and cortisol, both fat storing hormones.

To help wean off sugar try natural alternatives like stevia, a natural herb you can find in health food shops.

Are you drinking yourself fat?
Drinking alcohol has some of the same traits has eating sugar, it is rapidly absorbed and effects blood sugar levels. You are drinking empty calories that have no nutritional benefit whatsoever to your body, and if consumed near meal times can serve as a blocking agent to certain vitamins and minerals.

If you want the best results and quick then you must stay away from alcohol. Otherwise eat fat and protein with alcohol to slow down the absorption and balance the ratio of carbohydrates (the alcohol) to proteins and fats.
January is a time for change!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Is Sleep The Missing Link to Fat Loss?

Information about one of the most important hormones for dieters!
Are you committed to a six-pack workout at the gym or at home? Is your dream of achieving perfect abs and a trim waist evaporating together with any sign of progress? Did you know a good night sleep is one of the most important issues for losing body fat? Fail to get enough sleep and go to bed on time and you will be doomed with battling with your fat levels forever. Taking the steps with changing your habitual sleep patterns over the next few days and weeks can have immediate effects on dropping fat from your body.

Sleep is one of the factors behind controlling one of the body’s most important hormones for dieters. The hormone is called cortisol and happens to be a fat storing hormone. Cortisol is influenced by light, which means you should aim to wind down before bed avoiding all bright lights. Cortisol is also connected to our natural body clock. Going to bed late will prolong the release of cortisol and keep it elevated at a time when it should be low.

This important information shouldn’t be dismissed from your arsenal of fat fighting strategies and quest for six-pack abs. It can seem like a lot of dedication going to bed early especially when the ideal time is 10-10.30pm. In this day and age of late night TV and the Internet there are plenty of reasons to keep us occupied into the small hours. Watching bright TV screens and staring at the computer just before bed is the worst thing you could do to wind down, the light from both is enough to keep cortisol levels high.

You should aim for 8 hours sleep every night if you are struggling with losing body fat and getting your abs to make an appearance. Going to bed at midnight and getting 8 hours sleep isn’t the same as going to bed at 10.30pm and getting 8 hours sleep. We have a natural body clock built in to us with the times set for certain hormones to peak and dip throughout the day. Staying up late will send your natural rhythm of hormone secretion out of balance.

I hope it is clear that keeping cortisol levels high at bedtime is your worst enemy for fighting the bulge and achieving perfect abs. Putting together and applying an action plan to get you in bed earlier each night until you reach the ideal bedtime is the easiest way to accomplish the next step in your fat loss programme. Especially if you are a die-hard night owl like I once were.
Information about one of the most important hormones for dieters!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Exercises to Lose Muffin Tops and Love Handles

Drop body fat and change the shape of your midsection!
Muffin tops is a slang word to describe the overhanging flesh over waistbands. The unsightly look has become more noticeable in recent years due to fashions and the increase in obesity levels. The biggest part to losing the muffin top look and reducing the size of your love handles is the diet. If you make the right changes to your diet it will speed up fat loss and shrink the muffin top quicker than any stand-alone exercise.

When exercising, in order to drop body fat and change the shape of your midsection the best types of exercises are those that involve using as many muscles at once as possible. If you are unfamiliar with exercises there are different types of exercises, some work just one muscle group at once (isolation exercises) and others work multiple muscle groups. If you are moving just one joint in an exercise it is most likely going to be an isolation exercise.

You may be wondering why exercising using all of your body at once is going to work at reducing your muffin top. The more muscle groups involved in an exercise the greater the calorie demand. This has a knock on effect to speeding up your metabolism. That means after you have finished your exercises you will be burning more calories at rest.

Once you begin to reduce fat from around the waist there are some abdominal exercises that work better than others for toning the sides of the waist. These exercise involve you bending sideways. The muscles beneath the love handles are responsible for bending the body sideways. With this information in mind it is important to note that the popular abdominal exercises where you crunch your body forwards and back again will do very little to tone the muscles on the side of your waist.
Drop body fat and change the shape of your midsection!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Another 3-Minute Abs Workout

It doesn’t get quicker than this for training Abs!
In my previous article about 3 minute abs I introduced you to the concept of training your abs as hard as possible in only 3 minutes. Just to recap, choose 2 abdominal exercises and work them for 30 seconds each with no gaps of rest between any of them. When you have done the 2 exercises repeat them all immediately until you have exercised for 3 minutes.

Today I will show you another way to blast your abs in only 3 minutes.

This is what to do:
Exercise #1 for 30 seconds
Exercise #2 for 30 seconds

Repeat three times with no rest between any of the exercises.

This time you are only doing 2 exercises for the 3-minute circuit. The same principles apply as before where you go from one exercise to the other without any rest.

The 2 exercises I have found to work very well are:

Exercise #1 The V Sit Up
Lie face up on the floor with your head touching the floor. Place your arms straight by the side of your head and straighten your legs so they are touching each other.

The aim of the exercise is to bring your legs, arms and head off the floor at the same time. Ideally you should come up so your body imitates a V shape. I have found bringing your head a few inches off the floor and arms and legs around 12 inches off the ground works just as hard for most people. Make sure you start each rep with your head; arms and legs touching the floor so you work in the full range and prevent your neck from hurting.

The tempo should be 2 seconds each way and try and focus on recruiting the abdominal muscles every time you lift off the ground. In other words don’t force your body up by throwing your arms and legs upwards.

Exercise #2 The Plank
Begin lying face down on the floor with your feet together and forearms on the ground; hands should be clenched in a fist. Draw the abs inward, squeeze your backside muscles and lift the entire body off the ground until it forms a straight line from head to toe, remember you are resting on your forearms and toes.

Forearms should be parallel and elbows directly below the shoulders. Keep the back flat throughout your set and chin tucked. Hold this position until you can maintain good form and slowly return to the ground.

Remember when you have done the 2 exercises in a row for 30 seconds each go back to the first and repeat them so you get a 3-minute workout.

What makes this circuit popular is the fact that you can do it absolutely anywhere and it only takes 3 minutes.
It doesn’t get quicker than this for training Abs!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

3-Minute Abs Circuit For a Better Six Pack

You get an unbelievable burn feeling in your six-pack during this circuit!
I have found a way of training the abs as hard as possible in only 3 minutes. You could try different abdominal exercises with the following method but my favourite way to do this circuit is to do 3 lower abdominal type exercises back to back. You get an unbelievable burn feeling in your six-pack during this circuit, it is more difficult and beneficial for working the abs then the standard approach of doing a set and resting and repeating.

This is what to do:
Exercise #1 for 30 seconds
Exercise #2 for 30 seconds
Exercise #3 for 30 seconds

Repeat once with no rest between any of the exercises.

Move immediately from exercise 1, 2 and 3 and repeat them all making sure there are no gaps of rest. This will give you 3 minutes of hard work. A great way to get the most from exercising your abs whether you want to get ripped or shred body fat.

The 3 exercises I like to use are:

Exercise #1 Leg Lowering
Lie face up on the floor and place your hands underneath your low back. Rest on your elbows and forearms so your head is off the floor, your upper body remains in this position during the set. Now straighten you legs and begin to lift your legs off the floor. Aim to bring your legs around 2 feet high above the floor and return them towards the floor but don’t touch the floor on the descent with your legs. The idea is to lift your straight legs up and down without touching the floor for 30 seconds.

It is important to keep pressure on your hands throughout the set, make sure your low back stays in contact with your hands at all times. If you feel your back arching bring your tummy in towards your spine. If you find it difficult to keep pressure on your hands try bending your legs a little.

Exercise #2 Reverse Crunch
Lie on your back with your head on the floor and arms by your side. Bend your knees so your feet are as close to your butt as possible. Now lift your feet off the floor so your thighs are vertical. This position is your start position for every rep; don’t start each rep with your feet on the floor.

From the start position gently roll your low back off the floor and bring your knees towards your chest. When you reach the furthest position you are capable of achieving pause for a second before returning to the start position. Repeat for 30 seconds.

Exercise #3 Knee Push
For this exercise you need to be in the same position as the start position for the reverse crunch exercise. Lie on your back with your head in contact with the floor during the set. Keep the feet off the floor and thighs in a vertical position.

The aim of the exercise is to push your knees up towards the ceiling. Depending on the strength of your abs will determine whether your butt leaves the floor or not. You are striving to push your knees around one inch upwards, that is enough distance to work the exercise properly.

Keep the head and upper body as relaxed as possible during the exercise, this will make your abs work more. The tempo should be moderate and there shouldn’t be any bouncing. Repeat for 30 seconds.

Don’t forget when you have done the 3 exercises in a row go back to the first and repeat them all so you get a 3 minute workout.

You could do this workout at home, at the gym, in the office, hotel room, on the balcony, on the beach or outside in the park. There are no limitations with this workout.
You get an unbelievable burn feeling in your six-pack during this circuit!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Most Effective Healthy Eating Guidelines If You Want To Be Slim

A very powerful way to lose weight and reduce fat!
I have tried all sorts of diets in the past but I was never impressed by any of them. After years of experimenting I discovered a very powerful way to lose weight and reduce fat. This could be the most important article you ever read about dieting so do yourself a favour and spend a minute to discover exactly what this diet is all about.

After years of trying different types of diets on my clients and myself I came across the best and quickest way to lose inches and drop body fat that I had ever witnessed. It is worth mentioning before I go any further that I recommend avoiding fad diets of any kind especially if a celebrity endorses it. Those types of diets will cost you in future weight loss and fat loss attempts. The more you put your body through extreme dieting the more you screw up your metabolism in terms of it slowing down. Metabolism is the rate your body burns calories and it can take your metabolism a very long time to recover from a diet and get back to normal speed again. Famine type diets that restrict nutrients from the body help kick start a life long obsession to achieve your ideal body shape. All this does is encourages you to try different diets that are equally as bad as the last one you tried.

The most effective diet I have found to lose a lot of pounds and reduce fat fast involves controlling the types of carbohydrates in the diet and making sure to eat good quality proteins with every meal.

This diet will force extreme weight loss and fat loss simply because it is based on balancing blood sugar levels throughout the day. This alone is the secret to achieving your ideal body shape and keeping hunger pangs at bay.

The action steps required to make this diet work at its optimum level is to modify the ratios between the carbohydrate foods and the protein foods until you are happy with the speed of progress.
A very powerful way to lose weight and reduce fat!

Friday, December 3, 2010

8 Tips To Lose Fat Fast

Diet advice for quick weight loss results!
If you want to achieve fat loss and get six pack abs you need to follow certain steps like anything else in life. There is a way and a system for just about everything and dieting and exercising is no exception. Below is my list of essential things to do to lose stubborn body fat fast.

1. Drink plenty of mineral water
Water is the best drink you can have without a doubt. Water helps to cleanse the body and supports good health.

2. Only eat non-processed foods
The next time you pick up a packet of food, look at the ingredients and see if you can pronounce the ingredients, chances are you can’t. This is common with processed foods today, they contain artificial ingredients and additives that can make you toxic and give your digestive system a hard time. The last thing you want if you want to be healthy and have low body fat levels. You can’t beat natural foods found in nature.

3. Don’t drink pasteurised milk
Commercial milk contains antibiotics and growth hormones. The pasteurisation process kills the important enzymes as well as destroying vitamins and amino acids. Lactose intolerance, which is common food intolerance, prevents the body from digesting milk sugars. There is no real value to drinking pasteurised milk and has no place in a fat loss programme.

4. Avoid sugar
Avoid sugar especially artificial sweeteners found in processed foods and drinks. Eating sugar creates a never-ending roller coaster ride for hormones such as insulin and cortisol, both fat storing hormones.

5. Cut out all wheat
Wheat and foods containing gluten can be very hard to digest and intolerance to this can cause gut inflammation as well as other allergy troubles. Try eliminating gluten for 30 days to see what difference it makes to the way you look and feel.

6. Don’t drink alcohol
Drinking alcohol has some of the same traits has eating sugar, it is rapidly absorbed and effects blood sugar levels. Alcohol is empty calories that have no nutritional benefit whatsoever to your body. If you drink alcohol near meal times it can serve as a blocking agent to certain vitamins and minerals.

7. Eliminate all caffeine
It is not only your morning coffee that contains caffeine but sports drinks too. Caffeine has an effect on blood sugar levels and can cause cravings and the release of fat storing hormones. Decaffeinated coffee isn’t any better either, decaf drinks tend to have more pesticides than regular coffee.

8. Eat organic whenever possible
Organic food is natural, the way it should be without any interference from mankind. When food is organic it is clean and full of nutrients without the chemicals or drugs used in conventional farming. Our bodies can digest and assimilate organic food easier and it doesn’t pollute our insides at the same time.
Diet advice for quick weight loss results!